Want to skip Kennedy? Try CTA’s Blue Line

The Chicago Transit Authority is adding more trains to the northwest O’Hare branch of the Blue Line, the agency announced Friday.

The additional “shortturn” trips will begin Sunday and run daily between the O’Hare station and the University of Illinois Chicago-Halsted station, the CTA wrote in a news release.

The short-turn trips already occur during rush hours, but will now be expanded to run throughout the day. The agency cited increasing ridership on the line’s O’Hare branch, calling it “the busiest action of the line.”

“The extra trains will provide more service and help address crowding, as riders return to the office and other daily activities and events,” the CTA wrote.

The Blue Line’s O’Hare branch averaged 39,000 daily weekday riders in February. Ridership is up from an average of 25,900 weekday rides in 2022, but still well below the 71,500rider pre-pandemic daily average.

The additional service will help the CTA absorb new riders who may opt for the train as a threeyear rehab of the Kennedy Expressway that began Monday night leads to more traffic jams on the nearby interstate, the agency said.

On the first construction-affected morning commute Tuesday, I-90 congestion stretched north from Irving Park Road for some four miles around 7:30 a.m. Two regular inbound lanes will be closed at a time as construction continues, the Illinois Department of Transportation said.

“The Blue Line is a great alternative to the Kennedy, with Park and Ride lots at Cumberland and Rosemont offering ample parking capacity,” the CTA wrote.

In February, the transit agency added two extra trains to the Blue Line during the morning commute rush, the agency said.

The new additional service will take more riders between northwest Chicago through the Loop and to the Greektown neighborhood, but halt before the Blue Line’s additional stops on the West Side. Ridership is considerably lower on the line’s West Side Forest Park branch, CTA data shows.