Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced today that the Morgan ‘L’ station is officially open, marking the first new Chicago Transit Authority station to open in Chicago in 18 years.

“Having world-class infrastructure is essential to our city’s goals of quality of life and economic opportunity for residents,” said Mayor Emanuel. “This station will help Chicagoans get around the city, to work, to school, and to be with their families. It will also have a profound impact on the local area in terms of job creation.”

Serving the Green and Pink Lines, the Morgan station sits in the burgeoning Near West/West Loop neighborhoods, which have seen substantial residential and commercial development over the past several years—complementing the area’s long-established light-industrial and food-supply and processing businesses.

“This new CTA station at Morgan and Lake is the result of many years of hard work by the Chicago Transit Authority, the City of Chicago, and the residents and businesses of the West Loop,” said U.S. Senator Dick Durbin. “It is also the result of $8 million in federal funding through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, an important program that help cities like Chicago pay for transportation projects that improve air quality and mitigate congestion. But not only will this new station expand the CTA network and help reduce traffic and pollution, it will also make it easier than ever for people from across Chicago to access the art galleries, restaurants, and businesses of this growing and vibrant community.”

“This station will benefit both the area’s longstanding businesses as well as its more recent residents, restaurants, nightclubs and shops,” said CTA President Forrest Claypool. “It will provide a convenient, affordable transit option to the people who live, work and visit this community, and will likely serve as a spark for future development in the area.”

The station, designed and built by the Chicago Department of Transportation, fills in a nearly 1.5-mile gap between the existing Clinton and Ashland stations.  Its modern design mixes some of the contemporary architecture of the area with references to some of the nearby, older commercial industrial buildings.  It is state-of-the-art in terms of functionality and materials, with ADA-accessible entrances, security cameras and platform features such as digital display screens showing train-arrival information, among other customer amenities.

The station features two, 4-story tall towers on the north and south sides of Lake Street at Morgan, each displaying the CTA logo.  The words “Morgan Station” appear on the underside of the elevated structure, serving as a convenient identifier to motorists and pedestrians.  A glass-enclosed skybridge connects the inbound and outbound platforms.  Customers can enter the station from both the north and south sides of Lake Street, with auxiliary exits one block east at Sangamon Street

The $38 million project was funded through the Kinzie Industrial Corridor Tax Increment Financing District and $8 million in Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) funds from the Federal Transit Administration.

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