Methodically, the surface parking lot sandwiched between the Amtrak parking garage and Union Station in the West Loop is being scraped away to make room for the new $22 million CTA Transit Center at 300 South Canal Street.
Union Station Transit Center, courtesy of CDOT
The transit center is billed as a “multi-modal” facility, though it stretches the definition a little. It will allow Amtrak and Metra riders to transfer to Divvy bicycles, CTA local 60, 124, and 157 bus routes, and the CTA’s new Loop Link Bus Rapid Transit line, which connects Union Station with the Ogilvie Transportation Center and Millennium Park.
The architect is Terry Sullivan of Muller and Muller in River West.
It’s a far cry from previous visions of the Union Station transit center which included links to water taxis, high speed rail to both airports and connections to CTA’s Blue Line subway and the talked-about-as-recently-as-2011 Canal Street subway. But at least it’s something.
