It reads like a lavish and bottomless wish list, but Chicago’s $15.5 billion proposal to rejuvenate and expand transportation, parks and commercial space downtown is moving forward, despite uncertainties about the economy and whether the city will host the Olympics in seven years.
There has been relatively little public discussion about such a massive endeavor that is being launched in the heart of the city and that would have a lasting impact through the six-county region and the state.
Yet the Chicago Central Area Action Plan — a road map filled with visions and goals as well as dozens of specific projects, construction timetables and estimated costs — is expected to be approved by the City Council as early as next month.
Public transportation projects valued at $14.2 billion make up the bulk of the plan, which the Daley administration hopes to complete by 2020. Some elements would be fast-tracked if Chicago is selected this year to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Major projects include a $2 billion West Loop Transportation Center under Clinton Street. It would connect Union Station and the Ogilvie Transportation Center served by Metra trains with CTA bus and rail lines, Pace buses, a proposed Carroll Avenue transit line and long-distance Amtrak high-speed trains.
“Improving access and making facility upgrades at Union Station were big priorities,” said Luann Hamilton, a deputy commissioner at the Chicago Department of Transportation.
The action plan calls for spending $1.5 billion for express trains to O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport. The idea is being advanced even though it never resulted in a successful business model, rail service to both airports already exists and the CTA has indefinitely postponed further work on the skeleton of an airport “super station” in the Block 37 complex bounded by State, Dearborn, Washington and Randolph Streets.
City officials said that though the entire plan might not be completed because of funding shortfalls, it’s important to set priorities to meet future growth needs and strengthen the link among land use, planning and transit infrastructure.
“Large portions of the Burnham Plan were never done, but we still consider that plan a success,” Benet Haller, director of urban design and planning for the city, said of Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago.
Other projects include:
*Constructing a landscaped cap over the Kennedy Expressway between Monroe and Washington Streets.
*Revamping a section of Lake Shore Drive to soften the accident-prone Oak Street curve and build recreational paths.
*Reconstructing the north-south portion of Wacker Drive from south of Lake Street to Congress Parkway.
*Building dedicated bus-only corridors, mostly using abandoned railroad rights of way, to connect employment centers, visitor attractions and shopping from the West Loop to River North and Streeterville.
*Tunneling a new West Loop rail line, called the Clinton Subway, connecting the CTA’s Cermak/Chinatown and North/Clybourn stations.
*Expanding the riverwalk network along the Chicago River and water taxi service, as well as adding to the underground Pedway system.
The needed transportation investment, which would come from city, state and federal capital funding as well as private-sector investment, would be in addition to $6.25 billion in regional transit projects that the CTA and Metra are expected to pursue, officials said. Those include the CTA’s Circle Line linking CTA and Metra rail stations in the downtown and nearby neighborhoods; the extension of the CTA’s Red, Orange and Yellow rail Lines; Metra’s suburb-to-suburb STAR Line; and the commuter railroad’s planned Southeast Service providing a rail link from Will and southern Cook Counties to the Loop.
In addition, the Central Area Action Plan calls for $1.3 billion in urban design, waterfront and open-space improvements.
The city’s portion of the $15.5 billion total is $6 billion to $8 billion.
“Engineering and planning work must begin immediately upon the plan’s adoption to reach either the 2016 or 2020 target,” according to a draft report.
Planning experts said the action plan provides the follow-through to economic development and land-use goals spelled out in a 2003 city report for the central area, and is being implemented this year on the centennial of Burnham’s plan.
They said the public should not be intimidated by the immense price tags associated with the projects, despite a pattern of serious cost overruns associated with public works programs in the city.
“If you zoom right into the numbers, they look huge. But in the context of the next several state and federal capital plans, this bold plan with its aggressive transportation investments will help the central business district reinvent itself and grow,” said MarySue Barrett, president of the Metropolitan Planning Council.
The action plan is necessary because it provides the best picture of commercial growth, Barrett said.
“It provides a game plan to make very smart use of limited public dollars, and it tells the market where things are going to grow,” she said.
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jhilkevitch@tribune.com
