Redesign the Drive Purpose and Need Statement Needs Input from Cyclists, Pedestrians

I was a member of the residents' task force for the Redesign North Lake Shore Drive project, which has released its draft Purpose and Need statement for the redesign.

I’ve been, frankly, disappointed in the process. At meetings, I heard many residents express that the Drive is a barrier between the city and the Lakefront and plenty of comments that it’s a blight on the Lakefront. I heard many people suggest that a bold re-visioning which emphasizes transit and foot-traffic is necessary, none of that is referenced in the current plan. Plan as a pdf is here.

As I attended the meetings, and read through the documents presented us, I felt very disappointed in the attitude toward transit improvement, transportation cycling and pedestrian use of the Lakefront. In short, my general sense of the process was that the focus and presumed goal was increasing auto capacity and improving safety at higher speeds--even as agency representatives noted that increasing capacity increases the volume of use and the drivers only DO NOT speed when it is physically impossible to speed.

Throughout the process, “transportation” was assumed to mean “personal car”. That “vehicular access” is first on every list in the plan is emblematic of the problem. This committee is viewing this as a “car problem” to solve, not a “quality of life” problem to solve.

You can add specific comments to the map: Map App

Or you can send general comments about the Purpose and Need Statement to info@northlakeshoredrive.org

They want those comments by April 24 and there will be a public meeting in June. Right now, the voices of transit users, transportation cyclists, recreational users of the Park and the Lakefront, and pedestrians near access points to the Drive are just not represented in the project.