There's a decent chance if you were coming to Toyota Park from the south, west or even sometimes the north prior to 2011, you played a game called 71st Street Train Roulette.
You know what I'm talking about. 71st Street would provide great access to Toyota Park if only one of those long freight trains wasn't crawling through at the time. If you got past the train tracks, it was a cool final breeze to the stadium.
If you got stopped by the train (especially close to kickoff) it was gut wrenching to have to sit and watch as it slowly passed by or even stop on the tracks as the game began in earnest inside Toyota Park.
At the end of 2011 access to the stadium from north-bound 71st Street was shutdown in order to build an underpass that would eliminate the need for 71st Street Train Roulette. Of course this didn’t make things easier for those coming from any of the above mentioned directions as you simply couldn’t gain access to the stadium.
It was a two-year headache that made entering and exiting from Toyota Park difficult.
All for the greater good though as the project was completed this past week and a ceremony held Saturday morning featuring Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to open the 71st Street Bridge.
It’s been a long wait and we’re glad it’s over…
