Grand, (Grand/State in station announcements) is an "L" station on the CTA's Red Line. It serves

Navy Pier Navy Pier is a pier on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Navy Pier encompasses over of parks, gardens, shops, restaurants, family ...

, which is accessible via bus on Illinois Street one block south.

Location

The first stop north of the

Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons for ...

on the Red Line, Grand station is located in the

River North The River North Gallery District or simply River North, in Chicago, is in the Near North Side, Chicago. It hosts the largest concentration of art galleries in the United States outside of Manhattan. River North has experienced vast changes in ...

neighborhood of the city. More specifically, it lies underneath North State Street at its intersection with Grand Avenue. Due to its central location, it is close to a number of landmarks in Chicago, with Navy Pier to the east and the

Merchandise Mart The Merchandise Mart (or the Merch Mart, or the Mart) is a commercial building located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. When it was opened in 1930, it was the largest building in the world, with of floor space. The Art Deco structure is locate ...

(which has its own station on the

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...

and Purple Lines).

History

Grand opened on October 17, 1943, as part of the State Street subway, which forms the central portion of what is now the Red Line between and stations. During the 1950s, the CTA implemented

skip-stop Skip-stop is a public transit service pattern which reduces travel times and increases capacity by having vehicles ''skip'' certain ''stops'' along a route. Originating in rapid transit systems, skip-stop may be also used in light rail and bus ...

service throughout the "L" system. Under this service pattern, Grand station was designated as AB along with all other downtown stations (on the Red Line, those stops south of and north of were given AB designations). As a result, all trains stopped at these stations. The skip-stop service was discontinued due to budget cuts in the 1990s.

Renovation

In line with other downtown stations, Grand station underwent renovation from 2007 until 2012. The project doubled the station's capacity through a mezzanine expansion as well as widening stairways and adding elevators. The final cost for the renovation was $73.6 million. Unlike most State Street subway stations, Grand uses a side platform configuration with two tracks. This setup does exist, however, at Chicago/State and stations. There are entrances from street level at all corners of the intersection of North State Street and Grand Avenue. One level below street level lies a mezzanine containing fare control, while the platforms are located beneath the mezzanine.

Operations and connections

In the era immediately before the State Street subway opened, Grand Avenue had a streetcar service from either

Harlem Avenue Harlem Avenue is a major north–south street located in Chicago and its west, southwest, and northwest suburbs. It stretches from Glenview Road in Glenview to the intersection of East South Street and South Drecksler Road in Peotone, where ...

or Western Avenue (cars alternated between them) in the west to

in the east. However, service was cut back from Navy Pier on September 28, 1941, and the tracks were removed on August 14, 1943. Buses began supplementing streetcar service to serve the Grand stations on the North Side Main Line and the State Street subway and relieve streetcar congestion, the service was extended to the entirety of the route on December 4, 1949; buses would replace streetcars altogether on April 1, 1951. CTA * 29 State * 36 Broadway * 65 Grand Other * Navy Pier Trolley (May–September Only)

Notes and references

Notes

References

Works cited

External links

Grand/State Station Page
on the CTA official site

at Chicago-L.org
Grand Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
{{Chicago "L" stations navbox, Red=Yes CTA Red Line stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1943