Lake station (CTA)

Lake is an "L" station on the CTA's Red Line in the Chicago Loop that is part of the State Street subway. Lake is a transfer station between the Red Line and the Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple Lines at the State/Lake station and the Blue Line at Washington via the Chicago Pedway. In 2019, Lake had an average of 19,364 weekday passenger entries, making it the busiest 'L' station.[2]

Lake   200N 0E/0W
Chicago 'L' rapid transit station
General information
Location	188 North State Street Chicago, Illinois 60601
Coordinates	41.884809°N 87.627813°W / 41.884809; -87.627813
Owned by	City of Chicago
Line(s)	State Street subway
Platforms	1 Island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	Blue at Washington via The Pedway Brown Green Orange Pink Purple at State/Lake
Construction
Structure type	Subway
Bicycle facilities	Yes (Randolph Entrance)
Accessible	Yes
History
Opened	October 17, 1943 (as part of Washington) June 2, 1996 (as temporary Washington-Lake station) November 18, 1997 (as permanent Lake station)
Rebuilt	1996–97 (Randolph-Washington mezzanine) 2004–05 (Lake-Randolph mezzanine and platform)
Previous names	Washington (part of that station) Lake-Washington (as temporarily separate station stop)
Passengers
2022	2,749,185[1]  33.1%
Services
Preceding station Chicago "L" Following station Grand toward Howard Red Line Monroe toward 95th/Dan Ryan
Former services Preceding station Chicago "L" Following station Grand toward Howard Red Line Washington Closed 2006 toward 95th/Dan Ryan
Track layout State Street Red north to Howard Lake Street  ( Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple ) Benton Pl. Randolph St. Red south to 95th/Dan Ryan
Location

Lake is linked to Millennium Station and Millennium Park via a Chicago Pedway connection that can be accessed at its Randolph–Washington exit.

On November 20, 2009, the Chicago Pedway connecting the unpaid portions of Lake and Washington stations reopened to service.[3]

This station was originally part of the now abandoned Washington station. The two were separated on June 2, 1996, due to the renovation project of the Randolph-Washington mezzanine and Lake became an independent station on November 18, 1997, in order to better facilitate transfers between the Red Line subway and the elevated State/Lake station.