CTA will add new Green Line station at Damen

A new Green Line stop — at Damen Avenue and Lake Street — is coming to the Near West Side.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Transit Authority officials made the announcement Thursday. No exact cost estimate for the station was available.

“As we’ve see many times, investment in new and improved CTA stations pays great dividends for communities across the city,” CTA President Dorval Carter was quoted as saying in a news release.

“Providing a convenient, affordable transportation option makes it easy for people to get to and from work, school and their other destinations. And new stations have been shown to promote private investment in the surrounding area.”

The new stop is expected to fill a 1.5-mile gap between existing California and Ashland stops, according to the mayor’s office. It also would be closer to the United Center.

Design and engineering work would begin in this summer; construction is expected to start in 2018, with the station opening in 2020.

The stop is designed to “better serve the growing business corridor and residential neighborhood on Chicago’s Near West Side,” the mayor’s office said.

It would be the third new CTA station opened since Emanuel took office in 2011.

The station “will fulfill a longstanding need for better transit options in the neighborhood and spur economic activity, improving quality of life for everyone who lives and works in the area,” Emanuel was quoted as saying in a news release.