Washington (CTA Red Line station)

Washington
Washington/State station in 2005 prior to its October 2006 closure
Station statistics
Address	128 North State Street Chicago, Illinois 60602
Coordinates	41°53′01″N 87°37′40″W / 41.8837°N 87.6278°W / 41.8837; -87.6278
Line(s)	Red Line
Structure type	Subway
Platforms	1 Island platform
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	October 17, 1943
Closed	October 23, 2006
Owned by	City of Chicago
Services
Preceding station   Chicago 'L'   Following station Lake toward Howard Red Line State Street Subway Monroe toward 95th/Dan Ryan     Former tunnel transfer     Clark/Lake toward O'Hare Blue Line Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway Transfer at: Washington/Dearborn Monroe toward Forest Park

Washington/State is a closed 'L' station on the CTA's Red Line. It was a subway station in the State Street Subway located at 128 North State Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois.

Station layout

History

Structure

Washington/State station in 2001

Washington/State station in 2004

The platform at Washington/State is part of a long continuous platform beneath State Street which runs from the Jackson station to the Lake station, spanning nearly seven blocks, making it the United States' longest continuous passenger platform. There are two mezzanines with turnstiles for the station: a northern at Randolph shared with the Lake station and a southern at Madison. There are stairs and escalators along State Street between Randolph and Madison to access both mezzanines. Additionally, Washington is equipped with an elevator and was therefore accessible to people with disabilities.

There were two stairways on the platform to a lower level pedestrian tunnel that connected the Washington station to its counterpart on the Blue Line subway, Washington/Dearborn, to allow transfers between the Red and Blue Lines. Lake station to the north of Washington/State and Washington/State station were originally a single station, but they were separated on June 2, 1996 due to the renovation project of the Randolph-Washington mezzanine and Lake became an independent station on November 18, 1997 in order to better facilitate transfers between the Red Line subway and the elevated State/Lake station.

Closure for superstation

As part of the development of 108 North State Street (commonly known as "Block 37") the CTA planned to construct a superstation located between the Red and Blue Lines (which run in parallel subways through the Loop). Washington/State station, and the lower level transfer tunnel to the Blue Line were closed at 12:00 a.m. on October 23, 2006 for work related to the construction of this new station.^[1] The platform was cut at an angle to facilitate a future track connection from the northbound State Street track to the super station and the northbound Blue Line track north of Washington, linking O'Hare and Midway airports via the Blue, Red, and Orange lines' tracks. A similar excavation was made north of the Blue Line's Washington station to allow a future connection for southbound Blue Line trains to travel east to the super station and the southbound Red Line track.

Following cost overruns of $100 million the superstation was indefinitely mothballed in June 2008.^[2] The cut portion of the platform was rebuilt for safety and operational flexibility, and Washington/State was removed from CTA rail maps in January 2009.^[3] Today the station remains indefinitely closed, with the entrances on street level covered with planters and the escalators also on street level covered with graphics. The Washington station signs on the walls remained until 2009 when the CTA removed the station signs from the walls to indicate that it was no longer a station.

References

External links

• Media related to Washington/State (CTA) at Wikimedia Commons
• Washington/State Station Page at Chicago-L.org