Joint venture partners Walsh Construction and Fluor have been selected by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) as the preferred partner to design and build Phase One of the Red and Purple Modernization (RPM) Program.
The $2.1 billion project will be the largest capital project in CTA’s history and will deliver improved infrastructure and ridership capacity along Chicago’s most utilized transit lines.
“Public transportation is essential to Chicagoans and their way of life,” said Matthew Walsh, co-chairman of Walsh Construction. “We are proud to play a leading role in modernizing this vital section of infrastructure on the northside of Chicago that will benefit commuters for the next 60 to 80 years.”
Walsh Construction and Fluor, along with lead designer Stantec Consulting Services and major subconsultant designers EXP, International Bridge Technologies and TranSmart/EJM Engineering, will design and build new elevated tracks along a 1.9-mile section on the northside of Chicago.
A Red-Purple Bypass will modernize the century-old Clark Junction where the Red, Purple and Brown Line trains currently intersect at the same grade. The fly-over bypass structure will eliminate train congestion by allowing eight more Red Line trains per hour during rush periods, accommodating up to 7,200 additional customers per hour during rush periods and increasing Red and Purple line train speeds through the intersection.
The project also includes rebuilding the Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr stations and all the tracks and support structures for more than a mile adjacent to the stations. New bridges, support structures, tracks and 3.2 miles of signal system upgrades will also be constructed. The project is set to start in the first quarter of 2019 and be completed by early 2025.
Walsh says the RPM Phase One Project will be the latest in a collection of transit improvement projects built by Walsh across Chicago. Walsh is currently rehabilitating the CTA’s Garfield Green Line Station in the Washington Park neighborhood, as well as the Belmont and Jefferson Park Blue Line Intermodal Facilities. In February 2018, Walsh Construction completed the reconstruction of the CTA’s Wilson Station in the Uptown neighborhood.
