CTA’s State/Lake L station 3-year rebuild plan prompts unhappy responses from Chicago transit riders, others

We asked readers about the city’s plan to close the State/Lake L station until 2029 for a $444 million rebuild? Here’s what you told us, lightly edited for clarity:

“Money well spent. The station is from the 1800s. … If we want people to use modern systems of transit, we need modern stations that attract people.”
— Ashley Nicholas Dodson

“Run more trains. Don’t make nicer places to wait for them.”
— Gordon Wojdyla

“That is going to be a real hardship on a lot of people for that long, and yeah, it’s going to be longer than three years. Bet on it.”
— Pam Angeloni

“The new State/Lake will be worth it for locals and tourists. It will be the next Washington/Wabash of the Loop.”
— Jaime Duque

“It’s a needed upgrade that needs to be done right. The problem is the high cost of infrastructure more broadly in the United States.”
— Steven William Zwick

“It’s great to renovate the station and perfectly fine for it to close, but, wow, three years is an excessively long time. These things should really only take a year or less.”
— Alex Scheppke

“Seems a bit ambitious. How nice is it going to be when birds start roosting in it again? But wider platforms definitely are needed at a minimum.”
— David Davy

“It’s really small narrow and outdated. Clark/Lake is only a block away, go for it!”
— Brian McDonough

“I am all for fixing/updating the station. But I don’t see the need for it to be the Starship Enterprise at a price tag of $444 million. It just seems excessive.”
— Jean Waller

“Ridiculous. … In Japan, and many other countries, they’d have this done quickly, because they actually value public transportation.”
— Annaliese Spalink

“Hopefully, it will have working escalators.”
— Scott Hume