CTA plans 100 percent ADA accessible rail system by 2036

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Daily file photo by Sean Su

A CTA train pulls away from the station. A teen was struck and killed by the CTA Yellow Line train near the Howard stop Friday morning.

Robin Opsahl, Assistant City Editor

Chicago Transit Authority announced Wednesday its plan to make all CTA rail stations handicap accessible within 20 years.

CTA President Dorval Carter introduced this plan at Chicago’s celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. While 70 percent of CTA rail stations are currently accessible, the project is meant to target the 46 stations currently without elevators.

“We’re proud of the progress we’ve made in the last 25 years, which has only been possible thanks to the strong commitment from Mayor Emanuel and the City of Chicago, as well as the involvement of the disability-rights community,” Carter said in a news release. “We do, however, recognize there is still more work to do and the creation of this new program will help map out a path for CTA to deliver on this commitment two decades from now.”

Carter said that over the course of 2016, a group of City of Chicago, CTA and ADA officials, along with disability community members and architects, will create a plan outlining long- and short-term accessibility goals for CTA. The plan would project the schedule and cost for repairing and replacing elevators in currently non-ADA compliant stations. The general public and disability community will also be consulted in this process before the plan is finalized in early 2017.

CTA said that already planned initiatives, like the Red Line and Purple Line modernization project, will also include better accessibility in their improvements.

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Twitter: @robinlopsahl