Day 135: Fly Me Away on the CTA (Part 2)

     In the early 1980s, the CTA decided to extend service on its West-Northwest route, adding 3 new stations north of Jefferson Park. Those new stations were to be placed at Cumberland Avenue, River Road in Rosemont, and as a new connection into O'Hare International Airport. The first two additional stations were completed first, and then after a wait of more than a year, the new station at O'Hare was completed. As part of the ceremony on Labor Day 1984, a number of dignitaries rode a ceremonial train into the station(similar to how the Skokie station had been dedicated 59 years before). Once the train pulled into the terminal, famous jazzman Dizzy Gillespie joined with his band and played "Take the A Train" upon arrival at the new terminal.

     Interestingly, there had been original plans to make the station able to handle a future thru expansion. However, Jane Byrne ordered construction rushed so that the station would be ready before the 1983 election.  Alas, the station was not finished in time, Byrne lost the election, and the ribbon was cut on the station by Harold Washington. But as an effect, the station was converted to a dead-end stop to hurry things up.  The station is unique in that the main track area is completely wide open, with no support columns getting in the way of things.  This feat was accomplished by devising a mechanism that transfers the load of the parking garage(located above the station) to the side walls.  This level of ingenuity won the architectural firm of Murphy/Jahn 2 design awards in 1987 and 1988.  By the way, if the name Jahn sounds familiar, that's because it should.  Helmut Jahn designed the Thompson Center, as well as an IIT dorm located right next to the Green Line's 35th St. station.

     In 2002, the CTA inaugurated the Active Transit Station Signs(ATSS) project at O'Hare, Midway, and 2 other stations in the city.  The point of this project was to put information in each station about the time until the next train, traffic conditions, service disruptions, among other things(in an interesting aside, these ATSS signs can be seen as an ancestor to the CTA's Train Tracker signs, which just achieved full coverage in every single station as of this past Monday, according to the Redeye).

     In early 2005, the CTA went in and made a few minor changes to the station.  First, they moved around the TransitCard Machines, as they were still in the same temporary position that they were in when they were rolled out in 1997.  They also outfitted the station with special Visitor Pass Machines, which allow tourists to come in and purchase farecards with a credit card.  This was actually the first time that people were able to use credit cards to purchase CTA cards.  On the eve of its 30th birthday, the O'Hare station is still performing well, and should keep doing so for many years to come.