Why aren't there more skyways/skybridges in Chicago?

[emathias]

Originally Posted by JacksonPanther

Yeah, yeah, I know Chi has bus tracker now. But I remember longing for it when other cities had it. We certainly weren't on the leading edge to deploy it.

We were among the first large cities to deploy it system-wide in the U.S. In fact, the only American transit system worth noting that I'm aware of having had it sooner was Portland.

I do think we may be the only city in the U.S. - maybe even in North America - to have trackers for buses, urban rail AND commuter rail.

Originally Posted by cfbs2691

I can only speak for Florida where mass transit barely exists and cars are mandatory, but I can't think of any southern city where people rely on public transportation as you do in Chicago.

So, obviously, those cities are in the perfect position to tell Chicago how to run its mass transit systems ...

[edsg25]

The concept of the sky bridges in Minneapolis developed over a long period of time. It is an icy cold city during the winter although not one that is necessarily very snowy. Twin Cities winters tend to be cold and bright. The sky bridges let the light in but keep it warm; they really serve their purpose for a city that seems to need to hunker down for the winter.

the system itself had to take years to build and a lot of planning. It didn't just happen. the whole design of DT Mpls was built around it. The second floor and its layout were important design factors for many Mpls buildings, like the vertical malls they share with Chicago but differ from ours in the sense that the second level was the true arrival zone. Other buildings just plunge into the system.

as noted, in Chicago, if you want to "plug in", there is little point in doing so above ground since you're merely getting a connection between two buildings. That made sense only when there was a need to connect the two, as in the case of 3 1st Nat'l Plaza which was linked at one point to its neighbor across the street, the old 1st national bank (now chase).

there's another issue: Chicago's street grid is straight and the high rises of the downtown area shoot up from it. Skybridges would not be an attractive addition. State Street gets by just fine with el tracks crossing on Lake and Van Buren but would lose something if sky bridges crossed it in-between. The very thought of a skybridge on Michigan Ave is ridiculous. If we somehow do extend the pedway system, admittedly underused, we do so underground and do not tamper with the surface. There were talks of extending it to Union Station. If both Union and Ogilvie and the west loop super station that will someday become a reality are connected to the pedway across the river, its usage would be increase dramatically. A connection to the areas of the near north side across the river would also improve usage. But skyways....it just isn't going to happen, nor should it.

[Maintainschaos]

The alternative to the skybridges is the pedway in inclement weather. It's not exactly bursting at the seems with people, but they definitely do use it. The frigid cold in Chicago is definitely different than the frigid cold of places like Mpls/St. Paul and Montreal...