Yellow Line Closure Has Cost CTA $3.5 Million

The five-month closure of the CTA Yellow Line has cost the Transit Authority about $3.5 million, but the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has taken full responsibility and offered to reimburse the amount lost.

According to the Chicago Tribune, CTA Spokesman Brian Steele estimated the number as the losses just through September on Friday when the CTA announced the line would re-open on October 30, more than five months after an embankment collapse near McCormick Boulevard in Skokie closed the line.

Estimates also show about 2,600 weekday riders have been forced to use alternate transportation to and from Skokie and downtown Chicago. Commute times for many of them who have boarded free CTA shuttle busses have tripled, according to the Tribune.

In addition to those expenses, the CTA has already offered free parking at the Dempster Street station through the end of 2015.

more via the Chicago Tribune