Thursday, June 21, 2012

by Bill Smith

CTA President Forrest Claypool and Evanston officials gathered this morning to celebrate the near-completion of a decades-long effort to replace crumbling, century-old Purple Line viaducts.

Standing by the massive machines that will roll the new Dempster Street viaduct into place this weekend, Claypool said that come Monday, riders will have two completely new viaducts that will eliminate slow zones where trains had to almost roll to a stop to cross safely.

State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg of Evanston said he'd often wondered as he passed through one of the viaducts whether it would still be there when he came back home.

Schoenberg said he'd been "like a dog with a bone" trying to secure funding for the project.

He said that as part of the 1999 "Illinois First" infrastructure funding project seven CTA viaducts were supposed to have been replaced, but that after one viaduct here was built, then CTA President Frank Krusi "hijacked" the funds for work on stations in the South Loop.