The station viewed from the west, closest to Wrigley Field. Did I mention that this station is a giant Draft Kings ad?
Here we are, the end of the scavenger hunt at our final destination - Wrigley Field. While we did not take the Red Line there from our previous stop (we took the 22 instead), we left the area through the Red Line, using Addison station.
The station is like most of the other Red Line stations, and has one concrete center platform elevated over the street. Other stations on the North Side do vary from that format, but a number are similar. Four tracks actually pass by here, the inner pair used by local Red Line trains that stop here, and the outer ones used by express Purple Line trains to bypass the station. One odd quirk of the station (and I feel like this goes for other Red Line stations as well) is the lack of seating. Red Line stops just do not have places to sit at all. I get that a case could be made for this station due to the crowds coming from the baseball games and that it does have a kind of narrow platform, but seriously? Come on CTA, give us some benches. Similar case down at Fullerton and Belmont, with better platform layouts and sizes, and much less crowd surges, there are still a lack of benches. At least the platforms have countdown clocks to let you know how long it'll be until you have a chance of getting a seat on the Red Line.
And yeah, this station does get crowd surges. I've never been to Addison right after a Cubs game (and their 2022 season has ended), but I've seen crowded stations before. It can get bad, and Addison can definitely do with a capacity upgrade. The station only has two entrance / exits and one exit-only stair... yeah that might not be the best. The second entrance is connected to a back alley, is barely signed at all, and connected to the main ticketing area, which has like four turnstiles.
The station viewed from the west, closest to Wrigley Field. Did I mention that this station is a giant Draft Kings ad?
The station viewed from the east, but just nine months later at night. This area is really nice at sunset actually.
Looking west from the station, towards the baseball field. Even when quiet, it is a wonderful view (uhh, you have no clue what it's like when it's packed).
That same view, basically the same spot, just nine months later at night. The night view is so much better.
Looking down the platform, you can actually see the Red-Purple Bypass on the Brown Line from here (though I just call it the flyover). This bridge carries the Kimball-bound Brown Line, and will be discussed more in tomorrow's post.
Final thoughts - This place needs some work done (and possibly some ad removal). An additional entrance that doesn't share the same ticketing area as the main one would be helpful for crowd control.
Posted: Oct 16, 2022 21:12
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