Washington station (CTA Red Line)

Closed subway station in Chicago

Not to be confused with Washington/Dearborn, Washington/Wabash, or Washington/Wells.

"Washington/State" redirects here. For other uses, see Washington State.

Washington

128N
1E/1W

Former Chicago "L" rapid transit station

Washington station in 2005

General information
Location| 128 North State Street
Chicago, Illinois 60602
Coordinates| 41°53′01″N 87°37′40″W﻿ / ﻿41.8837°N 87.6278°W﻿ / 41.8837; -87.6278
Owned by| City of Chicago
Line(s)| State Street subway
Platforms| 1 Island platform
Tracks| 2
Connections| (Formerly via Washington)

Blue Line

Construction
Structure type| Subway
Accessible| Yes
History
Opened| October 17, 1943
Closed| October 23, 2006
Former services
| Preceding station  | Chicago "L" | Following station

|
|

Lake

toward Howard

|  | Red Line |  | Monroe

toward 95th/Dan Ryan

Track layout

Legend

|  |  |

|  |

|
|
|
|

|  |

|  | Red north to Howard
|  |

|  |
|  |

|  |

| Platform open

trains do not stop

|  |

|  |
|  |

|  | Red south to 95th/Dan Ryan
|  |

|  |
|  |  |  |  |  |

Location

Washington is a closed "L" station on the CTA's Red Line. It was a subway station in the State Street subway located at 128 North State Street in the Loop.

## History

[edit]

Washington station in 2001 Stairs to the Washington Blue Line station that have since been sealed off.

The platform at Washington is part of a long continuous platform beneath State Street which runs from the Jackson station to the Lake station, making it the United States' longest continuous passenger platform. There are two mezzanines for the station, a northern at Randolph shared with the Lake station and a southern at Madison. There are stairs and escalators along State Street between Randolph and Madison to access both mezzanines. Additionally, Washington is equipped with an elevator to the Randolph mezzanine and was therefore accessible to people with disabilities. There is another elevator between that mezzanine and State Street, which is still in use for access to the Lake station.

There were two stairways on the platform to a lower level pedestrian tunnel that connected the Washington station to the Washington station in the Milwaukee-Dearborn subway, to allow transfers between the Red and Blue Lines. Lake station to the north of Washington and Washington station were originally a single station, but they were separated on June 2, 1996, due to the renovation project of the Randolph-Washington mezzanine and Lake became an independent station on November 18, 1997, in order to better facilitate transfers between the Red Line subway and the elevated State/Lake station.

### Closure for Block 37 superstation

[edit]

As part of the development of 108 North State Street (known as Block 37), The City of Chicago planned to construct a superstation located under the Block 37 mall. Washington/State station, and the lower level transfer tunnel to the Blue Line closed at midnight on October 23, 2006, for work related to the construction of this new station.[1]

Following cost overruns of $100 million, the superstation was indefinitely mothballed in June 2008.[2] The Block 37 superstation which had already been partially built, was left abandoned. The Washington/State station was still closed, and the station's platform reopened in February 2010. The station remained closed and trains never resumed stopping at the station.

### Post closure

[edit]

When the CTA closed the Washington/State station, the station was left intact. No work was performed to improve the Washington-Madison mezzanine in the case that a reopening was considered. The platform changed little except for the removal of its signage. Washington/State was removed from CTA rail maps in January 2009.[3]

Due to its location, the Washington station is still easily accessible for pedestrian access via the Lake and Monroe stations.

As of October 2019, the CTA does not consider the station to have closed permanently, but there are currently no plans to reopen the station.[4]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Washington (Red Line) Subway Station Closure" (Press release). CTA. October 19, 2006. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2006.
2. ^ Hinz, Greg (June 11, 2008). "CTA to halt over-budget superstation". ChicagoBusiness.com. Crain Communications. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2008.
3. ^ Doyle, Mike (January 23, 2009). "Who Stole the 'L' Stop at Washington/State?". CHICAGO CARLESS. Archived from the original on January 26, 2009.
4. ^ CTA's Ride the Rails: Red Line to 95th/Dan Ryan Real-time (2019). CTA Connections. October 14, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2023 - via YouTube.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Washington station (CTA Red Line) at Wikimedia Commons
* Washington/State Station Page at Chicago-L.org

* v
* t
* e

Current and former Chicago "L" stations

State Street subway|

* North/Clybourn
* Clark/Division
* Chicago
* Grand
* Lake
* Washington
* Monroe
* Jackson
* Harrison
* Roosevelt

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