Quote:
Originally Posted by 10023
I’m not concerned with the logistics or the cost. I know it will never practically happen. I am making the point that these freeways should never have been built in the first place.
But I think you’re ultimately wrong about the gridlock. We know that increasing road capacity induces demand, and that reducing road capacity does the opposite. You would see traffic divert elsewhere, spread over Chicago’s many, many major arterial surface roads. It might even have the benefit of reviving some of the retail districts along said arterials if that Kennedy traffic was spread between Cicero, Western, Ashland etc.
And the traffic that isn’t going to or from downtown, and instead going from one end of the metro (or beyond) to the other, would be shifted to I-294 where it belongs. Though in a perfect world, Chicago would have a ring road closer in than the Tri-State but still nowhere near downtown. Like if the Edens just continued south roughly down Cicero Ave until it hit Midway, then turned eastward to meet up with the Skyway.
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Jesus H Christ, 10023! You really think Chicago's arterial roads (most of which are simply 2 lane roads that many drivers consider 4 lane roads without lane markings!) could handle even 25% of the traffic count on the Dan Ryan/Kennedy as well as the Eisenhower? Are you insane?
If, and it's a huge IF, Chicago had a ring road much closer than 294 it might be feasible to reroute 90/94 and 290, but without said ring road it will never, ever happen.
As for gridlock, we DON'T all know that increasing roadways increases traffic count, we certainly don't all know that the corollary is also true, that reducing lanes, in fact, reduces overall traffic counts. Have you ever tried to drive on one of Chicago's major arterials (especially the east-west ones) during rush hour? I don't care if it's Irving Park, Belmont, Fullerton, North, Division, Chicago, Roosevelt or any of the numbered streets towards the south side, they're all traffic-choked during much of the day. As for north-south roads, literally only Ashland and Western are wide enough to handle any major traffic, and these are two streets where BRT should be implemented, quite frankly.
So anyhow, just my $.02 here.
Aaron (Glowrock)