DNAinfo is asking us what our thoughts are about extending the 606 for an upcoming article. Deadline is this afternoon so any thoughts in the next few hours are much appreciated :-)
Background reading:
"Chicago’s 606 trail to be extended eastward, past Kennedy Expressway and river"
The extension has the support of 2nd Ward Alderman Brain Hopkins who spoke to the many benefits of such a connector at the City Club of Chicago back in May. The alderman even highlighted an existing freight bridge — known officially as bridge Z6 — that could be a prime candidate for future trail conversion.
Since the start of the city’s ongoing effort to draft an updated land-use plan for the north side's formerly industrial riverfront properties, numerous residents and other local stakeholders have mirrored Hopkins’ desire to see the 606 reach further east. The 606-Finkl Connector even appears as an established point on the city of Chicago’s collaborative online social mapping tool (sMap) due to the volume of outside suggestions received.
http://chicago.curbed.com/2016/9/9/12856374/606-trail-lincoln-park-...
Tags:
Bueller?
Does everyone have a case of the Monday sleepies?
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1h4Vl6oTyA
Clearly the intersection of Cortland and Ashland beneath the expressway doesn't feel very welcoming or safe, and presents a barrier to cycling and walking between Wicker Park and the Finkl site. As a cyclist who gets no joy from our many fairly dreadful expressway and river crossings, I'd love to see the extension. I'm sure the developer of the Finkl site would profit nicely from it as well, since it would make that property much more appealing.
I shared the comments people provided but they didn't make it into the article. Looks like they found a different angle than originally planned. Here's what they published this morning:
"Extending The 606 Eastward Through Finkl Steel Could Take 8 Years: Expert"
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160913/lincoln-park/extending-606...
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