Quote:
Originally Posted by Khantilever
I’m surprised to see so much negativity from this board about the density. The expectation that developments need to be congestion-neutral, and that the cost of mitigating congestion needs to be borne by those developments, is myopic to the long-term determinants of congestion and unreasonable in the distribution of the costs of public goods.
Everyone is always—rightly—criticizing the suburban-style, car-centric development in the area, which is at least partly responsible for the terrible traffic. Why do we want whatever new development comes here to try and preserve that status quo?
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I don't think anyone a) thinks this development needs to be congestion neutral, or b) wants it to reinforce the car-centric development in the area.
The problem is that the plan as-stated doesn't do much (beyond the new metra station) to address the lack of transit in the area. The result is going to be that a lot more people want to go there, they won't have good options besides a car (or bus) to get there, and as a result traffic congestion is going to be bad.
That's going to end up indirectly worsening access to Lincoln Park and Wicker Park, and functionally separate the neighborhoods east and west of the river. That would be unfortunate, especially because Lincoln Yards has the potential to fill an important gap in the urban fabric.