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  #901  
Old Posted Apr 6, 2021, 1:23 PM
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  #902  
Old Posted Apr 6, 2021, 2:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Chicago29 View Post
This is a pretty banal observation but for the sake of emphasis, it's going to be amazing for the city to get rid of that giant unsightly lot so close to the Loop. Just having a single unremarkable road there is already a vast improvement.
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  #903  
Old Posted Apr 6, 2021, 2:43 PM
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FWIW it looks like the Wells-Wentworth project is moving along. The first underpass at the St Charles Air Line is completed, but the river bridge is still closed to train traffic while CN replaces the waterproofing and ballast on the west side of the river where the SCAL runs on a long concrete viaduct.

Meanwhile FHP can't start work on the second underpass below the Freeport Sub, because there is a city sewer directly below the site along the line of 16th St that needs to be re-routed (I think they're doing an inverted siphon).
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  #904  
Old Posted Apr 6, 2021, 3:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Handro View Post
This is a pretty banal observation but for the sake of emphasis, it's going to be amazing for the city to get rid of that giant unsightly lot so close to the Loop. Just having a single unremarkable road there is already a vast improvement.
I really hope The 78 can be completed for most or all phases. From a city perspective, it'll be an amazing connection that I find missing between downtown and Chinatown. Yea, you could say it exists on various streets, and it's probably getting better but to me it usually does not feel like one cohesive urban unit necessarily. I kind of hope one day that walking to Chinatown via downtown isn't a ton different than in say Manhattan. Obvious not to that level, but on a cohesion level..
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  #905  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2021, 6:19 AM
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Just forget it. I had no idea people wouldn't just instinctively know what I was talking about. In a nutshell I don't see much here that looks like they are trying to create something that will improve with age. Just standard old concrete and engineers handbook streetlights. Lame. The possibilities are endless and they seemingly didn't think of a single one.
Isn't part of the lighting design to focus light down to minimize light pollution? Only so many ways to do that.
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  #906  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2021, 4:20 PM
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Most of it is just the need to conform to CDOT design standards. Some things like lane widths and streetlights are heavily standardized. Impossible to deviate if you want to dedicate your street as a public street. Other things like street furniture, curb bumpouts, crosswalks, landscaping, bike facilities etc can be customized, especially if the ongoing maintenance is paid for by a developer or by multiple landowners via an SSA.

CDOT has two streetlight designs, one is the oldtimey Victorian black iron one (aka the Dick Daley special), the other is this brushed aluminum "davit" design. They standardized on these two designs so that a streetlight can be quickly replaced from a stockpile when a car plows into it. There are other designs in the city, like the lightoliers on Michigan Ave or the sharp-elbow design at O'Hare and S. Lake Shore Drive, but replacing these is difficult and takes a long time so CDOT doesn't usually allow them.
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  #907  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2021, 4:37 PM
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Originally Posted by emathias View Post
Isn't part of the lighting design to focus light down to minimize light pollution? Only so many ways to do that.
I wasn't talking about the lighting specifically, I was referring to the overall grade of construction. It just doesn't look like the quality infrastructure you would associate with a brand new urban district in the third largest city in the country. Maybe I'm just asking for too much but I would have expected things like granite or even cor-ten curbs, modern paver sidewalks and sleek bollards. What I see is a bunch of concrete and (imo) too many damn trees, and street tables, all of which seem more suited for a random residential side street than a future mixed-use district. Even the new streetscape in SF's Mission Bay looks exponentially more sophisticated than this.
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  #908  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2021, 4:58 PM
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A lot of Mission Bay looks just like this IMO. Most of the nice landscaping and paving is on private property outside of the ROW lines. They do have some sidewalk pavers on certain streets, but they also don't have frost heave. In Chicago, pavers are an invitation for ADA lawsuits after a few winters.

Also keep in mind that individual developments at The 78 can and will include upgrades to the public way. I expect to see better landscaping, benches, bike racks, and maybe even upgraded pavements put in, one building at a time.
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  #909  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2021, 11:30 PM
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This may be a silly question, but is the Wells-Wentworth connector open to traffic? Or do they plan on keeping it closed until the first buildings of this project have opened to habitation?
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  #910  
Old Posted Apr 26, 2021, 12:00 AM
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I believe that one of the underpasses has yet to start construction, as well as there being a few hundred foot long gap between the new and existing roads on the north end.
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  #911  
Old Posted Apr 26, 2021, 2:53 AM
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^ Gotcha. I figure they are really in no rush to get auto traffic on there any time soon anyway. Really, the only need for that would be once they have new buildings going online and tenants need to drive to/from their new homes.
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  #912  
Old Posted Apr 26, 2021, 3:02 AM
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I think the road's still missing its asphalt topcoat, as well as the connection to Wentworth. Looks like the manhole covers are a few inches proud.

I wouldn't expect it to open to traffic for at least a couple more years. I think it's likely to allow only DPI and other construction traffic initially.
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  #913  
Old Posted Apr 26, 2021, 2:52 PM
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I think the topcoat is done now based on the photo above. Usually the topcoat covers the toe of the concrete curb in the gutter, but not in this case apparently.

They really should open it to traffic immediately upon completion. Let the taxpayers use the new street they just paid dearly for. The only safe N-S bike routes right now are all the way east on Wabash or all the way west on Halsted. Clark and Canal are both dangerous drag strips. You can wind your way through Dearborn Park but this is pretty slow. I'd be happy if they opened it for bikes/peds only, of course.
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  #914  
Old Posted Apr 26, 2021, 5:35 PM
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Agreed if they're not going to open it, they should have waited on the top coat. Otherwise it's just going to start to degrade and need replacing by the time any buildings open. Although it's not like it's city funded yet... Related footed the bill and will get the money back in property tax credits, or do I have that wrong?
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  #915  
Old Posted Apr 26, 2021, 11:42 PM
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Problem with opening an empty street like this to traffic is that it immediately becomes (SUNDAY!) Great (SUNDAY!) Lakes (SUNDAY!) Dragway. (SUNDAY!) Especially when warm weather brings out the motorcyclists.
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  #916  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2021, 1:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr Downtown View Post
Problem with opening an empty street like this to traffic is that it immediately becomes (SUNDAY!) Great (SUNDAY!) Lakes (SUNDAY!) Dragway. (SUNDAY!) Especially when warm weather brings out the motorcyclists.
if western ave is any indication, empty or crowded, wont stop the drag racing once this long stretch is open.

#cant stop # wont stop
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  #917  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2021, 2:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr Downtown View Post
Problem with opening an empty street like this to traffic is that it immediately becomes (SUNDAY!) Great (SUNDAY!) Lakes (SUNDAY!) Dragway. (SUNDAY!) Especially when warm weather brings out the motorcyclists.
this is true, but thats why speed tables are necessary. people can complain about them, but that would be an instant drag strip without them, esp with no cross streets

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Originally Posted by Busy Bee View Post
What I see is a bunch of concrete and (imo) too many damn trees,
chicago has some of the least tree cover of any major us city. i can assure you we do not have a problem of too many trees, esp with whats being lost every year. its funny that vegetation and lushness is being positioned by some here as somehow not appropriate, since pretty much every desirable neighborhood in the world is well landscaped and shaded. i would just HATE to live in a neighborhood like this, wouldnt you? /s. if i have a criticism its that chicago consistently neglects the true potential of its parkways and boulevards. so yes, too much concrete, but for different reasons than i assume youre suggesting.


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1e/8f...72f12d0cb1.jpg
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  #918  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2021, 3:42 PM
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I like the trees, so I'm playing devil's advocate here... True leadership cities like Paris are adding trees wherever and whenever they can, including turning the Champs-Elysee into a forest...

It's not necessarily that trees are bad, but are they appropriate for the main street of the 78? That picture you posted is a beautiful street, but it's a residential street. A street lined with shops and office buildings is a different animal - the shops want visibility, especially from motorists who won't see a new cafe or shop if it's hidden behind tree trunks (easier to notice these things as a pedestrian, of course). Office buildings want visibility too, that's why corporations spend all that money slapping their logo at the roofline. Bus riders want to see when their bus is approaching. In the wintertime, leafless trees can be ugly and uninviting, and kill what little solar access we get during those months. Etc etc.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown View Post
Problem with opening an empty street like this to traffic is that it immediately becomes (SUNDAY!) Great (SUNDAY!) Lakes (SUNDAY!) Dragway. (SUNDAY!) Especially when warm weather brings out the motorcyclists.
I appreciate this reference, but this kind of thinking is just surrender to lawlessness. It's not a hard problem to solve. Put in a few temporary asphalt speedbumps (in addition to the gentler speed tables) and the street racers will find somewhere else to go. Or keep some construction barricades and sign it for local traffic only.
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  #919  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2021, 4:01 PM
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Originally Posted by ardecila View Post

I appreciate this reference, but this kind of thinking is just surrender to lawlessness. It's not a hard problem to solve. Put in a few temporary asphalt speedbumps (in addition to the gentler speed tables) and the street racers will find somewhere else to go. Or keep some construction barricades and sign it for local traffic only.
hahahah

all we need is a "temporary speedbump"

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  #920  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2021, 2:30 PM
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I like the trees, so I'm playing devil's advocate here... True leadership cities like Paris are adding trees wherever and whenever they can, including turning the Champs-Elysee into a forest...

It's not necessarily that trees are bad, but are they appropriate for the main street of the 78? That picture you posted is a beautiful street, but it's a residential street. A street lined with shops and office buildings is a different animal - the shops want visibility, especially from motorists who won't see a new cafe or shop if it's hidden behind tree trunks (easier to notice these things as a pedestrian, of course). Office buildings want visibility too, that's why corporations spend all that money slapping their logo at the roofline. Bus riders want to see when their bus is approaching. In the wintertime, leafless trees can be ugly and uninviting, and kill what little solar access we get during those months. Etc etc.
that picture is of mexico city, one of the densest places on the planet. its no more "residential" than the 78, which is to say its a mix of mid/high rises, abundant street facing retail, and all manner of transportation.

https://www.google.com/maps/@19.4182...7i16384!8i8192

somehow people still manage to figure out when to get off the bus. yes climate plays no small role, but thats not an excuse for Chicago to continue to fall into its old default way of doing things and to not leverage its own native vegetation in abundance. we are talking about the supposed "city in a garden" are we not?

saying "we should have a lifeless moonscape at the street level because otherwise pedestrians wont be able to see the gaudy corporate signage at the top of skyscrapers" is...a philosophy i dont think any sane person subscribes to
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