Lake Shore Drive
Lake Shore Drive is a semi-limited access expressway that runs alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan and its adjacent parkland and beaches in Chicago, Illinois. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue, the Drive is designated part of U.S. Highway 41. A portion of the highway on the Outer Drive Bridge and its bridge approaches is multilevel.
On June 25, 2021, the Chicago City Council approved a compromise ordinance renaming the outer portion of Lake Shore Drive for the city's first non-indigenous settler, Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable.
The Lakefront Trail, an multi-use trail, parallels Lake Shore Drive on the east side for most of its length. Pedestrians can access the lake at numerous points all along Lake Shore Drive through underpasses and overpasses that connect the lake with the city's lakefront neighborhoods. For much of its length north and south, it has a landscaped median separating directional traffic. It prominently runs street level through eastern Grant Park and then around the Museum Campus, past McCormick Place convention center, where it provides the terminal interchange of Interstate 55. It runs north through most of Lincoln Park and south through Burnham Park and Jackson Park.
Route description
The southern portion of Lake Shore Drive begins at the intersection of Ewing Avenue, Harbor Avenue, and Mackinaw Avenue. Lake Shore Drive runs through the former South Works steel plant as a four-lane divided highway, effectively bypassing the built-up area in South Chicago. Lake Shore Drive ends at the intersection of 79th Street and South Shore Drive; US 41 continues north through South Shore via South Shore Drive.The main section of Lake Shore Drive begins at the intersection of Jeffery Drive and Marquette Drive. After 57th Street, Lake Shore Drive becomes an expressway. Exits to Hyde Park Boulevard and 53rd Street are only accessible for southbound traffic. The interchange design at 47th Street is unusual as traffic would exit or enter on the left side of northbound Lake Shore Drive instead of on the right side. South of McCormick Place, Lake Shore Drive meets I-55 at a Y-interchange, where I-55 begins/ends. There was once an inverted SPUI north of I-55; however, the overpass became pedestrianized and became part of McCormick Place in the mid-1990s, leading to the closure of this interchange. That same year, northbound traffic on Lake Shore Drive shifted west onto its current configuration west of Soldier Field and Museum Campus.
The controlled-access portion ceases between Waldron Drive and Monroe Drive and again at Chicago Avenue. Lake Shore Drive briefly becomes double-decked between Randolph Street and Grand Avenue. The upper deck facilitates expressway-like traffic, while the lower deck facilitates local traffic. After intersecting with Chicago Avenue, Lake Shore Drive travels in a sharp reverse curve at Oak Street Beach before returning to controlled-access once again. In Uptown, three diamond interchanges are spaced apart. US 41 leaves Lake Shore Drive at an interchange with Foster Avenue. The expressway continues north, serving Bryn Mawr Avenue, before ending at Hollywood Avenue/Sheridan Road in the Edgewater neighborhood.
Outer Drive and Inner Drive
Outer Drive, signed as DuSable Lake Shore Drive, is a limited-access road that runs north from Marquette Drive in Jackson Park to Hollywood Avenue in the Edgewater neighborhood. The outer drive limits the ability of pedestrians to access the lake directly from the street grid. Trucks are prohibited on Outer Drive except for a section between I-55 and 31st Street.The original Inner Drive, signed as Lake Shore Drive, is used for slower local traffic and is connected to the street grid. The local drive runs from downtown in Streeterville to LaSalle Drive,. Then the inner drive reappears just south of Diversey Parkway, continuing north to Irving Park Road. The portion from Belmont to just south of Irving Park was previously named Sheridan Road.
Link Bridge
The Outer Drive Bridge, also known as the Link Bridge, is the official name of the bridge carrying the Lake Shore Drive portion of US 41 over the main branch of the Chicago River. It is designed as a bascule bridge, and is one of only two in the city to have an upper and lower deck, both dedicated to automobile traffic. The Wells Street Bridge and Lake Street Bridge also have two levels, but the upper level is for elevated train traffic into the Loop.The Link Bridge was constructed in 1937. At the time of its construction, it was considered to be both the widest and longest bascule bridge in the world.
History
Early history
Lake Shore Drive's origins date back to Potter Palmer, who coerced the city to build the street adjacent to his lakefront property to enhance its value. Palmer built his "castle" at 1350 N. Lake Shore Drive in 1882. The drive was originally intended for leisurely strolls for the wealthy in their carriages, but as the auto age dawned it took on a different role completely.In 1927, the roadway's southern portion from the Chicago River to 57th Street was signed as Leif Ericson Drive after the Norse explorer. It was also known as Field Boulevard.
The road was extended from Belmont Avenue north to Foster Avenue in 1933. Landfill was used for this extension, mostly made of dirt.
In 1937, the double-decker Link Bridge over the Chicago River opened, along with viaducts over rail yards and other industrial areas connecting to both ends of it. The lower level was intended for a railroad connection. At the time the bridge was built, it was the longest and widest bascule bridge in the world. The Lake Shore Drive and Link Bridge Photograph Album, c1937, documents the bridge's construction. The album is held by the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago. North of the river, LSD intersected Ohio Street at grade, and then passed over Grand Avenue and Illinois Street on its way to the bridge South of the river. LSD came from the south on its current alignment, but continued straight at the curve north of Monroe Street, rising onto a viaduct. It intersected Randolph Street at grade and then continued north above the Illinois Central Railroad's yard. At the river, it made a sharp turn to the right, and another sharp turn to the left onto the bridge.
Leif Ericson Drive was resigned as Lake Shore Drive in 1946.
In the 1950s, the road was extended — first briefly to Bryn Mawr and then in 1957 to Hollywood Avenue. The road included rubble and debris from the destruction of homes razed for the construction of the Congress Expressway.
Prior to the extension to Hollywood, traffic was funneled onto Foster, then north onto Sheridan Road, which still remains a wide 4-lane street to this day, though most traffic doesn't rejoin Sheridan until LSD ends at Hollywood Avenue now. Sheridan Road south of Foster narrows to 2 lanes of traffic with street parking on each side as well.
Later history
At the junction with Michigan Avenue, an interchange was built from 1964 to Summer 1965 to replace the at-grade intersection.In the 1950s and 1960s, Illinois and Cook County presented plans for an Interstate 494 to run along part of LSD. I-494 was initially planned to run from the Chicago Skyway at Stony Island Avenue to the Kennedy Expressway at the Ohio Street feeder ramp. The freeway would travel along Stony Island Avenue, Lake Shore Drive, and Ohio Street, bisecting Jackson Park in the process. Later, it was planned to connect south towards the currently-named Bishop Ford Freeway. The extension of a proposed freeway would have continued south along Stony Island Avenue, including the present-day feeder ramp, connecting to present-day Bishop Ford Freeway. An I-494 proposal was also considered around the same time for the Crosstown Expressway. In 1966, the I-494 designation was relocated to the Crosstown Expressway. At the same time, further extensions and upgrades on the freeway were canceled.
When Wacker Drive was extended east to LSD in the early 1970s, its upper level ended at LSD at the west curve. A new development at the northeast corner of the Randolph Street intersection resulted in an extension of Randolph across LSD.
A reversible lane was added to part of the road in 1976.
Construction began in 1982 on a realignment of LSD south of the river. A whole new alignment was built, greatly smoothing the S-curve. The northbound side opened in October 1985, and the southbound side opened in November 1986. A new lower level was built, using the lower level of the bridge, and providing access to the new Wacker Drive and the roads on the north side of the river. The old road south of Randolph later became the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Survivors Garden: the east-west part was reconstructed as part of Wacker Drive. The rest, between Randolph and Wacker, was kept for several years as Field Boulevard but was demolished in 1994. Only some old street lighting, sidewalks & fire hydrants remain, marking the former route. Current plans are for new upper-level streets in the area as part of the Lakeshore East development.
File:20090524 Buildings along Chicago River line the south border of the Near North Side and Streeterville and the north border of Chicago Loop, Lakeshore East and Illinois Center.jpg|alt=buildings along the sides of a river in a panorama view|right|300px|thumb|2009 view from Lake Shore Drive of Chicago River, the south border of the Near North Side and Streeterville and north border of Chicago Loop, Lakeshore East and Illinois Center
On November 10, 1996, new northbound lanes opened next to the original southbound lanes at Soldier Field, eliminating the original wide median. Prior to this 1996 reconstruction, the northbound lane ran on the east side of Soldier Field while the southbound lane ran on the west side.
On March 20, 2003, some 15,000 anti-war protesters marched along Lake Shore Drive the day after the United States invasion of Iraq, stopping all traffic for several hours. The spontaneous direct action occurred after the original protest route through downtown Chicago, as planned by the Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism, was blocked by law enforcement. Approximately 900 marchers were arrested and a City Council investigation was held before all charges were dropped.
Portions of the drive between Irving Park Road and Foster Avenue that contained the original concrete were paved with asphalt in 2009.
During the Groundhog Day Blizzard, Lake Shore Drive had to be closed because of the large amount of snow present on the roadway. The city estimated 900 vehicles became stuck on Lake Shore Drive, with the Associated Press reporting approximately 1,500 vehicles stuck. Hundreds of motorists had become stranded on Lake Shore Drive, some for as long as 12 hours. Crews worked around the clock to remove the vehicles and clear the roadway, and Lake Shore Drive was reopened just before dawn on February 3, 2011.
A thirty-year development plan estimated to cost $4 billion was approved by Chicago in September 2010, for the former site of the US Steel plant in South Chicago, which operated along the neighborhood's shoreline from 1880 to 1992, and which has undergone extensive demolition and environmental remediation since; included in the plan was an extension of Lake Shore Drive through the property. This extension opened at 9 am October 27, 2013.
Between late 2015 and late 2017, the I-55 interchange was reconstructed to repace all of the ramps. These structures were deteriorating and functionally obsolete.
As early as 1993, a proposal to rename Lake Shore Drive in honor of du Sable was backed by former Aldermen Toni Preckwinkle and Madeline Haithcock. However, this plan was rejected by former Mayor Richard M. Daley, who cited its high cost. In October 2019, the 1993 proposal was reintroduced by 4th Ward Alderman David Moore and co-sponsored by ten others. Due to renewed national political attention to race relations following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd and subsequent civil unrest, which also impacted Chicago, the plan gained traction. In December 2020, a hearing on the proposal was held, but the vote was delayed to April 2021 due as Mayor Lori Lightfoot sought alternatives to honor du Sable. The plan was also amended to reduce the price tag, only renaming the Outer Drive from Hollywood Avenue to 67th Street. In late April 2021, this amended plan was reported favorably out of committee. A full Council vote was expected to take place in late May, but this was delayed further to late June due to Lightfoot's opposition. In late June, the proposal was passed by the City Council, 33-15. Polls indicated racial polarization around the name change, with a majority of white residents critical of the plan and a majority of non-white residents in support. This divide was reflected in the Council vote: the ordinance received predominantly non-white aldermanic support, while two-thirds of the aldermen in opposition were white.