CHICAGO RIVERWALK - A Revival Plan That Still Has A Long Way to Go!
CONTINUOUS STATE-TO-LAKE MICHIGAN RIVERSIDE WALKWAY TO BE COMPLETE BY END OF SUMMER, 2009!
Roughly a century ago, Chicago Visionary Architect Daniel Burnham envisioned one large, beautiful stretch of public recreational parkland along the Chicago Shore of Lake Michigan, reaching from North to South across the city. Such Big Plans were thought unworkable in the early 19th Century, when polluting industry lined the Chicago Lakefront, and Lakefront parks were small and scattered.
But the vision remained, and is largely enjoyed in 2009.
In the early 1960's, an earlier Chicago Mayor Daley, Richard J., father of the Current Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, saw a day when downtown office workers could spend their lunch hours relaxing along the Chicago River, and perhaps enjoy a little fishing on every weekend.
At the time of his prognostication, the Downtown Chicago stretches of the banks of the Chicago River were far less than attractive, smelly, almost desolate places. The river itself - heavily polluted, barely supporting aquatic life.
The Chicago River today? Well . . . it's getting there, but still has a ways to go before Old Man Daley's vision comes close to reality.
In the June 27th Chicago Tribune Cityscapes Blog, Reporter Blair Kamin chronicles that development of a Chicago Riverwalk has gained speed in the last decade. Where sterile gray docks and unsightly weeds grew just two decades ago, swanky restaurants and winding riverside walkways now predominate. As soon as the end of July, the Chicago Riverwalk will extend between State Street, just north of The Chicago Loop, eastward to Lake Michigan.
The project includes see-through stainless steel and glass railings at the water's edge, concrete benches, and, further east, boulders to relax on, restaurant tables protected by umbrellas, a three-tiered walkway in front of the new Trump Tower, at Wabash Avenue, just north of the Chicago River, and spectacular, stylized canopies that cover the new Chicago Riverwalk under each bridge crossing, serving double duty as protection from falling debris dropped by pedestrians on the level above.
Important additional enhancements, including the much-ballyhooed, 150-story Chicago Spire, as well as a new DuSable Park near the Lake Michigan end of the Riverwalk, have stalled due to the recessionary economy. But, true to Daniel Burnham's Plan of Chicago inspiration of one hundred years ago, ambitious ideas for future Riverwalk development are indeed being contemplated.
Plans call for further extension of the Chicago Riverwalk east of State Street, to Lake Street near Wacker Drive. Architectural Firm Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill will be presenting their own long term plan for a nearly 1.3 Mile Long walk along the Chicago River, to include four distinct "identity districts", and a new, beautiful green space, created by landfill extending as much as 50 feet into the water, at the confluence of the North and South Branches of the Chicago River.
Current plans call for development of the South Bank of the Chicago River in Downtown Chicago, where land is predominantly under public control. Most of the North Bank is privately owned, and major redevelopment projects by these private owners is seen unlikely until the Chicago Economy once again begins to rebound.
One day, however, if the River Visionaries are proven out, those walking on the banks of the Chicago River will enjoy peaceful urban vistas each summertime day and night, without scenes of trash-strewn neglected docks, and uninterrupted, boring concrete gray.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
