More than 30 years ago, Mayor Richard J. Daley proposed that Lake Shore Drive be widened and turned into a real expressway, running south through Jackson Park, behind the Museum of Science and Industry, and down Stony Island Avenue to the then-smooth Chicago Skyway. Daley eventually lost that battle–after Hyde Parkers risked arrest by tying themselves to trees along the route–but the war isn’t over yet.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Since then transportation officials have backed off a bit. CATS deputy director Eugene Ryan now describes “through traffic” as cars going only “a few miles on work trips . . . from one neighborhood to another.” Traffic engineer Joy Schaad of the consulting firm CRSS of Illinois, Inc. (which is conducting the study), says that Lake Shore Drive already meets or exceeds the standards for the supplementary roads being studied–and therefore “we will not be looking at adding lanes in wholesale fashion.” And the fate of Cornell Drive in Jackson Park? “It’s too early to talk about that on the record.”
These apparent concessions have mollified neither the aldermen nor the advocacy groups that joined them. “They argue they’re not trying to make it part of the superhighway system,” says John Buchanan, alderman of the far-south-side Tenth Ward, “but I’m extremely suspicious of public meetings where they tell you what you want to hear.”
Lakefront developments like Lake Point Tower and the ever-mushrooming McCormick Place have another sinister cumulative effect. Veteran environmentalist Lee Botts recommends a little experiment: Drive the drive, and keep an eye out for Lake Michigan. “See how much of the time you can’t see the lake. It’s substantial. That’s not the way it was originally supposed to be.” Every new building makes Lake Shore Drive seem a little more like the Dan Ryan to the casual observer.
