August 9, 1972:
A traffic study is released that concludes “Traffic conditions in the
Near North Michigan Avenue area will be ‘nearly intolerable’ if the city
constructs a bridge over the Chicago River at Columbus Drive.” The report, prepared for the Greater North
Michigan Avenue Association by R. W. Booker & Associates, partially
validates a report issued earlier in the week by the Chicago Chapter of the
American Institute of Architects. The report
observes that the city has not planned well in proposing a bridge that will
connect Fairbanks Court north of the river with Columbus Drive and the
developing Illinois Center property to the south. Taking a special hit is the massive traffic
jam that is anticipated during the lengthy reconstruction of the dogleg on Lake
Shore Drive north of Randolph Street.
The report makes six recommendations to relieve problems in the River
North area if the bridge is built. They
include: (1) employing rapid transit or
people mover systems in the area; (2) widening Fairbanks Court and making it
one way south, in the area north of Ontario Street; (3) better enforcement of
peak traffic rules and parking regulations in the area; (4) eliminating
on-street parking in the area and creating new off-street parking areas; (5)
making Ontario and Ohio Streets one way between Fairbanks and Lake Shore Drive
and developing grade separation of these two streets with Lake Shore Drive; and
(6) making thoro (sic) studies of alternate methods of handling traffic during
the reconstruction of Lake Shore Drive, including staged construction to permit
continued, limited use of the Drive. [Chicago Tribune, August 10, 1972] The bridge was finished in 1982 for a cost of
$33,000,000, bringing almost instantaneous development of the area north of the
river and east of Columbus Drive.
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