The Loop (CTA)

The Loop is the 1.79mi long circuit of elevated railroad that forms the hub of the Chicago "L" system in Chicago, Illinois. As of 2012, the branch has served 74,651 passengers every weekday. The Loop is so named because the railroad loops around a rectangle formed by Lake Street, Wabash Avenue, Van Buren Street, and Wells Street . The railroad loop has given its name to Chicago's downtown, which is known as the Loop. Numerous accounts assert that the use of this term predates the elevated railroad, deriving from the multiple cable car turntables, or loops, that terminated in the district, and especially those of two lines that shared a loop, constructed in 1882, bounded by Madison, Wabash, State, and Lake. However, transportation historian Bruce Moffat has concluded that "The Loop" was not used as a proper noun until after Charles Yerkes' 1895–97 construction of the elevated structure.OperationsThe Loop includes eight stations: Clark/Lake and State/Lake are on the northern leg; Randolph/Wabash and Adams/Wabash are on the eastern side; Library and LaSalle/Van Buren are on the southern leg; and Quincy and Washington/Wells are on the western side. In 2011 20,896,612 passengers entered the 'L' via these stations.