It was an extraordinary broadside against the Illinois Department of Transportation and its long-standing plans to restore the iconic Chicago road now officially known as the North Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable Lake Shore Drive (NDLSD), perhaps the most beautiful and scenic road. The famous asphalt strip in the Midwest.
“We call for a moratorium on planning events, public meetings and other business related to the project,” a group of aldermen wrote in our opinion section on June 7, barely mincing words and calling on IDOT to explain itself before the City Council. “We believe this project as currently proposed does not represent the interests of our communities, viability, accessibility and the long-term value of our neighborhoods and lakefront.”
the problem? Cars.
The local councillors, supported by a wide range of advocates, do not like them, do not want them and do not wish to be accommodated as warmly (for free) as was the case in the past. “We want modern solutions that prioritize non-car travel and put pedestrians, cyclists, public transit users, recreation, green space, commercial growth, and property values before cars,” they wrote.
We'll get to the specific issues in a bit with NDLSD, which drives about 170,000 vehicles daily, according to IDOT, but let's first acknowledge that Chicago is the site of an intense and active campaign to get people out of their cars. And reorganizing the city so that transportation and bicycles dominate the roost. It's not just about adding capacity to those forms of transportation, which was the argument typically used in the past. It's now equally about discouraging driving and making it more difficult, which is what's happening as many Chicago streets see vehicle capacity reduced by euphemisms like “traffic calming.” A useful analogy here is how airlines deliberately make economy class worse to incentivize people to pay for premium economy. This is the new tactic being used now. In order to get people out of their cars, according to this thinking, urban driving must be made more uncomfortable, which is of course a departure from some 75 years (at least) of prior thinking.
Whichever side you're on, honesty requires acknowledging that the debate is remarkably one-sided because while bike and transit advocates express their views all over the media, motorists don't really have anyone representing their interests, other than perhaps IDOT. Most car users are embarrassed to admit that they drive their cars and keep calm; Many claim that they drive much less than they actually do. The occasional biker but frequent driver will confine social media posts that only virtue signal the former. We all know them. Some of us talk about ourselves.
But anyone can look up public transit ridership numbers, or (while sitting in congested traffic) see that congestion on Chicago's freeways, especially midweek, is worse than it was before the pandemic. There are many reasons: comfort, climate, control, speed, the perception of a safer ride, but one rarely acknowledged is the arrival of a two- or three-day personal work week. Instead of paying a hefty monthly parking bill, drivers can call up SpotHero for just a few days; This is a great new incentive.
It's also worth noting that this anti-car extremism is a tacit acknowledgment of the unexpected backlash against electric cars. Not so many years ago, environmentalists dreamed of affordable electric vehicles that quietly raised and lowered DLSDs, and perhaps even DLSDs that charged on the go (such methods exist in Detroit and beyond). But the words “electric cars” are not present in the official message. Cars are just cars. Perhaps Elon Musk's transformation into persona non grata in liberal circles has something to do with this. But it's a shame.
The attack on Refine the Drive strikes us as extreme. It's actually a thoughtful document that goes a long way toward removing the barrier between the city and the lakefront, adding more trees and greenery, making crossing the road in multiple locations much easier, helping with bus access, adding turns and expanding pedestrian space. (There is, after all, a bike path already there.) We're particularly interested in what the plan could do for the north end of Michigan Avenue, where the road is particularly cumbersome, currently forcing pedestrians through an underground tunnel to get to the beach. There is now an opportunity to open the Mag Mile to the water in a spectacular way to help restore its economic and aesthetic fortunes. That would be a pretty big deal, if done right.
We're big fans of transportation, and it's true that the idea of some kind of light rail running up and down the NDLSD, perhaps from Loyola to McCormick Place, is very attractive. But the driving improvement process rejected this idea mostly on the basis of its enormous cost, but also because of the lack of method. Connecting to existing railways would likely require tunneling west, and any train would also need a railyard of some sort, which presents its own problems; The CTA chose to focus on expanding the Red Line at the other end of the city.
Even transit advocates we know say that what we're talking about in the real world for NDLSD is bus express lanes, which would be great for anyone riding one of those buses and might reduce traffic overall. But the problem is the inevitable reduction in lane capacity and where these drivers will go: they may choke off all alternatives. Suburban residents make up much of NDLSD's drivers, and if they are expected to abandon their cars and hop on an express bus, they must be accommodated in kiss-and-ride-type parking lots, or greatly improved Metra service. The risk of unintended consequences is everywhere, including impossible traffic jams that undermine downtown businesses like restaurants and theaters, not to mention the recovery of commercial real estate. Chicago has to compete with free parking in the suburbs, and that's not going to change.
We are arguing here for several things. One is to acknowledge the deplorable state of public transport in the city and its unacceptable decline since the pandemic, which is as much a problem of management as it is of resources. Discretionary riders will not be easily embarrassed when using it; They will have to look at it as a solution. The other reason is that council members shouldn't tear down the good work IDOT and others have done in redefining driving, but rather recognize its value and then move forward incrementally to make it better, especially when it comes to buses. The third is to recognize that some Illinoisans must drive, and that the city's economy depends largely on them. Cars are not the devil's vehicles, especially when they're electric. Aldermen won't force them out of Chicago. Voters will rebel
But ultimately, all of Chicago must openly discuss the real reason behind this disagreement. Refine the Drive makes several changes but still keeps the NDLSD as a highway (terms like freeway and boulevard tend to be ideologically loaded), meaning a road you can take and then continue to your chosen exit without traffic lights or crossings Others on your way, whether in the car or on the bus.
The key question is whether this is what Chicago still wants.
Submit a letter of no more than 400 words to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
