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History:
A view of the
Pulaski station house, its ramp to the platform,
and a CTA bus shortly after the Congress Line's
opening in the late 1950s. The Congress
Superhighway is relatively new too. Note the
classic '50s autos. For a larger view, click
here.
(Photo from the Graham Garfield
Collection)
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In the mid-1950s, this station was constructed, replacing
the Garfield Park Line's Pulaski station, demolished to make
way for the Congress Street Expressway and the replacement
Congress "L" Line.
Pulaski is nearly identical to every other station built
in the Eisenhower Expressway, including an island platform,
a small station house on Pulaski's overpass containing only
a ticket booth and turnstiles and a long, enclosed, sloping
passageway/ramp connecting the two. A brochure, published by
the City of Chicago to commemorate the initiation of service
June 22, 1958, describes the stations this way:
Each station platform in the
expressway right-of-way is the island type, 600 feet long
and canopied throughout its entire length. Supported by
structural aluminum columns, the canopy extends beyond
the platform edge and over the roofs of cars....
Station design here is somewhat unique, resulting from a
compromise between the historic concept of closely spaced
stations (favored by aldermen) and widely spaced stations,
coordinated with bus feeder routes (preferred by eager CTA
planners anxious to improve transit service and system
productivity). The fare collection building is about 42 ft x
21 ft. The more important stops (like this one) are located
between two cross bridges separated by about 1/4 mile and
there is a station house and access ramp at each end.
On Pulaski's east end is its namesake street; on the west
is Keeler. The Keeler entrance to Pulaski closed was closed
Saturday January 13, 1973 as an economy move, but was
retained as exit. On Thursday December 28, 1978, the Keeler
exit was closed as well. While there are obvious
disadvantages to the long ramp concept, the compromise
design did avoid the additional stops the CTA planners hoped
to get rid of.
The CTA's 2002-2006 Capital Improvement Plan
includes a $3,070,161 project to design replacement
facilities for five rapid transit stations, including
Pulaski on the Congress branch of the Blue Line. These
stations will be accessible when reconstruction is complete.
Initial funding will provide for station design only. Post
FY 2007 funding will be required to reconstruct the
stations. Pulaski station had a weekday average ridership
level of 1,130 in 2001.
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