Configured with the Chicago Transit Authority’s Green Line station and landmarked overhead tracks as its centerpiece, Obama Square encompasses an intimate community space unlike others in Chicago.  With the pedestrian and street life as its foci, the design reduces street traffic to a minimum, and capitalizes on the elevated station to create a living, human destination.  By contrast, the placement of other Chicago transit stations has historically been a matter of expediency, having little integration into the strategic urban design of the city.  Chicago has suffered greatly from this approach.

No functionality is lost by means of the Obama Square design.  Rather, underground intermodal transfer to C.T.A. busses and future Bus Rapid Transit along Garfield Boulevard provides unusual convenience and total integration of the mass transit system.  A new, glass-enclosed pavilion houses escalators to the underground portion of the station, where heated waiting areas, public restrooms, and attendant services are provided.  As described in this website’s booklet entitled The Washington Park Neighborhood, Obama Square thus becomes a crucial linkage for all South Siders, providing much-needed improvements in the accessibility of Midway Airport, the Chicago Lakefront, and surrounding neighborhoods.