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Threading the Needle: Rebuilding 100-Year-Old Transit Infrastructure Above Chicago

June 08, 2022

Informed Infrastructure featured the Stantec-led design helping to make Chicago’s famous ‘L’ a point of pride for future generations

The city of Chicago features an undeniable legacy of design innovation. Based on a long history of pushing the limits of possibility through experimentation, Chicago has been something of a smart-city laboratory ever since the Great Chicago Fire left huge swaths of property ripe for redevelopment in 1871. Home to more than a few 20th century design giants, including famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the father of skyscrapers Louis Sullivan, among others, Chicago has long been regarded as one of the world’s greatest cities.

Today, an estimated 2.7 million people live within the city limits and a total nearing 9.6 million live in Chicago’s metro area. While the glimmering skyscrapers dominate the skyline, the fabric of Chicago remains a woven cloth of communities stretching across the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. Stitching together some 77 distinct communities is the city’s equally iconic transportation infrastructure, including the world-famous Chicago “L.”

As the nation’s second-largest transportation system, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) accommodates approximately 1.6 million riders on an average weekday while meeting its mission of delivering quality, affordable transit services that link people, jobs and communities.

Read the full story at Informed Infrastructure.

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