In the early 80s, the CTA was expanding the West-Northwest route (aka the Blue Line) northwards. One of the new stations was located at River Road in Rosemont. The construction of this station saw some intellectual squabbling between the City and the CTA. Mayor Jane Byrne did not want outlying CTA stations to be advertising communities outside of Chicago. Therefore, the station was known as River Road for the first seven years of its existence.
The station takes ample advantage of natural light, with multiple skylights on the platform's canopy. Going down into the station proper, there is a two-story atrium just beyond the turnstiles which features a seamless wooden arc. This work of art, entitled The River Road Ring, is by Martin Puryear and is meant to aesthetically unite the two levels of the station.
There are also possible future plans for the station that involve turning it into a transfer stop. Since the O'Hare terminal has on multiple occasions vetoed as a transfer point, there is one potential plan on the drawing board that would involve building a spur line off of the main tracks at Roosevelt and extending the Blue Line all the way to Schaumburg. However, given the current state of the economy, plus the fact that the spur plan is not the ideal option, the odds of this actually happening are up for debate.
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