Sunday The Final Day For Madison/Wabash 'L' Station
(CBS) -- Time is running out for the Madison/Wabash Loop 'L' stop.
Sunday is the final full day of operations for the station, one of the oldest on the CTA elevated system.
After 11 years of discussion and planning, demolition of the 118-year-old 'L' stop is the first step toward replacing it with a state-of-the-art station on Wabash between Madison and Washington.
Once the old station is gone, construction on the new $75 million Washington/Wabash station can begin. The new stop also will replace the Randolph/Wabash stop, which remains open until construction is complete, expected late next year.
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Preliminary design work for the new, fully-accessible station began in 2003.
A CTA spokesperson said that the last train will depart the station at approximately 1:45 a.m. Monday. The change will leave each of the four sides of the Loop with two 'L' stops.
The 1896 Madison/Wabash station house on the inner side of the Loop is within the Jewelers' Row Historical District and was listed last year by the architectural advocacy group Preservation Chicago as one of Chicago's seven most endangered buildings. It has not been used as a station since the 1930s and most recently housed offices of the CTA's engineering department.
Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funding is paying for the new station.
