[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

Belmont is the only one that barely makes sense, since it is underground. Irving Park and Pulaski though are in the middle of an expressway, no way it should cost this much.

Originally Posted by glowrock

I agree that the Belmont station rehab was a joke. It was all cosmetic, nothing really changed. The elevator situation there is pretty complex, however. I do understand substantial new tunneling needs to occur, accounting for the cost. Not sure about the Pulaski Congress Line station situation, though.

Aaron (Glowrock)

Part of the high cost is that CTA has decided they can't add elevators without also building 2nd exits from each platform for fire safety. I don't know why they have made this decision, which makes accessibility much harder and more expensive to achieve.

Pulaski was built with two exits, but closed its 2nd exit (to Keeler) long ago. My guess is that the Pulaski project will rebuild the Pulaski stationhouse similar to the Ogden stationhouse at IMD (before/after). That project cost $23M. Currently the Pulaski stationhouse has a long ramp, it will be altered to a stair/elevator combo. Presumably the Keeler entrance will be reopened too, both to provide temporary access during station construction and to provide a 2nd fire exit after completion. No idea if the Keeler exit will be an auxiliary entrance, or just a fire exit only.

Irving Park has a whopping four exits designed to facilitate easy bus transfers. If all four exits need elevators, that could get very difficult, especially considering how narrow the platform is.

Belmont was only built with one exit, but they may be planning to add an emergency exit at the south end of the platform near Kimball/Barry. CTA is already building a new substation in this area to provide more juice to Blue Line trains.

Originally Posted by galleyfox

I assume there’s something funky about these locations that the CTA is leaving for last? Almost all the unfinished stations are either on the Blue Line, suburban, or in the Loop.

It's not that these locations are especially challenging (except for the subway stations and Loop L stations) - it's that the job of adding accessibility keeps getting harder and more expensive. See above.

Also, the Blue Line can't be shut down for a big modernization like the Green Line had - it's too important to the city's economy. You could maybe do a big reconstruction on the Congress branch, but the Feds have not dumping cash like they used to. So CTA has apparently decided to piecemeal the modernization of both ends of the Blue Line.