Last September, the Chicago Transit Authority announced they would begin the renovations to the thirty-year-old Loyola ‘L’ Station. Since that time, Kewit Construction, who won the competitive bidding process for the $5.7 million project, has worked diligently through the winter months to complete the station retrofits.

Loyola University Chicago contractors have worked alongside Kiewit to complete its $18 million investment into a new public plaza, mixed use building and reorientation of the cross walk to provide a safer, vibrant and more attractive pedestrian experience.

The project will stabilize existing infrastructure, upgrade the existing station and redirect pedestrian traffic away from the mid-block Sheridan Road crossing in front of the station for improved safety. The main entrance will be relocated slightly north, along the embankment, to allow for a new pedestrian plaza and a more inviting path in and out of the station, with better visibility.

The project will provide customers using the upgraded Loyola station with a bright, new ground-level station house with safer, more convenient access from the new plaza north of the station, as well as from Loyola Avenue on the west side of the station. The project will also rehabilitate the viaduct across Sheridan Road, providing concrete repairs, new trackwork and brighter lighting.

The station improvements are in their final stages and together with the plaza, will be online mid-summer 2013. A ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the new station and plaza is being planned for late summer 2013.

The Loyola renovation project is part of the CTA’s $1 billion Red Ahead capital investment initiative announced in November 2011. Project funding is sourced through a combination of federal funding from the fiscal year 2010 Transportation and Housing Appropriations Bill, as well as Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA-LU) funds.