Chicago Construction News staff writer
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) says it will begin the final major stage of the North Belmont Red-Purple Reconstruction project this fall, as part of CTA’s Red and Purple Modernization (RPM) Phase One Project. This final stage will mark the next major milestone for the RPM project, completing new elevated track structure north of Belmont station and reaching the two-thirds completion point for this section of the project.
The project includes the full reconstruction of the 0.3 miles of southbound track structure north of Belmont station to approximately Newport/Cornelia avenues south of Addison Red Line station. The bypass, along with the new Red and Purple line tracks being finished this fall.
“As CTA ridership returns in record numbers nearing pre-pandemic levels, we are pleased to deliver modern track infrastructure to our customers,” CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. said in a statement. “Combined with the new tracks recently opened between Lawrence and Bryn Mawr earlier this year, we have now built nearly two miles of new tracks under the RPM project. We look forward to continuing to deliver on our promises to modernize the Red Line from north to south.”
With the completion of the bypass and the new southbound Red and Purple line tracks, CTA can move on to the next phase of work. CTA’s RPM project contractor, Walsh-Fluor, will rebuild 0.3 miles of northbound Red and Purple Line elevated track structures between Belmont station on the south to the stretch of track between Newport and Cornelia avenues on the north.
