Interesting Article.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on
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Good article. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that once upon a time, bike lanes and the LFP didnt exist.
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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on
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That's interesting enough, but the Sheldon/Obey graphic wins the internets
da' Square Wheelman (aka garth) said:
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Permalink Reply by Fran Kondorf on
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Thanks for the link, Dug. Cool article.
Let's hear it for all the "weirdos". The future is now.
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Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on
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A car-free Loop certainly would be nice...
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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on
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State Street in the Loop was car free for 17 years, from 1979 to 1996. The failure of the "State Street Mall" will unfortunately probably scare Chicago away from a car free Loop for at least a generation to come.
Adam Herstein said:A car-free Loop certainly would be nice...
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Permalink Reply by prof.gfr on
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I would be cautious about over-romanticizing the pedestrian mall on State street. It is not considered a successful implementation of pedestrianization by most, if any, urban planners of any persuasion. I'll try to find some online resources to why it failed, but a lot has to do with the way it segregated various modes of transit and contributed to the economic decline of the corridor. State Street is also quite unlike Times Square, so if someone raises that I would be cautious of the comparison, which is apples-to-oranges. For starters, Times Square is a distinct tourist site, so it receives enough tourist visitors to sustain itself in ways that State Street can't do because (at least in its current incarnation) it is predominantly for Chicagoans. Also, the recent pedestrianization of Times Square was done quite differently than State Streets reno in the 70s. The recent TS reno has been done in ways that can be easily reconfigured and which are open to adjustment over time. State Street's 70s renovation was a wholesale elimination of multi-modal transit and awkwardly plunked down a public space in a place where it didn't function well. Tearing it out and rebuilding it as a multi-modal street wasted millions of tax payer dollars. perhaps a renovation like Times Square could work, but I'm not sure what we would gain if the Loop couldn't be turned into a tourist zone like TS, and I personally don't want that. Lastly, I'm not sure that a car-free loop is actually that desirable -- it would arguably be terrible for the economy and I can't think of any similarly car-free large-scale urban centers. Significant car reduction, on the other hand, is a sensible solution and much easier to implement. At least that's my two cents.
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Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on
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He still seems to be around. Someone should say thanks to him.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on
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ARDC shows Edward William Rothe, Jr. as being retired.
David crZven said:He still seems to be around. Someone should say thanks to him.
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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on
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The State St ped mall was a great idea poorly executed. It was a rather barren space, not very inviting, without the humanizing elements that are often included in such a treatment today. If it had been designed to make it a pleasant place to be, it might have been more successful. Just my $0.02...
prof.gfr said:I would be cautious about over-romanticizing the pedestrian mall on State street. It is not considered a successful implementation of pedestrianization by most, if any, urban planners of any persuasion. I'll try to find some online resources to why it failed, but a lot has to do with the way it segregated various modes of transit and contributed to the economic decline of the corridor. State Street is also quite unlike Times Square, so if someone raises that I would be cautious of the comparison, which is apples-to-oranges. For starters, Times Square is a distinct tourist site, so it receives enough tourist visitors to sustain itself in ways that State Street can't do because (at least in its current incarnation) it is predominantly for Chicagoans. Also, the recent pedestrianization of Times Square was done quite differently than State Streets reno in the 70s. The recent TS reno has been done in ways that can be easily reconfigured and which are open to adjustment over time. State Street's 70s renovation was a wholesale elimination of multi-modal transit and awkwardly plunked down a public space in a place where it didn't function well. Tearing it out and rebuilding it as a multi-modal street wasted millions of tax payer dollars. perhaps a renovation like Times Square could work, but I'm not sure what we would gain if the Loop couldn't be turned into a tourist zone like TS, and I personally don't want that. Lastly, I'm not sure that a car-free loop is actually that desirable -- it would arguably be terrible for the economy and I can't think of any similarly car-free large-scale urban centers. Significant car reduction, on the other hand, is a sensible solution and much easier to implement. At least that's my two cents.
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Permalink Reply by Charlie Short 2.9 on
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I saw a really interesting article on the ped movements in the loop and how that had a lot to do with the faliure of the State Street Mall. The study, which was done over a number of years, from 1973 to 1995 (?) showed that ped traffic on State was really dependent on folks that worked in the loop, making the state street mall useless during the hours that one would want to attract customers (after work.) Ironically, the busy-ness of the mall area during week days actually gave the impression to outsiders that the mall wasn't a place you'd want to go, and as that myth persisted, it became a place you wouldn't want to go.
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As Yogi Berra said, "No one goes there nowadays, it's too crowded."
Charlie Short said:I saw a really interesting article on the ped movements in the loop and how that had a lot to do with the faliure of the State Street Mall. The study, which was done over a number of years, from 1973 to 1995 (?) showed that ped traffic on State was really dependent on folks that worked in the loop, making the state street mall useless during the hours that one would want to attract customers (after work.) Ironically, the busy-ness of the mall area during week days actually gave the impression to outsiders that the mall wasn't a place you'd want to go, and as that myth persisted, it became a place you wouldn't want to go.
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