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During the Great Chicago Places and Spaces weekend in May, we took a tour called “Millennium Park Revealed” which focused on the incredible engineering behind the 400+ million dollar park. After seeing all that lurks under the park (including a couple of multiple level parking structures, the Harris Theater, and of course Randolph Street Station), I have a new understanding of why it took so much money to make it happen.
I didn’t take a lot of pics of the garages (they just didn’t feel all that interesting), but I did take several shots when we reached the Randolph Street Metra Station.
The Randolph Street Station was once primarily in the out of doors, and in a “canyon” at the north end of Grant Park. But, beginning in 1999, as construction on Millennium Park got underway, the open air quality of Randolph Street Station was “lidded” over by the construction of the park. The platform in both the image above and below show platforms which were originally outdoors.
Part of the tour allowed us to gain access to an area directly under the enormous steel beams suspended 165 feet across railroad tracks. The steel trasfer “I” beams are eight feet in height, and in order to accommodate the changes in elevation above, are “bent” to create the stairs and embankment in the park.
More from the underside of the beam.
Looking through the giant concrete supports, a view of the new platforms built on the east side of the station. I think these are for the South Shore Line.
A view of the new platforms mentioned above from the public area.
