ALBANY PARK — The end of the line will come sooner than usual for riders of the CTA Brown Line, as the Kimball station will close for about 10 days starting early Saturday.
The temporary station shutdown will allow CTA crews to replace tracks as well as signal and power systems at the west end of the rail yard.
During construction, Kimball Avenue itself will also be closed to through traffic between Lawrence and Wilson avenues. Access will be allowed to local businesses but buses will be rerouted to neighboring streets.
The project begins at 2 a.m. Saturday and is expected to be completed by 4 a.m. July 22.
The Kimball station opened in December 1907. The station last closed in September 2006 as part of the Brown Line Capacity Expansion Project.
A CTA ridership report from April 2013 showed approximately 4,200 people boarded the "L"every weekday at the Kimball station. Monthly ridership totals at the station over the past 12 months have ranged from a low of 99,000 in December 2012 to a high of 125,000 in October 2012.
Word of the plan, which caught Albany Park residents by surprise, came Tuesday afternoon via an email message from Ald. Richard Mell (33rd).
