[denizen467]

^ I looked deeper into this and I want to update my position. Although Van Buren suffers from short blocks interrupted by alleys and intermediate streets, from the fortresslike trading buildings, from a lack of more upscale tenants that are found on Wabash, and from what I believe are narrower sidewalks, it seems clear that having the el supports at the curbs substantially amplifies the tunnel effect for pedestrians and drivers. Even with the track infrastructure being identical to Wabash (i.e. just 2 tracks above), those "bents" (if that's what the supports are called) have a huge imposing effect when they reach out as far as the curbs. Maybe the biggest problem is that the horizontal beams are very deep (by which I mean "tall", like easily 48 inches?), and because they are spaced frequently (like every 10 yards maybe?) they really obstruct views. Walking or driving down Van Buren, the field of view is completely eaten up by them, and of course they block sunlight illuminating the sidewalks and storefronts as well. In comparison, Wabash is really not bad at all -- it's almost a quaint balance between overhead el and sunlight and open sky.

I hope if there is ever any need to reconstruct the substructure of any of the 4 sides of the loop, extra money will be spent (because it's the historic loop and it's just a few blocks) to use steel spans of the maximum length and of the minimum thickness practicable. But barring that, as far as Wabash is concerned, I'd rather have it stay with columns in the streets than see it turn into a Van Buren. Apologies in advance to the auto collision insurance companies of the world.

(State-Lake and maybe a few other intersections are an exception -- columns in the middle of intersections are definitely not a good idea.)