Lake station (CTA)

Not to be confused with State/Lake in the Loop.

This article is about the 'L' station known as "Lake/State" and is not to be confused with Lake State.

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
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
2024	3,402,145[1]  9.7%
Rank	1 out of 143
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 Legend State St. Red north to Howard Lake St.  ( Brown Green Orange Pink and Purple Express ) 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, along with the Block 37 shopping mall, reopened, linking the free sections of Lake and Washington stations.^[3]

This station was originally part of the closed 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.

Bus connections

CTA

• 2 Hyde Park Express (Weekday Rush Hours Only)
• 6 Jackson Park Express
• 10 Museum of Science and Industry (Memorial Day through Labor Day only)
• 29 State
• 36 Broadway
• 62 Archer (Owl Service)
• 146 Inner Lake Shore/Michigan Express