King Drive
6300S
400E
400E
King Drive (called South Park Avenue until the street was renamed in 1968) is a very unusual station. Passengers can only enter the station to go inbound towards the the loop, a practice that has been in place since 1970 and until just a few years ago was indicated on system maps by an arrow pointing inbound to prohibit outbound boarding. The station was closed for renovations from December 1, 1991 to October 31, 1993, and was open only until January 1994 when the entire Green Line was closed for rehabilitation. The station reopened for good in 1996 (Chicago-L.org). The renovations further enforced the boarding restrictions with today's present design. The stop has two side platforms on an elevated structure located above 63rd Street, just after the East 63rd Street branch curves east. The two side platforms are canopied in their midsections (with beams going across the track area), where the exits are right in the middle of trains and left exposed for short distances at their ends with blue fencing. The Cottage Grove-bound platform has two high exit turnstiles directly on the platforms, these are right in front of their own staircases down to the SE and SW corners of Martin Luther King Drive. An elevator leads down to the SW corner and to an extra wide high exit turnstile (designed to accommodate wheelchairs) at street level. There are no slam gates or the like to leave this station, all passengers including wheelchairs leaving the station must go through high turnstiles. The Loop-bound platform has two staircases (one on each side of King Drive) and an elevator at the SE corner of King Drive and 63rd that lead up to a fare control area with turnstiles and a Customer Assistant booth directly along the side platform.
Photos 1-8 taken on 3 August, 2011, 9-26 on 4 July, 2013
