Has Daniel Burnham-style planning returned to Chicago? The Redefine the Drive process so far seems like a resounding affirmation of 'magic to stir [women and] men's blood.'
Greg Hinz reports:
After a couple of years of quiet work, city and state transportation planners are moving into a more public phase of how to rebuild North Lake Shore Drive, and though some fairly exotic concepts have been eliminated—such as bus tunnels under the lake and a light-rail line in the median strip—what's left is eye-catching.
Hinz is talking about plans to expand and rebuild the Oak Street Beach area into a major new park as part of the "Redefine the Drive" planning process. "Using lakefill, the beach would be reconfigured and moved hundreds of feet to the northeast," Hinz explains. "To the east of the beach would be an expansive new park running more than a mile past North Avenue, bisected by the new drive."
The article includes the eye-catching renderings Hinz mentioned earlier, along with additional details about the variations on the proposed plan for North Lake Shore Drive. The "Redefine the Drive" plan is now being circulated in public meetings, after work since 2014 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the city and state departments of transportation. According to Hinz, officials hope to settle on a final version of the plan by 2020.
FULL STORY: Wow! Here's what North Lake Shore Drive could look like
A Call for Local Architects to 'Redefine the Drive' in Chicago
A local architect produced a DIY design to push the Illinois Department of Transportation to think big with the "Redefine the Drive" project on North Lake Shore Drive. With the proposal: invitations for more local designers to participate.
A Radical Proposal for North Lake Shore Drive in Chicago
A citizen-led initiative to rethink the land around North Lake Shore Boulevard in the neighborhood of Streeterville produced ambitious designs that would create additional shoreline, baldy-needed open space, and a tunnel for Lake Shore Drive.
Bus Lanes, Desired by Advocates for Chicago's Lake Shore Drive Project, Back on the Table
After releasing a list of project alternatives that didn't include new bus lanes in the existing roadway, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has changed its mind.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association