DuSable Lake Shore Drive redesign would bring parkland, S-curve relief — but no bus-only lanes

A new North DuSable Lake Shore Drive could eliminate the Chicago Avenue stop light, straighten out yet another notorious S-curve and add 80 acres of parkland by building out into Lake Michigan.

A $3.4 billion design was showcased Thursday at the fifth and final open house on the Redefine the Drive project, begun 11 years ago by the Chicago and Illinois transportation departments to overhaul the aging lakeside highway.

But not everyone was happy with the plan to overhaul the 7-mile stretch of highway from Grand Avenue to Hollywood Boulevard.

More than 100 critics gathered outside the meeting at Truman College to protest the plan because it did not include a dedicated bus lane or other options to car traffic.

Planners last month said they were likely to chose the most car-centric option, called the "essential" plan. It did not include dedicated bus lanes along the entire road.

That was a nonstarter for the protesters, who included several City Council members and state Sen. Robert Peters.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois to create and literally build and reimagine a different future," Ald. Maria Hadden (49th) told the crowd. "We need to see bus rapid transit lanes at a minimum."

At the open house, city transportation department officials said a new DLSD does not need fully dedicated bus lanes to achieve the project's overall goals of increasing safety and moving traffic faster.

The "essential" design speeds up bus traffic by adding shorter bus-only lanes to ramps along DLSD, instead of the whole highway as it would in the other plans that weren't chosen, said Jeff Sriver, director of transportation planning for the Chicago Department of Transportation.

The planners studied how people use DLSD and found that improving express bus service did not pull in additional riders, Sriver said. Bus riders typically lived near the lake, while drivers often come from farther west and use DLSD and a highway to downtown, he said.

The essential plan was also beneficial because it reduces the park space lost in other options with full bus lanes, he said. Planners expect to increase the capacity of buses from 90 per hour to more than 180.

Planners winnowed down the DLSD options over the years until they settled on the essential plan. Poster boards at the meeting explained how planners dismissed adding light rail, an express tunnel and a tunnel submerged under the lake, mostly due to their significant expense.

The design adds acres of park space, mostly between Grand and Fullerton avenues and along Belmont Harbor, by expanding the shore into the lake. That extra land will allow planners to straighten out yet another S-curve.

This one is at Oak Street, and planners are vowing to soften the curve to decrease traffic delays.

It would come nearly 40 years after Chicago’s treacherous S-curve farther south disappeared. Denounced by some as more of a Z-Curve and immortalized in the “Blues Brothers” movie, that one was between Wacker and Randolph before it was straightened out in 1986.

Planners also dismissed the idea of turning DLSD into a local street with stop lights, since the highway sometimes handles 160,000 cars a day, while the local road option has a maximum capacity of 48,000.

North Side residents who attended the meeting were split on their support of the plan.

Lisa Smith, 72, of Edgewater, generally backed the plan and questioned the critics who wanted to move away from the car-centered DLSD.

"We're not Amsterdam," she said. "I drive a car, motorcycle and bicycle. This whole 'Let's go back to the 1800s,' it's not forward thinking."

Bill Enright, 59, of Buena Park, said he was disappointed planners were no longer considering alternative modes of transportation, such as light rail and bus lanes.

"This is our first chance in years to get it right," he said. "I like a lot of it but it's still a major highway."

The transit agencies will now flesh out a design and do the studies needed to apply for federal grants, a process that could take a couple years. After that, construction will be completed in phases, starting near Grand Avenue, over five to 10 years.

The project is helmed by the Chicago and Illinois transportation departments, with input from the Chicago Transit Agency and Chicago Park District.