The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) broke ground today on the Wilson Station Reconstruction Project, which will modernize the 91-year-old stationhouse and the station’s more than 100-year-old track structure. The revitalized station will serve as an economic anchor for the historic Uptown neighborhood by stimulating local business and promoting job growth.

The $203 million project is one of the largest station projects in CTA history and is the latest in a series of Red Line modernization projects to take place since Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced plans to update the city’s busiest rail line in 2011.

“The Red Line is the backbone of our transportation network, and making major investments, like the new Wilson Station, drives economic activity that will benefit the Uptown neighborhood and Chicago for years to come," Mayor Emanuel said. “In order to build the world-class transit our city needs, we must act now. By doing so, we’re building and investing in our economic future and creating thousands of new, good-paying jobs.”

When the Wilson project is complete in late 2017, riders will have a modern, spacious and more accessible station that will be a new transfer point for Red and Purple Line trains. The project will also relocate and reconstruct 2,200 feet of elevated tracks, signals and supporting infrastructure, eliminating slow zones and improving service reliability for customers, as well as providing a more pleasing street environment on Wilson Avenue and Broadway Street in the heart of Uptown.

The project, expected to generate more than 550 construction jobs, is the latest of several large-scale CTA improvements planned under Mayor Emanuel’s leadership.

The Wilson project is part of CTA’s Red Ahead program, a $1 billion comprehensive initiative to maintain, modernize and expand the Red Line — Chicago’s most-traveled rail line. State funding supports much of the $1 billion Red Ahead investment.