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<\/p>\nDowntown commuters can mark their calendars: The new “L” stop under construction on Jewelers Row will open Aug. 31.<\/p>\n
City Transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld announced the opening date for the new Loop train station at Wabash Avenue and Washington Street\u00a0during an address to the City Club of Chicago.<\/p>\n
Once open, the new “L” stop will serve the\u00a0Brown, Orange, Purple, Pink and Green lines and is expected\u00a0to be the fifth-busiest in the city.<\/p>\n
City officials\u00a0told DNAinfo\u00a0last month\u00a0they hoped to open the new station by the end of August, with Labor Day weekend serving as a hard deadline.<\/p>\n
City Hall said in 2015 that about 13,000 riders would use the stop daily. The station’s cost was pegged at $75 million then and is funded by the federal government.<\/p>\n
Officials previously said that\u00a0the station’s undulating canopies\u00a0weave “through the historic\u00a0Wabash\u00a0Avenue corridor as a counterpoint to the city grid, and anticipates the soft forms of the park and the lake beyond.” The new stop’s design\u00a0also nods to Jewelers Row with a steel-and-glass skeleton “designed to create a dynamic play of light reminiscent of diamond facets,” the city said.<\/p>\n
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The station has been under construction since 2015,\u00a0closing Loop streets\u00a0and making the stores along Chicago’s historic Jewelers Row less inviting. Some\u00a0merchants said the station’s construction forced them\u00a0to close up shop on Wabash and move elsewhere.<\/p>\n
by\u00a0DNAinfo\u00a0David Matthews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Downtown commuters can mark their calendars: The new “L” stop under construction on Jewelers Row will open Aug. 31. City Transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld announced the opening date for the new Loop train station at Wabash Avenue and Washington Street\u00a0during an address to the City Club of Chicago. Once open, the new “L” stop will … Continue reading Futuristic Washington-Wabash ‘L’ Stop To Open Aug. 31<\/span>