Lake Shore Drive is one of the most famous streets in Chicago. With the skyline on one side and Lake Michigan on the other, it provides a nice snapshot of what the city has to offer. What it also provides, however, is traffic congestion and accidents.
A radical new proposal wants to not only rectify some of the issues associated with Lake Shore Drive, but also improve on some of the things that already make it such a popular area in Chicago.
According to Curbed Chicago, the proposal would straighten out Lake Shore Drive’s narrow and dangerous Oak Street S-bend and then bury it in what would become brand new public green space. 70 acres of brand new green space, in fact, that would provide new parkland, beaches, trails, and a breakwater island. These improvements would buffer the roadway from the crashing waves that can prove quite abusive in the winter months and also fix the Chicago Avenue bottleneck by removing traffic signals. New interchange ramps would also be added to improve traffic flow.
As is to be expected, these changes come at a cost, and quite a large cost at that. It is estimated the project would have a price tag as high as $500 million and require the cooperation of multiple locale, state, and federal entities to complete. If everything moves along smoothly, without any hiccups, the earliest this project would start is 2020, with a completion date many years later.
Even with the cost and time issues, the proposal is still seen as providing more good than harm to an area of the city that could use a makeover. 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins is one of the city’s biggest proponents of the plan and has spoken numerous times of its benefits to try and get it pushed through. As part of his efforts, he used renderings that were created in the summer of 2016 by VOA Associates, which has since become a part of Stantec. You can view some of those renderings below.
Rendering courtesy of the Office of Brian Hopkins.
Rendering courtesy of the Office of Brian Hopkins.
Rendering courtesy of the Office of Brian Hopkins.
Rendering courtesy of the Office of Brian Hopkins.
Rendering courtesy of the Office of Brian Hopkins.
Related Stories
| Feb 4, 2011
U.S. Green Building Council applauds President Obama’s Green Building Initiative
The U.S. Green Building Council applauded a key element of President Obama’s plan to “win the future” by making America’s commercial buildings more energy- and resource-efficient over the next decade. The President’s plan, entitled Better Buildings Initiative, catalyzes private-sector investment through a series of incentives to upgrade offices, stores, schools and universities, hospitals and other commercial and municipal buildings.
| Feb 4, 2011
President Obama: 20% improvement in energy efficiency will save $40 billion
President Obama’s Better Buildings Initiative, announced February 3, 2011, aims to achieve a 20% improvement in energy efficiency in commercial buildings by 2020, improvements that will save American businesses $40 billion a year.
| Jan 19, 2011
U.S. Green Building Council Welcomes New Board Directors
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has announced newly elected officers and new directors to its 2011 Board of Directors, including Elizabeth J. Heider from Skanska; Kirsten Ritchi from Gensler; and Dennis Maloskey, from the Pennsylvania Governor's Green Government Council.
| Jan 7, 2011
Mixed-Use on Steroids
Mixed-use development has been one of the few bright spots in real estate in the last few years. Successful mixed-use projects are almost always located in dense urban or suburban areas, usually close to public transportation. It’s a sign of the times that the residential component tends to be rental rather than for-sale.
| Dec 7, 2010
Blue is the future of green design
Blue design creates places that are not just neutral, but actually add back to the world and is the future of sustainable design and architecture, according to an interview with Paul Eagle, managing director of Perkins+Will, New York; and Janice Barnes, principal at the firm and global discipline leader for planning and strategies.
| Nov 29, 2010
Renovating for Sustainability
Motivated by the prospect of increased property values, reduced utility bills, and an interest in jumping on the sustainability bandwagon, a noted upturn in green building upgrades is helping designers and real estate developers stay busy while waiting for the economy to recover. In fact, many of the larger property management outfits have set up teams to undertake projects seeking LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED-EBOM, also referred to as LEED-EB), a certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
| Nov 16, 2010
Brazil Olympics spurring green construction
Brazil's green building industry will expand in the coming years, spurred by construction of low-impact venues being built for the 2016 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee requires arenas built for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro meet international standards for low-carbon emissions and energy efficiency. This has boosted local interest in developing real estate with lower environmental impact than existing buildings. The timing couldn’t be better: the Brazilian government is just beginning its long-term infrastructure expansion program.
| Nov 16, 2010
Green building market grows 50% in two years; Green Outlook 2011 report
The U.S. green building market is up 50% from 2008 to 2010—from $42 billion to $55 billion-$71 billion, according to McGraw-Hill Construction's Green Outlook 2011: Green Trends Driving Growth report. Today, a third of all new nonresidential construction is green; in five years, nonresidential green building activity is expected to triple, representing $120 billion to $145 billion in new construction.
| Nov 11, 2010
USGBC certifies more than 1 billion square feet of commercial space
This month, the total footprint of commercial projects certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System surpassed one billion square feet. Another six billion square feet of projects are registered and currently working toward LEED certification around the world. Since 2000, more than 36,000 commercial projects and 38,000 single-family homes have participated in LEED.
