Stantec named lead designer for Chicago rail modernization program

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has selected the Design-Build Team to provide engineering, design and build services for Phase One of the Red and Purple Modernization Program, a project for which Stantec will be the lead designer. The $2.1 billion project will reconstruct, modernize and build 1.9 miles of elevated tracks, including bridges and support structures along Chicago’s busiest transit corridor.

The design will also include reconstruction and modernization of the four of the oldest rail stations on the Red Line: Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr. A new rail bypass will relieve congestion at a century-old rail junction north of Belmont Station, where Red, Purple and Brown Line trains carrying 150,000 riders daily intersect, resulting in train overcrowding and service delays.

The Design-Build Team of Walsh-Fluor, which includes Walsh Construction and Fluor Enterprises Inc. as the lead contractors, was selected by the Chicago Transit Board in December. Stantec was selected to be the preferred lead designer for the joint venture pursuit in the fall of 2015. Phase One of the project will expand capacity, improve infrastructure and service efficiency, and support local plans for economic and community development near transit stations and through the corridor.

The design team will feature more than 300 Chicago-based Stantec professionals and will draw from practitioners in more than 20 Stantec offices. EXP, International Bridge Technologies and TranSmart/EJM Engineering will support as subconsultant designers.

The project will begin in the first quarter of 2019 and is scheduled to be completed in 2025.