[ardecila]

The last update in the city's procurement database for the design contract (Spec #579313) shows that the project is in "contract negotiations" as of 11/30/18, with no further updates. It's possible they picked a design team, but they made an executive decision to put the project on pause and avoid formally awarding the contract until the new mayor's administration had a chance to weigh in. FYI, Lightfoot has still not chosen a commissioner for CDOT.

One interesting tidbit I found in the solicitation is that part of the scope requested the design team to consider creating a single "Lake" station with platforms roughly centered on Dearborn. This new station would take over the existing connections to the Blue Line from the old Clark/Lake and include new transfers to the Red Line at the former location of State/Lake. The transfer walks wouldn't be short, but they would be entirely in-system. Reducing the number of station stops would continue the process of streamlining operations on the Loop in order to push more trains through. This isn't the firm direction though, it's still possible that they could continue the existing two-station arrangement.