Concept design of the proposed Blue Line Station. (Chicago Transit Authority)

Representatives from the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) presented interim results of its Blue Line Forest Park Branch Feasibility/Vision Study Oct. 13 in Forest Park.

The study was initiated in June, 2013. It has evaluated service issues along the route between Clinton Street in downtown Chicago and the western terminus at DesPlaines Avenue in Forest Park, and developed concepts for the redesign of Blue Line stations, as well as repairing/replacing Blue Line tracks and other infrastructure.

Carole A. Morey, the CTA’s Chief Planning Officer, said her Oct. 13 presentation to the Forest Park village council is part of the CTA’s Public and Agency Outreach effort prior to the study’s formal completion in early 2016. She noted that, like the Eisenhower Expressway, which will also eventually be rebuilt, the Forest Park terminus complex is now 55 years old and past its useful life. The transit station itself, which serves 3,800 riders daily, was rebuilt in 1982, but is clearly deteriorating.

For the past 18 months the CTA has been conducting regular spot track work and signal improvements along the western portion of the Blue Line, necessitating slow zones during daylight hours. Morey said a comprehensive fix of all the track and signal issues along the Blue Line will not be possible without a full reconstruction.

Besides the outdated station platform and other elements of the train station, Morey said, the CTA is looking to add space and modernize the capacity of the Forest Park train car maintenance yard located just west of the facility.

The old yard is hampered by “inadequate track configuration and capacity.” As an example, Morey noted that the CTA routinely runs eight-car train service on the Blue Line, but the Forest Park maintenance facility can handle no more than six-car trains.

(Chicago Transit Authority)

The proposed new and expanded maintenance facility would take over land currently used as a park and ride facility immediately south of one of the current station’s two entrances. The 397 parking spaces there would have to be relocated to land owned by the village to the north of Van Buren Street, some 200 to 300 feet north.

Because of that, new transit station would be built to the north of the existing station, on property currently used as a “kiss ’n’ ride” rider drop off point.

Morey said the CTA is also considering building access from across the east side of Des Plaines Avenue, which would enhance the safety of passengers looking to enter the new station without having to cross that heavily trafficked thoroughfare.

Morey said the possibility existed on some rebuilding work being done separately from the eventual rebuilding of the I-290 expressway.

Forest Park Mayor Anthony Calderone, while noncommittal regarding Morey’s suggestion that the village might want to partner with the CTA on some aspects of the reconstruction, said he hoped to find a way to work with the agency.

“We’ve known for quite some time that at some point significant reconstruction is going to need to take place,” Calderone said. “In the long term it’s going to be in our best interests if we can put together some sort of team in which two-way communication can occur.”

However, Forest Park Village Administrator Tim Gillian cautioned that the manner in which the village and the CTA proceed with any construction will depend on what plans IDOT eventually settles on regarding the inevitable rebuilding of the adjacent Eisenhower Expressway.

“This has been something that is designed around what IDOT is going to do,” he said. “While (the station facility rebuild) could happen separately, it’s being planned in conjunction with IDOT.”

The CTA has been cooperating with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) on rapid transit station improvements and a possible extension of Blue Line service west to Maywood and beyond. While one potential aspect of the Blue Line track and station reconstruction project could be an extension of the Blue Line further west to First Avenue or even Mannheim Road, that was not the focus of Tuesday’s meeting.

— CTA unveils proposed rebuild of Blue Line western terminus —