Chicago's Lake Shore Drive a model for Henry Hudson Parkway

Subject: Chicago's Lake Shore Drive a model for Henry Hudson Parkway Date: 12/1/2004 5:42:36 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: hilary@kitasei.com
To: info@henryhudsonparkway.org
Sent from the Internet (Details)

Members and friends of the Henry Hudson Parkway Task Force:

My poor daughters’ college search is limited to cities with great roads. Hence I had the unexpectedly sublime pleasure of driving on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago last weekend. This urban parkway was built the same year as the Henry Hudson with which it shares many features. Its recent restoration by the Illinois and Chicago DOT’s is magnificent, and worthy of our careful study. (The restoration garnered numerous awards for Edwards & Kelcey, including the FHWA 2004 Innovation in Highway Design: http://www.tfhrc.gov/focus/sep04/05.htm.

This heavily-used commuter arterial courses through a string of parks, with Lake Michigan on one side, and historic districts, the museum campus and Gold Coast skyline on the other. It shares the corridor with a greenway and railway. Park infrastructure (including a stadium and convention center, which is a work of art and not a shoe-box) incorporates stunning new modern designs with historically restored designs. The recent project replaced the jersey barrier median and shoulders with aesthetically pleasing ones. Paved areas were returned to green space. Four beautiful bicycle & pedestrian tunnels and overpasses were added to link the lakeshore with the rest of the park. Traffic-calming and aesthetic devices were introduced to return the drive into a “boulevard parkway.” From University of Chicago to Northwestern, nary a billboard or piece of chain link!

Will report next from Cal Tech on the Seco Arroyo (aka the Pasadena Freeway), a national scenic byway connecting Pasadena and Los Angeles.

Hilary Kitasei