Jefferson Park (Metra-CTA)

The Jefferson Park Transit Center is an intermodal passenger transport center, in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It functions as a station for rail as well as rapid transit and also as a bus terminal. Jefferson Park Transit Center's railroad station is on Metra's Union Pacific/Northwest Line, with the station located at 4963 N. Milwaukee Avenue. Jefferson Park is mi to km|8.7 away from Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago, the inbound terminus of the Union Pacific/Northwest Line [ [http://hometown.aol.com/chirailfan/mmupnw.html Metra Railfan Tips - Union Pacific/Northwest Line] ] . Under Metra's zone-based fare system, Jefferson Park is in the B zone. The station is part of a larger transit center that also includes an 'L' station on the Chicago Transit Authority's Blue Line, as well as a bus station. The segment for the L is a surface level station with a single island platform, located in the median of the Kennedy Expressway at 4917 N. Milwaukee Avenue

Jefferson Park station consists of two platforms for Metra and one for the Blue Line. The northeast platform serves inbound trains, and the southwest platform serves outbound trains as well as a center track which carries both express trains in both directions as well as trains that terminate at Des Plaines. However, only two trains stop at Jefferson Park on the center track on weekdays, as the station is bypassed by express trains. A station house open from 5:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. is located on the inbound platform. There is no ticket agent at Jefferson Park, so tickets must be purchased onboard the train. Jefferson Park has a park and ride lot operated by Imperial Parking.

History

The original Jefferson Park Station was built in the 19th Century, by the Chicago and North Western Railway at ground level [ [http://jeffersonparkhistory.org/ Jefferson Park Historical Society(with colorized 1924 image of original station)] ] , and was raised above ground in 1958. On February 1, 1970, Jefferson Park's L station opened as the northwestern terminus of the Kennedy Expressway extension of the CTA's Milwaukee Line (now the Blue Line) [" [http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/jefferson_pk.html Jefferson Park.] " Chicago-"L".org (URL accessed October 8 2006).] , as an addition to the Jefferson Park Chicago & North Western depot. The station was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. In 1983 the branch was extended past Jefferson Park to O'Hare Airport. The station was renovated in 2000–2001, and an elevator added to aid access. In 2005, a monument to Thomas Jefferson was placed along the station's entrance along Milwaukee avenue.

Bus Connections

CTA Buses
* #X54 Cicero Express
* #56 Milwaukee
* #56A North Milwaukee
* #68 Northwest Highway
* #81 Lawrence (Owl Service)
* #81W West Lawrence
* #85 Central
* #85A North Central
* #88 Higgins
* #91 Austin
* #92 Foster

Pace Buses
* #225 Central-Howard
* #226 Oakton Street
* #270 Milwaukee Avenue
* #394 NW Chicago-UPS Addison

Image Gallery

References

External links

* [http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/jefferson_pk.html Jefferson Park Transit Center (Chicago 'L'.org)]