THE LOOP — The city is hard at work building stations for new bus lanes throughout The Loop, including one stop right in front of a statue by famed artist Joan Miró.

The city's new Bus Rapid Transit system is aimed at easing traffic congestion and better connecting Downtown's east and west ends. Along with new, dedicated bus lanes, the plan also calls for new canopied bus stops along Randolph, Washington, and Madison streets.

But one of those stations is being built directly in front of "Chicago," a totem to the city by Spanish artist Joan Miró that's sat across from the Daley Center Picasso since 1981.



[Courtesy of Ken Circo]

A mostly steel and concrete sculpture depicting a woman, "Chicago" rises 39 feet tall in a nook next to the Cook County Administration Building, 69 W. Washington St. It was commissioned the same year, 1967, as the Downtown Picasso, but with financial difficulties delaying it 14 years and its placement in a small, shadowy plaza, the Miró has long been overlooked in favor of the work by Picasso, another (and more famous) sculptor.

Michael Claffey, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation, said it will work with other city and Cook County agencies to ensure the Miró will be supported, not obscured, by the new bus stop.

Those steps will include lighting up the statue at night, adding benches behind the bus stop for viewing, and expanding the sidewalk to "create a visual queue to passersby that the Miró is there," Claffey said. The city's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events will also add information about the sculpture in the bus stop so people can learn about the art while waiting for their ride.

"Our expectation is that the location of the station will highlight the Miró sculpture and raise its profile in the mind of the public," Claffey said.

The spokesman added that myriad reasons prevent the city from moving the station elsewhere. Those include the need for a left-turn lane from Washington onto Dearborn, preventing the city from putting the stop on the east end of the block. If the stop were pushed further west it would limit how many buses could pull up to the stop at one time. Another "constraint" is the Pedway, which crosses from Daley Plaza underneath Washington to the Cook County building, Claffey said.

Crews began installing the new Downtown bus lanes and stops this spring, and is expected to be "substantially complete" by the end of the year, according to the city. About 30,000 commuters take a bus across the Loop daily.

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