Transportation Library News

Transportation in the Plan of Chicago

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the publication of Daniel Burnham's Plan of Chicago, Chicago CartoGraphics has created a Web site on the Plan, "The Plan of Chicago: A Regional Legacy." It shows that transportation was a prominent concern in the Plan. As an article in the Encyclopedia of Chicago notes, four of the Plan's six key recommendations pertained to transportation.

Stating that "Congestion is a menace to the commercial progress of the city," the Plan recommended new streets and bridges to help relieve passenger and freight traffic in the city. It called for the widening of arterial streets, the construction of double-decked drives along the riverfront, the creation of more diagonal streets, and the development of Congress Street into a grand boulevard. In its proposals for rail and maritime traffic, the Plan recommended the creation of joint railroad facilities, such as belt railways encircling the city, a consolidated freight yard on the Southwest Side, and the consolidation of the city's six passenger terminals into a union terminal south of Roosevelt Road. The Plan also recommended the construction of new piers for lake shipping at Chicago Avenue, Cermak Road, and the mouth of the Calumet River.