Wells Street Bridge Reconstruction
Leave early or late. Use alternatives.
As part of the Chicago Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) ongoing reconstruction of the Wells Street Bridge over the Chicago River, CTA will temporarily cease train service on the bridge for two 9-day periods in early March and late April.
To assist our customers, we've developed a comprehensive alternative service plan incorporating additional bus service, shuttle buses, some rerouted trains, and a Loop shuttle train to alleviate some of the temporary inconveniences for both weekday and weekend riders.
Service will be affected from Friday, March 1, beginning at 10 p.m. and resume in time for the morning rush on Monday, March 11; and again beginning on Friday, April 26, beginning at 10 p.m. and resuming in time for the morning rush period on Monday, May 6.
While CDOT closes the 90-year-old Wells Street Bridge for an extensive reconstruction—rebuilding one leaf of the bascule bridge during each 9-day segment—we'll perform needed replacement of tracks on and near the bridge. Coordinating the work will minimize the impact on transit riders and reduce overall construction costs.
In addition to work on the bridge itself, we'll rebuild the ‘L’ structure track junction at Lake and Wells Streets, known as Tower 18, and replace tracks in the curves at Hubbard and Kinzie, just north of the Merchandise Mart, avoiding additional street closures and service disruptions for customers. Tower 18 is the busiest junction on the CTA 'L' system and the main elevated line entryway into the Loop from the north, with 5 of 8 rail lines passing through every weekday. This junction handles nearly 700 trains a day and nearly 500 on the average weekend.
Upgrades to Tower 18 and additional track work will increase safety and reliability for customers and is part of our $33.8 million Loop Track Renewalproject launched in March 2012. By performing the work while CDOT completes the Wells bridge repairs, CTA will reduce the duration of the work by eight days. Additionally, combining the work will save CDOT and CTA $500,000 in construction coordination costs.
