New Tinley Park Metra station opens March 22
BY STEVE METSCH smetsch@southtownstar.com February 2, 2012 3:58PM
A Metra train passes the new 80th Ave. Metra Station and current Metra Station Friday, Feb. 3, 2012, in Tinley Park. The village announced that the new station will open March 22. | Matthew Grotto~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 6, 2012 8:13AM
Tinley Park’s new 80th Avenue Metra train station will open March 22, the village said in a news release.
Village and Metra representatives will be on hand to distribute refreshments and information to commuters, the release said.
Plans called for a 5,400-square-foot station that includes a 50-foot clock tower, a full kitchen, Internet cafe and rest rooms inside, and three warming shelters, reconfigured parking stalls and a covered drop-off area and veranda outdoors.
The old station had few amenities, and some commuters had to jump onto and off of trains because of a huge gap between the train step and the platform, which is being raised.
Completion of the station, 18001 S. 80th Ave., marks the end of the project’s first phase.
Eventually a vendor will run a coffee shop in the station, but requests for proposals on that are not due until March 5, assisant village manager Mike Mertens said Thursday.
The second phase is construction of the pedestrian underpass, which is expected to begin in late March and be completed in mid-August, the release said.
The second phase will require some adjustments in parking availability in both the south and north lots while underpass construction is under way, the release said.
A handful of parking spaces will be lost for about six months, Mertens said, but with about 3,000 spaces available, parking is not expected to be a problem.
The village also plans to build a veterans plaza south of the station.
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