Cross town expressway, years later (Chicago, Cicero: home, unemployment, neighborhood)

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by DougStark

Chet, similarly, San Diego had to deal with this very issue of "dividing established neighborhoods" when they built their north-south 805 freeway through an established neighborhood. However, San Diego could not function as it does without this major freeway having been built. It was absolutely necessary.

This. I live in SD in the winter. The 805 is a triumph. The only remaining bottleneck in the SD area is the northbound 5-805 merge north of La Jolla, and the 56 bypass has helped with that. Commuting speeds in SD are a multiple of commuting speeds in Chicago.

San Diego has some deficiencies as a city, but roads aren't one of them.

[svicious22]

Totally wish they would have built it. We could really use the traffic capacity these days.

[svicious22]

Originally Posted by NorthSideSoxGuy

As many have already stated, it is probably best that the Crosstown Expressway wasn't built. After all, it would really only be used as a bypass around downtown for people simply passing through the city. It wouldn't serve the needs of the poor and working class people in the surrounding neighborhoods. Plus, it would discourage people from coming downtown.

While the project was put on hold under Mayor Daley due to the high costs (this was the 70s, when inflation was sky-high) and eventually scrapped under Mayor Byrne, there was a positive outcome in that some of the funds set aside for the expressway were diverted towards extending the Blue Line from Jefferson Park to O'Hare and building the Orange Line to Midway.

And this is really where our transportation funds should be focused -- building up our public transportation system. Currently, it is very hard to get from north to south in the city without having to go through downtown or waiting on a slow bus. That's why the proposed Ashland Bus Rapid Transit holds much promise.

I can't think of a case where expressways had hugely positive effects on cities. While it is encouraging that millennials are less car-oriented and we've seen more and more dense development next to rapid transit lines, it's important that transportation funding reflects the realities of the 21st century. In this country, that is not the case in far too many places, unfortunately. Just head an hour and a half north to Milwaukee and you can really see the detrimental effects a pro-highway, anti-public transit state government can have on residents in the city. Bit of a tangent (apologies), but it's important for us to be smart with how we plan the future of transportation in the country.

In short, no more urban expressways!

Ashland BRT is dead. Good riddance. Milwaukee's freeway system is fine; it does not interfere with a cohesive downtown and they never built the Park West freeway which would have done perhaps the most damage. (Though many homes were unfortunately cleared out for it). Commuting by car in Milwaukee is a dream compared to Chicago.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by svicious22

Ashland BRT is dead. Good riddance. Milwaukee's freeway system is fine; it does not interfere with a cohesive downtown and they never built the Park West freeway which would have done perhaps the most damage. (Though many homes were unfortunately cleared out for it). Commuting by car in Milwaukee is a dream compared to Chicago.

Ashland BRT seems all but dead with return of Ashland, Western express buses | Chicago Sun-Times

Rahm Emanuel backed away from the Ashland BRT after vanquished challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia sided with local residents, businesses and aldermen who oppose the project. ... “We’ve lost basic service and routes. It makes no sense to spend $10 million a mile on some rock candy mountain gimmick. It’s a totally unnecessary infrastructure project that doesn’t enhance service,”

[beaniemac]

the lack of expressway access was one of the main reasons I wouldn't consider living on the southwest side or southwest suburbs.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by beaniemac

the lack of expressway access was one of the main reasons I wouldn't consider living on the southwest side or southwest suburbs.

What about the Stevenson? Seems like that serves the SW side and near SW suburbs, as for the further out SW burbs --there is a relative lack of congestion along the I-57 corridor and even through I-80 / I-355 junction...

[Chicago60614]

I'm glad it wasn't built. It would have cut through and sliced up more neighborhoods.

The funds from this were partially reallocated and went towards extending the Blue Line from Logan Square to O'hare in the 1980's and building the Orange Line to Midway in the 1990's.

[Jorge Bueno]

In my humble opinion, it was a good thing the crosstown was never built.

The open corridor of land where the crosstown would have been built could be better utilized for future (probably way future) public transportation, either as a portion of a future cta circle line or metra. This would actually alleviate traffic congestion and economically benefit the neighborhoods it goes through without destroying portions of them. Numerous studies have shown that after a certain point, simply adding more highways only increases traffic congestion in a metro. Also, many houses would be destroyed for this highway, where as there is plenty of room to make this a cta or mta line. The Kennedy, Dan Ryan etc.. act as a sort of Berlin wall in many otherwise walkable neighborhoods.

As for the Ashland BRT, I think it was a poor man's (city's) version of what is really needed, an additional subway line underneath Ashland.

Of course there is no money, public will or political will to build and pay for this expansion of Chicago's extremely outdated public transportation system.

[beaniemac]

Originally Posted by chet everett

What about the Stevenson? Seems like that serves the SW side and near SW suburbs, as for the further out SW burbs --there is a relative lack of congestion along the I-57 corridor and even through I-80 / I-355 junction...

not really, because it takes you downtown or to the west suburbs like bolingbrook or joliet. If you want to get from the south west side to either the west side or north west side, you have to take surface streets or go waaayyyy out of the way by taking an expressway downtown and then back west or north west via the kennedy or eisenhower.

[DougStark]

Originally Posted by NorthSideSoxGuy

As many have already stated, it is probably best that the Crosstown Expressway wasn't built. After all, it would really only be used as a bypass around downtown for people simply passing through the city. It wouldn't serve the needs of the poor and working class people in the surrounding neighborhoods. Plus, it would discourage people from coming downtown.

While the project was put on hold under Mayor Daley due to the high costs (this was the 70s, when inflation was sky-high) and eventually scrapped under Mayor Byrne, there was a positive outcome in that some of the funds set aside for the expressway were diverted towards extending the Blue Line from Jefferson Park to O'Hare and building the Orange Line to Midway.

And this is really where our transportation funds should be focused -- building up our public transportation system. Currently, it is very hard to get from north to south in the city without having to go through downtown or waiting on a slow bus. That's why the proposed Ashland Bus Rapid Transit holds much promise.

I can't think of a case where expressways had hugely positive effects on cities. While it is encouraging that millennials are less car-oriented and we've seen more and more dense development next to rapid transit lines, it's important that transportation funding reflects the realities of the 21st century. In this country, that is not the case in far too many places, unfortunately. Just head an hour and a half north to Milwaukee and you can really see the detrimental effects a pro-highway, anti-public transit state government can have on residents in the city. Bit of a tangent (apologies), but it's important for us to be smart with how we plan the future of transportation in the country.

In short, no more urban expressways!

I can think of a city that was greatly improved with massive freeway building: Phoenix, my home town now.
Prior to authorizing the voter approved funds to fund the massive freeway projects here, Phoenix only had about two freeways. Now, there are freeways in every direction (and no tolls.) And they planned ahead to allow room to add more lanes for the future as population grows.