Austin (6000W/400N)
Austin Boulevard and W. Corcoran Place, City of Chicago

Service Notes:

Green Line: Lake

Quick Facts:

Address: 351 N. Austin Boulevard
Established: April 19, 1899
Original Line: Lake Street Elevated Railroad
Previous Names: none

Skip-Stop Type:

Station

Rebuilt: 1962
Status: In Use

History:

The simple, wood-frame Austin station is seen looking east circa the 1910s. Note the interlocking tower at the end of the platform to control the crossover beyond. For a larger view, click here. (Photo from CTA Collection)

Austin Avenue station was built as part of the Lake Street Elevated's 1899 extension west from Laramie Avenue to Austin Avenue into Cicero Township and what is now the suburban of Oak Park. After leaving Laramie the line descended from the elevated structure down to ground level and continued to the terminal at-grade. The line was extended west of Austin Avenue later in 1899. The "L" was powered by overhead trolley wire along the extension for safety purposes due to the grade-level running. The tracks also paralleled the adjacent Chicago & North Western Railroad.

The modest stations on this portion consisted of island stations and platforms constructed of wood. The narrow station houses with their clapboard paneling and peaked roofs with overhanging eaves emptied out onto an island platform covered by a peaked canopy that was actually a continuation of the station house's roof. The tall steel poles that carried the "L"'s overhead wires occasionally poked through the canopy, interrupting the platform.

The "L"'s street-level operation began to result a number of crossing accidents, typically due to pedestrians and wagon drivers failing to take note of approaching trains. Neither the "L" nor the C&NW had any type of crossing protection originally. Manually-operated crossing gates and gatemen helped reduce accidents but did not eliminate them. The problem got worse as automobile traffic entered the picture and became more prevalent. The situation was further exacerbated when the parallel C&NW elevated their right-of-way circa 1908-09, creating a blind intersection due to the embankment preventing southbound traffic from seeing approaching "L" trains until they were on the crossing. The Chicago and Oak Park municipal governments tried for decades to get the "L" to elevate their tracks west of Laramie Avenue, to no avail.

Renovated Ground-Level Station

The Austin station is seen in 1955, looking east after its remodeling. One of the improvements was the ramped, fully enclosed entry to the station, providing weather coverage from the sidewalk to the platform. For a larger view, click here. (CTA photo)

In fall 1954, the CTA undertook a project to renovate the ground-level Austin station to expand its capacity and upgrade the quality of the facility for the approximately 8,000 riders who passed through the station each weekday, although the improved facility remained almost entirely of wooden construction.

The project involved demolishing the old enclosed wooden station house and building a new entrance, rearranging and expanding the fare controls, and widening the platform, though the facilities would still be confined to the space between the two ground-level Lake Street "L" tracks. The original open walkway from the Austin Avenue sidewalk to the small station house and the building itself were replaced with a new enclosed walkway, outfitted with a band of square-paned windows on both sides facing the tracks, from the street to the new entry to the station for continuous protection from both weather and passing trains. The roof of the walkway enclosure extended out over the Austin Avenue sidewalk as a canopy to protect people waiting for passing trains to clear the grade crossing. The enclosed entrance walk was slightly ramped upward toward the station to reduce the number of stair steps to ascend or descend when entering or leaving the station.

Other improvements made to Austin station in this 1955 view from the entry to the platform include new agents' booths, located to provide more space for passengers entering and leaving the station, and the addition of a new self-service Fare-O-Mat turnstile, to increase passenger capacity. An outbound Lake "A" train of 4000-series cars stops at the station in the background. For a larger view, click here. (CTA photo)

A new agents' booth was built on the at the west end of the platform, relocated to the platform from the demolished station house to provide more space for riders entering and leaving the station. Under the new arrangement, two agents could be assigned during rush hours to reduce waiting time in line to pay fares. In addition, a new Fare-O-Mat self-service turnstile, which accept coins or tokens, was provided to further increase the entry capacity and speed up the fare-paying process. An exit-only turnstile lane was also provided to separate entering and exiting passengers and further enhance circulation.

The station platform was widened by about 3-1/2 feet to provide more capacity and waiting space. To accomplish this, the north curb of the road paralleling the tracks to the south (then referred to as South Lake Street, now called Corcoran Place) was relocated about the same distance southward from Austin to Mayfield, then allowing the eastbound "L" track to be shifted about the same distance south of its former location. The was accomplished while "L" service was maintained on regular schedules. The modified platform was about 365 feet long and 12 feet wide. A new, larger canopy was erected over the platform, covering 230 feet of the platform and extending out over the tracks for added protection as riders boarded or alighted from trains. An enclosed waiting room was also built on the platform.

Work to upgrade the station started on October 18, 1954, and was completed on February 23, 1955. The improvements were made at a cost of approximately $45,000 for the entire project. The majority of the remodeling and installation work was handled by the CTA Way and Structures and Electrical departments; concrete and fence work required in relocating the north roadway curb of south Lake Street was let to outside contractors.

Track Elevation and a New Station

After decades of attempts to elevate the ground-level "L" tracks through Austin and Oak Park, in 1961 construction began on a joint project to elevate the outer portion of the Lake Street "L". The $4 million project was jointed financed by the Chicago Transit Authority, City of Chicago, Village of Oak Park, Cook County, State of Illinois, and US Bureau of Public Roads, and in cooperation with the Chicago & North Western Railroad. Rather than build a new elevated structure for the "L", the rapid transit tracks were relocated onto the C&NW's embankment, occupying the southern portion of the existing elevated right-of-way, which the railroad vacated. The elevation project eliminated 22 grade crossings between Laramie and Harlem avenues.

The interior of the Austin is seen in late 1962 looking south from the paid area. The entrance is already open and in use but is also just being completed, as the front area by the doors and windows could not be built until the old ground-level outbound "L" track was vacated and removed -- note that the ceiling in this area is newer and a different color. For a larger view, click here. (CTA photo)

The elevation project included the construction of new stations and removal of the old wooden stations at street-level. The stations included new island platforms on the embankment and street-level station houses on the south side of the embankment. The stations were very modern for the time, in many respects similar to and an evolution of the Congress line stations built a few years earlier, and described thusly in a promotional brochure for the project:

Integrated with the south wall of the North Western embankment, the new stations incorporate many design features.

Large picture windows enhance a light and bright interior. External walls are of ceramic glazed brick in the color code for the respective station. The color is repeated in porcelain enamel panels of each station front, in the glazed ceramic tile of the interior walls, and in the porcelain enamel panels of the agents' booths.

Passenger control facilities include agent-controlled, illuminated fare indicator turnstiles, coin-operated turnstiles, and electrically-operated, remotely-controlled exit turnstiles.

In the metal platform canopies, which extend over the roofs of cars at train stops protecting boarding and alighting passengers from rain, sleet and snow, the station color code is repeated. Translucent fiberglass panels are interspersed with the metal panels of the canopies.

Platforms and stations are illuminated by fluorescent luminaires.

At the platforms, the lights are turned off and on automatically by photo-electric cells. Lighting in the stations is controlled by the agents.

The "color code" for Austin station, used for various accents in the facility, was gray. The tiled wall outside the station entrances, on the embankment, featured pin-mounted metal letters spelling out the name of the station entrance.

The interior of the Mason auxiliary station house is seen in October 1964. The fare controls could be arranged to allow entry by the agent's booth or through the rotogate, or be configured for exit-only. For a larger view, click here. (CTA photo)

The Austin station had two entrances, with one at Austin Avenue at the west end of the station and another at the east end of the station at Mason Avenue. As a result, the station was sometimes referred to as "Austin-Mason" in some promotional materials, though maps and signage simply referred to the station at "Austin". The Mason station house was essentially a scaled down version of the primary entrance at Austin Avenue, with a smaller footprint. The inside contained a smaller, one-lane ticket agent's booth, a single agent-controlled turnstile lane which could be closed off with a high aluminum gate, and a rotogate that could be set to rotogate either exit-only or both ways to allow entry and exit. In this way, the Mason auxiliary entrance could be configured for one of three situations: entry with the facility staffed by an agent who collected fares; entry with the facility unstaffed, in which case the rotogate would be set to allow entry and fares would be collected by conductors onboard trains; or exit-only, with the booth and turnstile lane closed and rotogate set to exit-only. An electric sign outside the Mason station house had two readings to inform passengers if entry or only exiting was in effect.

The Austin platform is seen looking east from the west end over the street on October 2, 1962, a few weeks before opening. The design is typical of those built for the Lake Street Elevation project. For a larger view, click here. (CTA photo)

The station entrances at Central, Austin and Oak Park were equipped with an escalator in addition to the stairs to access the platform. The escalators were of a reversible, dual-operation type. Typically, in rush hours the escalators operated in the peak direction (up in the morning, down in the evening) and in off-peak hours operated automatically. While in automatic mode, the escalator was activated by treadle steps, at the top and at the bottom. Once set in motion by a passenger, it operated in the proper direction until the passenger had alighted. Flashing signs warned patrons not to board an escalator operating in the wrong direction. Both the escalators and stairs were protected by glass-walled shelters at the platform level.

The platform features a wooden floor and a steel canopy supported by I-beams. Windbreaks placed at intervals along the platform were S-shaped in plan, which each half recessed in a different direction to accommodate passengers waiting for the track on each side of it; the ends were angled outward at the top and the panels alternated yellow, green and white translucent panels, for a very "mod" appearance. They were topped with yellow background station name signs, the CTA standard for new installations by the 1960s. The platform lights at the ends of the platform outside the canopy were unusual, found only in Oak Park suburban stations and at Austin, with a thin pole and a conical head with a convex saucer as a cap.

The new Austin station is seen looking northeast in 1963. The new station is now complete, including the finished main station house and Mason entrance in the background, which could not be completed until the trains were moved onto the embankment. But the old "L" tracks remain to be removed from the grade crossing, and the remnants of the old ground level station entrance awaits demolition. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Jim Northcutt, from the Illinois Railway Museum Collection)

Lake "L" trains began using the new elevated right-of-way on the C&NW embankment between Laramie and Harlem on Sunday, October 28, 1962. The ground-level stations closed and the elevated platforms opened, but the new permanent street-level station houses were not ready yet, due to the portion of the future station houses outside the embankment being occupied by the street-level tracks that were used up until the moment the new station opened. Thus, there was no time to finish the station houses before the switch was made; completion had to await the old tracks' abandonment and removal. So, after the ceremonies dedicating the new 2.5 mile "L" realignment in the morning of opening day, service was briefly suspended west of Laramie with shuttle buses substituting for a few hours until 6pm while workers put wooden platforms over the vacated outbound "L" track between the old ground-level island platform and the portion of the station house that had already been built inside the embankment. Passengers still had to enter through the old station entrances for a time while the old ground-level facilities were removed and the remainder of the permanent station houses built in the vacated space. Completion of the remaining amenities was not far off, however -- the escalator at Austin went into service on Friday, November 2, 1962, and the two permanent station houses at Austin and at Mason went into service on Monday, January 14, 1963.

The station saw modest changes through the following years. On Monday, February 5, 1973, in one of several rounds of cost-cutting that year that included multiple station closures and service reductions, the Mason entrance to Austin station was closed, though it was retained as an exit. Mason remained available as an exit as least as late as the 1980s, when it was fully closed and boarded up.

Green Line Renovation

The Lake Street "L" and the rest of the Green Line closed in 1994 for a two year refurbishment, but a CTA citizens advisory task force recommended that Austin (along with Oak Park, Laramie, Homan and Halsted) be shut down and never reopened to make the interval between stations standardized one mile and to save money. However, after a protracted battle waged by Chicago citizens and elected officials, the station reopened in 1996 with the rest of the Green Line.

The Austin platform is seen looking east on May 30, 2003, as it appeared after the Green Line Renovation a few years earlier. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

However, unlike other stations that were rebuilt, few alterations were made to Austin station, as it was not originally budgeted to receive an overhaul. The existing station house, platform, and canopy remained. The station received new fare controls and some new signage, though some old signage remained. More significantly, Austin station, along with Oak Park and Ridgeland stations in Oak Park, reopened without modifications to make the stations handicapped-accessible. CTA officials contended they were not mandated by federal law to make all stations handicapped-accessible because they made only cosmetic changes to Austin and the two other suburban stations while carrying out the $350 million Green Line renovation. Eighteen of the line's 27 stations -- all stations except Austin, Oak Park and Ridgeland, and some Loop stations shared with other routes -- were eventually made handicapped-accessible, including the Marion Street entrance to the Harlem/Lake terminal in downtown Oak Park. The other stations, at Austin, Oak Park and Ridgeland, were not scheduled to be made accessible because the transit authority did not have the money, CTA Chairman Valerie Jarrett said in 1996.

Austin station received some new signage at platform level in 2009, including new "board here" signs and new column signs that adhere to CTA's Green Line Standards (which, ironically, were first designed as part of the 1994-96 Green Line rehab), replacing some signs that dated from the 1980s A/B skip-stop era. The station name signs remained an odd variant, presumably installed in the 1994-96 rehab -- they had white letters on a green background, a style previously used for "B" stations in the skip-stop era (whereas Austin was an "AB" all-stop station under A/B service); these were not replaced with Green Line Standard station name signs until a few years later.

All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP)

In July 2018, the CTA released its first plan to make the entire system accessible to people with disabilities over the next 20 years. The All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP) will cost about $2.1 billion, according to CTA, but the program was not funded at the time of the announcement. Rather, CTA formulated and announced the plan to begin the effort to secure funding by building support and increasing awareness of accessibility needs.¹

A rendering of the design for the renovated Austin station looking northeast at the facility. The new elevator tower can be seen rising up in the center. Other changes include new glass stair enclosures at platform level and aesthetic changes to the station house. For a larger view, click here. (Rendering courtesy of CTA)

Given the magnitude of this endeavor, project work was proposed to be performed in four phases over the 20-year period. To help prioritize the non-accessible stations, scores were assessed to each location based on needs and the complexity of work to be performed. The criteria used in determining the needs score is similar to what was used in previous CTA accessibility analyses (i.e. the 2012 Infrastructure Accessibility Task Force [IATF] Plan) such as ridership and gaps between accessible stations. In general, stations with higher needs and lower complexity scores were prioritized for near-term plans. Highly complex stations that require more time for planning, design, construction, agency coordination and community input are part of long-term project plans.²

Phase one of the ASAP plan puts elevators in eight stations: Austin on the Green Line, Montrose and California on the Blue Line, State/Lake on the Loop, and Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr on the Red Line.³ The State/Lake project has been discussed on and off since the 1980s, and is an effort managed by the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT). The four Red Line stations are being rebuilt as part of the larger $2.1 billion Red & Purple Modernization Program, Phase One.

Cost estimates for the three ASAP Phase One stations that were not part of RPM or CDOT's program were based on the proposed designs at a 10 percent completion level.⁴ When escalated to the Year-of-Expenditure (YOE), calculated to the midpoint of construction, the total unfunded cost of ASAP Phase One is $140.3 Million. The YOE cost estimate accounts for annual inflation, which makes the same project more expensive to implement in future years. The estimated cost for the ASAP improvements at Austin is $21.3 million in 2017 dollars, or $24.0 million when escalated to the YOE.⁵

In October 2019, CTA was awarded federal funding for several projects. $20 million was provided to make the accessibility improvements at the Austin Green Line station.⁶ Funding for the Austin project was sourced through the federal government's Surface Transportation Program (STP) and Governor Pritzker’s Rebuild Illinois Capital Plan. STP funds provided $20.3M in funding and Rebuild Illinois provide $5.3M to this project for a total budget of $25.6M.⁷

Station Design

A rendering of the design for the renovated Austin station shows planned changes to the station house, including expanding its footprint toward Corcoran Place, a new accessible ramp to the building, and aesthetic changes. For a larger view, click here. (Rendering courtesy of CTA)

In the ASAP plan, the existing Austin station house and platform structures are proposed to be retained but renovated and modified. An ADA compliant ramp would be added between street-level and station house. The elevator connecting the station house and platform is proposed to be positioned on the paid side of the station house, centered between the two sets of stairs that connect to the platform level.⁸

The existing east stairs and escalator from the station house to the platform are located in a narrow section of the platform that cannot accommodate the required minimum width of 5’ for wheelchair passing and turning. Due to the exorbitant cost of spreading the tracks further to widen the platform, the escalator is proposed to be removed; the existing east stairway would be repositioned to be centered within the existing platform. This will allow sufficient wheelchair passing and turning space at platform-level. While the existing escalator is a key amenity for all station users, all other alternatives to incorporate an escalator would disturb the embankment structures and/or impact adjacent freight rail operations, which would have significant cost implications.⁹

The Mason Avenue auxiliary station house, at the east end of the platform, is proposed to be reopened to provide a second path of egress to meet emergency exiting standards.¹⁰

Station Construction

On July 12, 2023, the Chicago Transit Board approved the awarding of a contract not to exceed $15.3 million to John Burns Construction Company, LLC following a competitive procurement process.¹¹

The Austin station platform is seen looking west on April 19, 2005. The design of the platform and canopy is typical of the Lake Street Elevation stations, and the roof was designed to extend over the over of the berthed trains, providing improved weather coverage for passengers. The station name signs in use at this time are somewhat interesting --they follow the Green Line Standard (so named because the design was developed for the 1994-96 renovation project) in their format, but not color: the tabs are green as they should be, not the name sign itself is also green instead of the standard medium gray. It is unclear why this variation was used, but the center panel with the name and coordinates was replaced with a proper gray sign in the early 2010s. For a larger view, click here. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

	austin-lake_19641000a_mason.jpg (106k) The Mason auxiliary station house is seen looking east in October 1964. The secondary entrances at the Lake Street Elevation stations, like Mason, were essentially smaller versions of the same designs as the primary station entrances. The backlit sign under the eave had two compartments with different messages -- one that the station was open for entry, the other that it was exit-only -- which was controlled by a switch in the ticket agent's booth and would be set according to how the Mason facility was set up at a given time of day. (CTA photo)
	austin-lake_19641000c_mason.jpg (102k) The stairway exit to the Mason station house at the far east end of the Austin platform is seen looking east in October 1964. Even when the Mason station house was not available for entry, it was always open for exiting. Compare to the same location after the Mason exit was closed off, in this 2005 view below. (CTA photo)
	austin-lake_19670000.jpg (242k) An outlying neighborhood transit scene was captured in this 1967 view looking north on Austin Boulevard toward South Lake Street (later Corcoran Place) and the Lake Street elevated. An inbound Lake "L" train of 2000-series cars, only a few years old, stops at the Austin station while a 5000-series Twin propane bus on the southbound #91 Austin route picks up passengers many of whom no doubt transferred from the "L". Note the brown street signs (as opposed to the then-standard black on yellow) on the stop light on the right, which at the time denoted a street designated as a park boulevard in Chicago. (Photo by Jim Northcutt, from the Illinois Railway Museum Collection)
	austin-lake_19671023.jpg (108k) The Austin station platform is seen looking west October 23, 1967 around the center of the platform, with the stairs and escalator to the station house visible in the background. Stations like Austin and the others built as part of the 1962 Lake Street Elevation, and those built for the Congress line in 1958-60, which were built completely new at the time were some of the few that had the signage standard in use at the time fully deployed throughout the station; for the most part, signs from this era were deployed on an as-needed basis at existing stations, resulting in a mix of different sign types and vintages at most stations. Visible examples here include the station name sign on the windbreak, the Board Here sign, the Transfer Stamp sign, and the Out and directional sign near the exit stairs. (CTA photo, Graham Garfield Collection)
	austin-lake_20050419b.jpg (266k) The Austin station house is seen looking northeast on April 19, 2005. The gray used for the glazed tile was the accent color assigned to Austin -- the accent color was different at each of the five stations in the 1962 elevation project -- and was repeated in porcelain enamel panels in each station station, in the glazed ceramic tile of the interior walls, and in the porcelain enamel panels of the agents' booths. The green sign reading "Austin" covers the location that originally had pin-mounted metal letters reading "AUSTIN AVENUE" when the station was built. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	austin-lake_20050419c.jpg (211k) The interior of the Austin station is seen looking north in the unpaid area on April 19, 2005. The glazed wall tiling and ticket agent's booth are all original to the 1962 construction of the station house; the turnstiles are models installed in the 1990s, but note the worn path in the concrete floor that leads in front of the booth and ticket window where the agent-controlled turnstile had been for 30+ years. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	austin-lake_20050419d.jpg (198k) The escalator and stair to the Austin platform are seen looking east in the station house paid area on April 19, 2005; another stair to the platform is behind the photographer. Originally, the escalators were of a reversible, dual-operation type -- typically, in rush hours the escalators operated in the peak direction (up in the morning, down in the evening) and in off-peak hours operated in either direction, activated by treadle steps at the top and at the bottom. By the time of this photo, the escalator operated up at all times The small light gray tiles on most of the walls in the paid area were standard to all five stations in the 1962 elevation project, while the gray of the larger tiles on the right matched the specific accent color assigned to Austin station. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	austin-lake_20050419e.jpg (293k) The Austin station platform is seen looking west from above the station house on April 19, 2005. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	austin-lake_20050419f.jpg (256k) The Austin station platform is seen looking east on April 19, 2005. The blue Austin sign on the column is an older KDR-style sign from the 1970s and well-outdated by the time of the photo; a current-style Green Line Standard sign would be installed a few years later. At the same time, the two overhead Board here signs, which date from the 1996 Green Line renovation, would also be updated to the current style. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	austin-lake_20050419h.jpg (255k) The far east end of the Austin platform is seen on April 19, 2005. This was the former location of the Mason auxiliary exit, closed in the 1980s -- the stair enclosure (seen in the 1964 photo above) was removed and the end railing filled in; the capped stairway threshold is visible at track level beyond the railing. The original light fixtures, seen in this 1962 photo, have been replaced with sodium vapor "shoebox" lights, probably in the 1980s. The former Chicago & North Western (now Union Pacific) Railroad runs parallel to the "L" tracks on the embankment, on the left (north) side of the fence in this view, making these and neighboring station platforms good railfan train-watching spots. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	austin-lake_20070228_mason.jpg (246k) The closed Mason auxiliary station house is seen looking east on February 28, 2007. The original glass doors and picture windows were bricked up after the closure (with a utilitarian metal door in the brick wall to maintain access) to reduced vandalism and maintenance and make the non-passenger facility more secure. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	austin-lake_ASAPrendering2018.jpg (445k) Early artist's rendering from 2018 of the conceptual design for the changes to Austin proposed in the ASAP Strategic Plan. Some of the details of the planned designed are less refined in this image than in later renderings produced for the project. (Rendering courtesy of CTA)
	austin-lake_ASAPrendering2023b.jpg (351k) An updated rendering from 2023 of the planned renovation to the Austin station shows the modifications to the station house looking east on Corcoran Place. The new ramp will provide ADA-compliant access from the sidewalk to the station house, which is slightly above street level. The station house is also expanded southward to enclose the top level of the ramp. (Rendering courtesy of CTA)
	austin-lake_ASAPrendering2023d.jpg (287k) A 2003 rendering of the planned improvements to the Austin station provides a nighttime view looking north of the renovated station house and modifications providing an accessible path in and out of the station. (Rendering courtesy of CTA)

Notes:

1. Wisniewski, Mary. "CTA plans for accessible stations, though funds are not available." Chicago Tribune, July 19, 2018.
2. Chicago Transit Authority. "All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP)" flyer. July 2018.
3. Wisniewski, ibid.
4. Chicago Transit Authority. All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP) Strategic Plan, July 2018, pp. 83.
5. Ibid, p. 85.
6. McCoppin, Robert. "CTA and Metra stations, Barrington, Naperville and other transportation projects get federal funding." Chicago Tribune, October 11, 2019.
7. "CTA Moves Forward on 'All Stations Accessibility Program' Awarding $15.3 Million Contract for Austin Green Line Station Improvements." CTA press release, July 12, 2023.
8. CTA, July 2018, pp. 37-38.
9. Ibid.|
10. Ibid.
11. CTA press release, July 12, 2023.