Chicago's Expessways

[The Urban Politician]

How many of you would not kill to see the expressway running just west of downtown Chicago get buried? There is a plan to cover it with parks, etc. in the Central Area Plan, which is fine with me, although I would prefer it get covered with developable land. Either way, I would love to see anything cover up that nasty canyon of automobiles that separates the west loop from the near west side!

Any guesses when a project like that will get started? There already have been some prelim designs by the architecture firm that developed Skybridge (I forgot their name). My guess is starting date: April 26th, 2011.

[24gotham]

There already have been some prelim designs by the architecture firm that developed Skybridge (I forgot their name). My guess is starting date: April 26th, 2011.

Oohh, If that's gonna happen, it would take away one of the best features about Skybridge, it's "permanant eastern view" over the Kennedy.

Well, if they make it park land, then that would be a good thing. Seattle built their convention center over Interstate 5, as well as Freeway Park (They're freeways on the West Coast, it took me years to learn the word expressway and tollway.) It is a very expensive proposition, to "Lid" over the expressway.
Mercer Island, a suburb of Seattle, also has a section of I-90 lidded with parks built in about 1992ish. (Cause the rich folks on the island don't want to hear the freeway.) It was the most expensive section of interstate built until the "Bid Dig" in Boston.

[samsonyuen]

Would the project be nearly as big as the Big Dig? That would be awesome.

[simulcra]

The point of using parks is that it still allows for plenty of open area for ventilation (without having to resort to Big Dig-esque machinations), and the buildings adjacent to the decking would be specially designed so as to promote down drafts to help filter the highway.

As much as I would like to see this happening, I just don't think there's any real political support for it.

[Kevin J]

Would the project be nearly as big as the Big Dig? That would be awesome.

It wouldn't be a "dig" project because unlike the elevated Central Artery in Boston that the Big Dig replaced, this stretch of I-90/94 is already below grade. All they have to do to create this parkland is lower the surface of the expressway a little more and build a roof over it.

[Steely Dan]

perkins + will came up with that snazzy plan to deck over the kennedy just west of downtown. i have seen some pretty cool drawings of some of the details of the plan, but according to my friend who works there, the whole scheme is completely pie-in-the-sky kinda stuff right now. perhaps something might happen in 20 or 30 years, but right now, it's just a vision for the future.

so don't get your hopes up too high folks, it'll be a long time, if ever, before anything serious happens with this plan.

[D.Nikta and Royal880]

Anyways um iif they do that i would be cool!

[BVictor1]

Ralph Johnson is the architect of Skybridge, and he works for Perkins & Will.

[edsg25]

this one has been planned for quite awhile. certainly it a far less expensive and obtrusive process than the Big Dig. The Kennedy is already sunk and would need to be covered.

the biggest problem: on board ramps on the LEFT. Those are bad enough in sunlight or even moonlight. Enclosed by a roof, they would be fatal. I would think you definitely would need to reconfigure the on ramps to the right.

this is a great idea. not only for downtown, but will be a great Greektown ammentiy.

[geoff_diamond]

I think re-configuration of the ramps is something they need to consider whether or not anyone ever takes the decking project forward. The few times that I've had the misfortune of getting on the Ryan from a Loop Street it was basically an exercise in closing your eyes and hoping for the best.

[The Urban Politician]

They also need to add Toll booths for people getting off the expressway and going downtown :)

[Rail Claimore]

There's a very simple and easy way to reconfigure those loop exits to where they only need half the ramps that are currently in use, yet still maintain the needed access into the loop from the expressway. And it wouldn't cost an arm and a leg in the grand scheme of things. I figured it out, but it's difficult to describe in words.

[edsg25]

am I the only one who fears for my life getting on the damned expressway on the Loop on-ramps? Sometimes I'll drive to Ontario to get to the Ohio feeder ramp just to avoid it.

[The Urban Politician]

^That's the price you pay for refusing to use the 'L or Metra, dude :)

[edsg25]

^That's the price you pay for refusing to use the 'L or Metra, dude :)

i actually know union and n'western stations and Loop el and subway statons very well

[Skyward]

IDOT is doing a preliminary engineering study for work on the Ike from Austin to 25th av through Oak Park. Some of the goals are to get another lane (IDOT wants HOV) and some shoulder space in, moving the center ramps and L stations at Austin and Harlem and not bulldozing any of Oak Park. Oak Park also wants a cap. Plus they have that cemetary hard on the expressway in Forest Park and a bridge over the Des Plaines River. Sounds real expensive.

[Rivernorth]

fuck oak park. cover the downtown expressways first. THEN we can worry about them! :)

although they do need the extra lane. its a bottleneck when it goes from 4 to 3 lanes after Austin. Luckily, i get off at Austin, so i dont really have to bother with all that. For living in the burbs, 7200 W aint too bad :)

[edsg25]

fuck oak park. )

that just doesn't seem like the Wright attitude.

[edsg25]

Oak Park also wants a cap. Plus they have that cemetary hard on the expressway in Forest Park and a bridge over the Des Plaines River. Sounds real expensive.

I can sure understand wanting the cap. For a suburb with such a distinct identity as Oak Park, having the expressway brutally rip through its sothern end was not exactly a community builder. I've brought up the similiarities between Oak Park and Evanston in previous threads. I just can't imagine how Evanston would have changed if an expressway went through it the way the Ike goes through OP.

[aion26]

I'd love to seem them buried, but having watched the Big Dig progress over the past several years (I've got family in Boston and have seen this Big Dig first hand a few times) i'm not sure that I'd want to have to live with that.

[ThirdCoast312]

have any of you noticed the sculptures they now have the lawns of grass between the ramps of the Ohio/Ontario street spur off the Kennedy. They've put sculptures there and have decided to use public art in the least accesible place to the public the middle of an expressway. I believe one of the sculptures use to stand at washington and state street when state street was a mall. Anyways pubic art in the city should be able to viewed at a closer level and should be able to be more interactive like the picasso. These sculptures in the middle of the expressway should be put in a more respectable place where they can be apreciated for more than 2 seconds (well maybe more with traffic these days) as they are by the people in cars who pass them on the expressway.

[edsg25]

have any of you noticed the sculptures they now have the lawns of grass between the ramps of the Ohio/Ontario street spur off the Kennedy. They've put sculptures there and have decided to use public art in the least accesible place to the public the middle of an expressway. I believe one of the sculptures use to stand at washington and state street when state street was a mall. Anyways pubic art in the city should be able to viewed at a closer level and should be able to be more interactive like the picasso. These sculptures in the middle of the expressway should be put in a more respectable place where they can be apreciated for more than 2 seconds (well maybe more with traffic these days) as they are by the people in cars who pass them on the expressway.


I see your point. On the other hand, the feeder ramp is one of those key entry points, a gateway to downtown (particularly for a lot of people coming in from O'Hare) that I think the sculptures are there, to a degree, to give you the sense "I've arrived"

[ThirdCoast312]

No by far the greatest clue that you've arrived in downton edsg25 is the HUGE SKYLINE i mean nothing says downtown and big city better than that! and if you're coming in from o'hare your eyes are going to be most likley on the skyline anyways not some stupid sculpture (stupid only in grandness when compared to the skyline). but perhaps those sculptures do add to the affect but marginally

[The Urban Politician]

These sculptures in the middle of the expressway should be put in a more respectable place where they can be apreciated for more than 2 seconds

They'll be appreciated for more than 2 seconds if they institute those tollbooths that I keep talking about..

[aion26]

They move around public art. The piece "birth" is now by the expressway, when I was a teenager it used to be by the cultural center as I used it as a landmark to remind me were the south side metra stop was.

[Chicago Shawn]

am I the only one who fears for my life getting on the damned expressway on the Loop on-ramps? Sometimes I'll drive to Ontario to get to the Ohio feeder ramp just to avoid it.

If your going northbound, enter the Kennedy at Jackson. The onramp dives into its own lane where it meets the expressway, which gives you an extra couple of seconds to merge into the speeding traffic, but only a couple of seconds to get out of the way for the Adams ramp traffic.

I love the idea of decking over the expressways in the downtown area, but I don't forsee that happening any time soon. I would however, like to see them stay uncovered on the way into downtown. On the rare occasions when I actually drive in instead of taking the blue line, nothing beats that view when comming down the Kennedy. It makes the drive so enjoyable, that I do it at times just for the hell of it, or to show off to out-of-towners. The Ike is pretty cool too, just watching Sears grow all the way in, untill the beast stands right over you.