Resumption of CTA train service across Lake Street bridge delayed yet again
Completion of work on the Lake Street bridge has been delayed once again, causing continued service disruptions on the CTA’s Green and Pink lines.
Improvements to the 110-year-old bascule bridge include replacing its west leaf, its deck, substructures and CTA tracks, and rehabilitating the bridge’s houses and mechanical and electrical systems. It has been closed to vehicles and pedestrians since about a year ago, but CTA trains had continued to traverse its upper level until earlier this month.
Train service was to be completed in time to allow CTA service on the Green and Pink lines to resume early Monday. That had been delayed until 4 a.m. Wednesday. It is now expected to reopen to trains “later this week.”
The work is part of ongoing maintenance that began last fall with a similar closure. Even after train service resumes, the bridge will remain closed to vehicles and pedestrians until January 2028.
Until it reopens, Green Line trains will continue operating in two segments: from the Harlem/Lake stop at its western end to Clinton, and back; and from Clark/Lake in the Loop to its two South Side terminals. Shuttle buses will carry passengers between the Clinton and Clark/Lake stations.
Inbound Green Line trains from the South Side will travel clockwise around the Loop before heading south again.
Pink Line riders will still be able to ride all the way into the Loop over a more circuitous route; trains will operate between 54th/Cermak and the Racine Blue Line station, where passengers can transfer to the Blue Line into downtown. Pink Line trains will not operate in the Loop.
