Rosemont
5800N
10500W
10500W
Rosemont is a Blue Line station that was originally called River Road Station when it opened on February 27, 1983 and was the terminus of the Blue Line for a year and a half. In the 1990s the station was given a geographic based name (one of the only on the CTA) for the suburb it is located in. Part of this renaming included a pictogram on all signs of a Rose Petal. Except for the Airport symbol for the Airports it is the only CTA station to be represented by a picture. A plaque in the station dedicates it as the Martin E. Darcy Jr. River Road Rapid Transit Station, for a police officer killed in the line of duty.
The station itself is located in the median of the Kennedy Expressway (here Interstate I-190 because I-90 curves north to become the Northwest Tollway who's first toll plaza is visible on the opposite side of the station's parking lot). The highway is on a raised embankment here and there is a single wide island platform (that gets wider towards the western end of the platform). The platform is covered by a white canopy that runs the entire length of the platform. The canopy covers the two tracks as well with the support beams located at the track edges. The roof is broken up by a series of translucent domed skylights letting natural light down to the platform.
The station has one exit at the western end of the platform (where its wider). At the extreme end is an elevator, just beyond it is unique structure with two narrow escalators in the middle of two staircases (that start at different places on the platform but arrive at the same places at the station's exit level) that wind there way down to the exit and fare control area. Here immediately on the north side is the bank of turnstiles. These lead to a tunnel beneath the O'Hare-bound lanes of Kennedy to a large 7 bay covered bus loop with a canopy similar to the one that covers the platform. This bus loop is the Rosemont Transit Center and a hub for suburban PACE Buses. Beyond the bus loop is a Kiss-n-Ride Loop that is also a taxi stand. To the east is a large 798 Park & Ride lot that costs $5 per day. At the northwest corner of the parking lot jungle is a first generation blue pylon clearly from the station's opening. It refers to the station as River Road for CTA Rapid Transit to O'Hare, Loop, and the West Side. West of this is River Road a nearly sidewalk-less suburban boulevard River Road. Although there is a campus of Airport Hotels just south of the station (visible from the platform) the minimal sidewalks mean most hotel patrons wanting to get into the City of Chicago are given shuttles the short distance from their hotels to the CTA.
All Photos: 3 July, 2013
