Parts of the CTA Blue Line are set to temporarily close, again, as construction to remove slow zones continues — but the end of the work is in sight.

       From 10 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Monday, the Clinton, UIC-Halsted and Racine stations will be closed and trains won’t operate along that section of track, which runs near Union Station and the University of Illinois at Chicago. That stretch was also closed earlier in the summer as part of ongoing construction, but the Clinton and UIC-Halsted stations reopened in August.

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       The weekend closure means trains will operate only between O’Hare and LaSalle downtown, and between Forest Park and the Illinois Medical District through the city’s West Side. A shuttle bus will run at all hours between the Illinois Medical District and the CTA’s Jackson Station, which is ADA compliant, and will stop at each of the closed stations.

       The Clinton and UIC-Halsted stations will reopen Monday. Then, Oct. 8, access to parts of the Racine station are set to return, and Blue Line trains will resume running the entire length of the line for the first time since late July.

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       The closures are part of a $268 million project to rebuild track and upgrade the power system, which is expected to remove about 3 miles of the slow zones that plague the Forest Park branch of the Blue Line. But trains will continue to crawl down the highway median for much of the rest of the route, as about 80% of the 17.8-mile branch had slow zones before construction began.

       The agency is also demolishing and rebuilding the Racine station. Once tracks reopen Oct. 8, trains will resume stopping at Racine and one of the station’s entrances will reopen, but the station construction will continue into the coming years.

       The work is funded by state money, CTA bonds and funding from a city tax increment financing district. It’s intended to be the first stage of a complete, $3 billion rebuild of the Forest Park branch, but no funding or timeline has been identified for work on the remaining parts of the branch, the CTA has said.

       The effects of the closures have likely been felt up the busy O’Hare branch of the Blue Line, CTA spokesman Brian Steele has said. With part of the line out of service, wait times along the rest of the line were expected to be a “couple of minutes” longer. But when work is finished, fewer slow zones along the Forest Park branch should also mean better service along the entire line, the CTA has said.

       Until the tracks reopen in October, the CTA is offering free rides on bus routes near the construction zone. The free rides are being offered on north-south routes on roads between Ashland and Austin, for those who board at stops between the Green and Pink lines, which run on either side of the closed stretch of Blue Line track. Free rides are also being offered on some north-south Pace bus routes near the project area.

       On trains, fares will be cut in half for those who use a Ventra card and board at certain stations on the Green, Pink or Blue lines. On the Green or Pink lines, reduced fares will be in place at Ashland/Lake and all stations west, and on the Blue Line at the Illinois Medical District and all stations west on the Forest Park branch.

       The Forest Park branch of the Blue Line, which runs down the center of the Eisenhower Expressway, opened in 1958. It’s the only section of track that hasn’t had major improvements since it was constructed, according to the CTA.

       sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com

       Originally Published: Sep 27, 2023 at 12:49 pm