Quote:
Originally Posted by the urban politician
UIC unfortunately obliterates it's section of Halsted. What could otherwise be a great boulevard that connects Greektown to the north with University Village is a 5 lane auto sewer with ugly 1970s garages and parking lots
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I'm not that dogmatic about this. Halsted is a pretty decent street through UIC campus. Wide sidewalks, plenty of landscaping, lots of pedestrians, etc. Not really an auto sewer, most of the width is in setbacks, sidewalks and medians, not travel lanes. It's nice to have a section of the city with a different character, not everything needs to look like West Loop. My main gripe with UIC campus is the closure of Morgan at Harrison, which cuts off a key route from Pilsen to West Loop and makes all the other streets (Racine, Halsted, Ashland) more congested. Embrace the grid! Also the HUGE parking lot at Racine/Harrison sucks. Build up that sucker.
The Netsch-designed garages on Halsted are actually really badass, especially now that they've switched the lighting over from yellow sodium to white LEDs. Same goes for Hull House, the athletic center, etc. There's a nice variety of architecture. I do wish the Harrison and Roosevelt intersections were better developed, though the UIC masterplan calls for all of these things to happen and more if state funding ever materializes.
Unfortunately the Millennial boom in college attendance is mostly over, so I think UIC's growth for the next 15-20 years will be in non-traditional students who are more likely to commute and less likely to live on/near campus. That means fewer new dorms and more new parking garages.