CHICAGO | General Developments

[PKDickman]

Originally Posted by emathias

It's gridlock because a lot more people are coming into the area, not because Columbus is closed.

These ideas of an empty Columbus aren't borne out by the facts.
According to CDoT the AADT south of the fountain is 37000 and 30000 north.

While that's not as high as Michigan, those are the numbers typical of a major arterial like Roosevelt or Western.

[Mr Downtown]

Yeah, I'm usually not very sympathetic to those who predict "gridlock" from every new development. But anyone who lives in the South Loop is keenly aware the minute Jackson or Balbo or Columbus are closed for one of the festivals, because Michigan, Roosevelt, and State instantly lock up.

I'm not sure if we need more aggressive TMA control at the intersections, or dedicated lanes for buses and taxis, or turn restrictions, or what. But it's more than a minor annoyance.

[pilsenarch]

Nm

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Yeah, I'm usually not very sympathetic to those who predict "gridlock" from every new development. But anyone who lives in the South Loop is keenly aware the minute Jackson or Balbo or Columbus are closed for one of the festivals, because Michigan, Roosevelt, and State instantly lock up.

I'm not sure if we need more aggressive TMA control at the intersections, or dedicated lanes for buses and taxis, or turn restrictions, or what. But it's more than a minor annoyance.

Wouldn't that 'gridlock' be due to, at least partly, the additional traffic coming to visit the festival and not the actual road being closed.

[ChiHi]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

Wouldn't that 'gridlock' be due to, at least partly, the additional traffic coming to visit the festival and not the actual road being closed.

That would be during the festival. As one of the South Looper that Mr D referenced, when they shut down the streets a couple days prior to and after the event, the bus is pretty much a useless form of transportation as it takes around 45+ minutes for me to get from 16th/Michigan to Clark/Adams. Since I walk the majority of the time anyway I'm all for the large developments in the South Loop. The bigger the better. Maybe then we'll actually get a train stop between Roosevelt and Cermak.

[UrbanOasis]

Originally Posted by ChiHi

That would be during the festival. As one of the South Looper that Mr D referenced, when they shut down the streets a couple days prior to and after the event, the bus is pretty much a useless form of transportation as it takes around 45+ minutes for me to get from 16th/Michigan to Clark/Adams. Since I walk the majority of the time anyway I'm all for the large developments in the South Loop. The bigger the better. Maybe then we'll actually get a train stop between Roosevelt and Cermak.

Another South Looper here...this is correct. I'm also all for bigger developments, but closing down Columbus for festivals/cure cancer walks/etc immediately causes weekday gridlock on Michigan/Wabash/State. The city and CDOT/IDOT whoever really needs to start considering burying Columbus from 11th to Randolph to keep it open all year.

There also needs to be a plan to build "offsite" parking, cheaply, south of Cermak for 90/94/57 and in the west loop for 88 so that suburbanites have choices rather than driving directly into the city/loop proper and screwing things up for the rest of us. Park south of Cermak along State or West of Halsted and then CTA into the city.

No one drives directly into the Magic Kingdom. You park offsite and take the monorail to the gates. Can we start modeling the central area after that model? K thanks bye.

[the urban politician]

^ That may work for south suburbanites, but I don't see people driving in from the north/NW burbs coming in and heading all the way south of Cermak to park.

While we all want to promote transit, for the inevitable proportion of the population that's going to drive, the south loop needs a handful of well designed (i.e. active ground level uses) multilevel public garages.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by UrbanOasis

Another South Looper here...this is correct. I'm also all for bigger developments, but closing down Columbus for festivals/cure cancer walks/etc immediately causes weekday gridlock on Michigan/Wabash/State. The city and CDOT/IDOT whoever really needs to start considering burying Columbus from 11th to Randolph to keep it open all year.

There also needs to be a plan to build "offsite" parking, cheaply, south of Cermak for 90/94/57 and in the west loop for 88 so that suburbanites have choices rather than driving directly into the city/loop proper and screwing things up for the rest of us. Park south of Cermak along State or West of Halsted and then CTA into the city.

No one drives directly into the Magic Kingdom. You park offsite and take the monorail to the gates. Can we start modeling the central area after that model? K thanks bye.

Metra already offers a $8 weekend pass. For a family of four, that's $32 which is comparable to downtown parking, and most suburban Metra stations already have ample parking.

Of course, on weekdays that same Metra fare could be up to $56, at which point I wouldn't blame said family for driving...

Metra terminals are generally far from Mich Ave/museums/Millennium/Navy Pier, but a downtown circulator could fix this problem easily. I think it's very strange to expect suburbanites to drive all the way into the city, then make them park in Chinatown or wherever and transfer to a train that doesn't even necessarily take them where they want to go. It's a pretty big hike from the Red Line to the Museum Campus or Navy Pier, for example.

[Mr Downtown]

^Which is why the 130 and 146 buses run right to the museum doors. With the spring pick, the 124 through the Loop to Navy Pier has substantially improved service, to the point that we almost have a circulator bus now. Next step would be to through-route the 124-130 and give it some sort of highly visible identity and marketing.

[jc5680]

Portillos…

[denizen467]

^ At last, a 2nd Portillos downtown. Unhappy about the suburban design though.

Originally Posted by ardecila

my only concern is that Elston or Augusta can be extended through the site in a few years as a traffic reliever to the new development around Chicago/Halsted...

I was going to continue my post and mention this too, since there's ample fallow ground for building roadway there, but I found myself anticipating only anti vehicle responses and decided to leave it for another day. Fact is, Chicago/Milwaukee/Ogden/Elston is pretty clogged and even TOD there could benefit from a traffic reliever. Not to mention that Goose Island makes Division and North into bottlenecks for access to the Kennedy and Wicker/Bucktown.

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

With the spring pick,

Is this transitese, or some Southern vernacular?

[Kumdogmillionaire]

Ehhh, the suburban design doesn't really bother me in the sense that it's really not the most accessible location and most people going there will still be using cars, and therefore a big ass parking lot is needed

[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by denizen467

Is this transitese

Yes; sorry. Transit agencies usually adjust their schedules twice a year, and that's when the unionized operators get the chance to pick (or bid on) their preferred shifts/runs.

[ardecila]

Rahm to Announce "Paseo" Rail Trail Through Pilsen


PILSEN — Chicago is getting another elevated trail, this time on the city's Lower West Side, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Sunday.

The path and promenade, to be called "Paseo," will stretch about four miles along a "largely abandoned BNSF Railway" between the Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods, according to a Sunday news release.

Great news! Initially this was just a 3/4 mile path around Cook County Jail. Nice beautification effort for a gritty area, but not very useful.

Now that Rahm is announcing a four-mile link, I can only assume this will be extended eastward along the same rail spur down Blue Island, Cermak, and Sangamon up to 18th. This is mostly at grade, so it won't have the same expensive structural work that the 606 did. It runs mostly through PMDs, so it won't have the same immediate gentrification impact that the 606 did... no building condos next to the trail, except in a few spots.

Western Trailhead at 32nd/Central Park (concept)

[Le Baron]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Where would you put the festivals?

Could cover the train tracks from Congress to Balbo and from Balbo to 11th and/or Roosevelt with a combination of hardscape and grass and host events there as opposed to always closing Columbus.

North side of the park has received nearly $550 million of investment ($482.4 million for Millennium Park + $60+ million for Maggie Daley Park). Would be nice and impactful if the southern end received a meaningful investment.

[Le Baron]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

screw pedestrian tunnels, if our city had the money i think a more ideal solution would be to road diet all streets running through GP and then depress the street intersections a bit and build large cruciform platforms over them that would serve as walkways to cross the intersections. and they would be heavily landscaped such that they would feel more like extensions of the park reaching up and over the intersections, effectively capping them. in between these intersection platforms i also envision intermediate mid-block pedestrian bridges like the BP bridge from millennium over to maggie daley (in concept, not necessarily design) to further connect the outdoor rooms of the park.

I like these ideas. You could also put this idea on steroids and, instead of depressing the roads, build over them throughout the park to create continuous green space (or perhaps cover Columbus from Roosevelt to Congress and Balbo from Michigan to LSD). So from the air you wouldn't see any roads, just an open rolling prairie with green space, some hardscape, landscaping plus whatever some smarter park designer could think of. The west side of Hutchinson Field could have a killer amphitheater feel to it.

This way you don't have to close the roads as you could have events above them in significantly increased park space. (and cap the rail road tracks...)

[the urban politician]

What's with all these park/trail related announcements by Rahm?

There is usually something political behind all things done by politicians

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

What's with all these park/trail related announcements by Rahm?

There is usually something political behind all things done by politicians

You mean other than the fact that Latinos continue to unite against Rahm? They voted overwhelmingly for Gery Chico in 2011 and Chuy in 2015.

Maybe the ship has sailed on Latino support for Rahm. But a mayor generally doesn't stay in office by neglecting a huge portion of the electorate... Rahm won in 2015 with the support of older and wealthier whites plus African-Americans, but it's not clear he can rebuild that African-American support after Laquan McDonald. Maybe he's making a play to build some Latino support before the next election in 2019.

As mentioned above, the Englewood ERA trail is elevated and may require lots of expensive structural work. It'll take time for the city to assemble funding, just like it took nearly 20 years to get the Bloomingdale Trail built, and only when Federal money became available. Hopefully the Paseo can started quicker since it's at-grade, which should be possible if BNSF is on board... maybe Rahm has to place a call to Warren Buffett...

[emathias]

Soil testing for Cedar Street's expansion of the 676 N Lasalle building.


Soil testing by me, on Flickr

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by emathias

Soil testing for Cedar Street's expansion of the 676 N Lasalle building.

Nice