ShareThisRAVINIA TO BUILD PEDESTRIAN UNDERPASS CONNECTING PARKING LOT TO ENTRANCE GATE
ADA-compliant entry will eliminate customer wait times while trains unload on the Metra North line
August 25, 2010RAVINIA TO BUILD PEDESTRIAN UNDERPASS CONNECTING PARKING LOT TO ENTRANCE GATE ADA-compliant entry will eliminate customer wait times while trains unload on the Metra North line
Ravinia Festival will break ground immediately following the 2010 season on building a handicapped-accessible pedestrian underpass that will connect the main parking lot to the festival grounds at the Tyler Gate entrance under the train tracks. The work will be completed by spring with the underpass opening at the start of the 2011 festival season. Construction crews will work around the train schedule on the Metra North line (which stops at the festival gate) so there will be no commuter delays. Ravinia will privately fund the $5 million project.
The underpass will eliminate long wait times in the parking lot for customers who cannot enter the grounds while trains are unloading. Without the underpass, wait times can be as long as 30 minutes when the northbound and southbound trains arrived consecutively.
Ravinia was started by a train company in 1904, and the train's convenient location to the festival is one of the keys to our success. It is still the fasted, easiest, most energy-efficient and least-expensive way to get to Ravinia, whether you're coming for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra or for Sheryl Crow. Kauffman said. We want to ensure that this vital part of our heritage remains customer-friendly and worry-free. The underpass will make the trip to Ravinia even easier by allowing people to enter the park as they arrive instead of finding themselves blocked by an unloading train. Ravinia staff and its contractors have worked closely with representatives from Union Pacific Railroad and the City of Highland Park for the past two years to plan this project. It has already been approved by the city's Design Review Commission, Historic Preservation Commission and Festival Relations Committee, with periodic updates provided to the Highland Park City Council, which last night approve the construction work schedule.
Ravinia has engaged the services of traffic consultants to model pedestrian flow, acousticians to measure sound levels and a myriad of engineers to map and minimize the potential construction impact on the neighborhood. We have met with Highland Park staff on more than a dozen occasions to seek approval and guidance for every aspect, including design, engineering, positioning of the entrance ramps, tree preservation and drainage, said Ravinia Festival General Manager Patricia Sanders, who will oversee the project along with contractor W. B Olson and project manager Jim Johnson of The AT Group.
The underpass was designed by JJR. It features two ADA-compliant ramps that will lead Ravinia patrons to a 42 foot underpass. Patrons will emerge to a mirror set of ramps on the park side. Groves of birch trees will be planted in the center of the ramps on both sides and all ramp walls will feature a concrete relief panel displaying the name Ravinia camouflaged in a relief image of birch trees.
Learn more about Ravinia Festival
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