CTA to make all rail stations accessible by 2036

[CHamilton]

CTA to make all rail stations accessible by 2036

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) will advance a plan to make its entire rail system fully accessible over the next two decades, CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. announced Wednesday.

Known as the CTA Strategic Accessibility Program, the initiative will outline short- and long-term measures to make CTA's rail system compliant with the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) by 2036, CTA officials said in a press release.

Thanks so much. I doubt that I'll be around by then.

 

[willem]

When I saw the topic title, I wondered if 2036 was a typo. Evidently not.

It's good to plan ahead, but...

 

[Anderson]

The read I get from this is that the CTA is going to be doing major overhauls on the lines one by one, bringing stations into compliance as they do. Bear in mind that while in some cases doing this is going to be simple, at some of the stations you're looking at nasty disruptions and inconveniences for all concerned if you're having to do a full rebuild on a loop station (especially if the station design really doesn't lend itself to being altered). Especially with the El, such a project doesn't just close the station...it likely plays merry hell with traffic below as well.

 

[neroden]

I'll be around for that. Remember, it's taken them 22 years to get this many stations ADA-compliant, and some of the remaining ones are the hardest (like Clinton Blue Line). A 20-year plan means that some stations will be done first, obviously, so it should get better and better over time.

Contrast New York City, which isn't even trying to get full accessibility.