TUNNEL CHICAGO SERIES

Elizabeth Blasius A walk through the Chicago PedwayĮarlier this week, I descended into the Chicago Pedway beneath the Roger Brown mural of Daedalus & Icarus at 120 North LaSalle, towards City Hall and the County Building, where the entrance was clearly marked with the Pedway system compass. As sections of the Pedway are operated by individual building owners, not all doors remain open in the evenings or weekends.Ī staircase leading up to Chicago City Hall. Some areas of the Pedway are aggressively patrolled with staff and cameras, while others appear to be entirely void of any attention. Many Pedway routes are marked with blue and yellow compasses set into the terrazzo floor, but others are designed to match the colors and aesthetic of the building it connects to which can be misleading. Some of these walkways are through private property or in many cases across commuter or rapid transit train platforms. However, the Pedway has issues with inconsistent signage and an official map that lacks dozens of informal pathways. Between these are a super colony of businesses, including dry cleaners, salons, shoe repair shops, and restaurants and bars. It also provides ingress to the private sector and public citizens to Daley Center Court rooms, offices of the Cook County Clerk, and the Central Illinois Secretary of State Facility. In its primary civic role, the Pedway allows underground access between City Hall, the Daley Center, the Cook County Office Building, and the Thompson Center which bridges these government buildings. Several comprehensive plans presented in the late 1960s urged Chicago to consider connecting commercial and civic buildings in the Loop.

TUNNEL CHICAGO SERIES

While the notion of an indoor pedestrian subway in Chicago existed as early as the 1920s, it took the success of indoor suburban malls and the transition of State Street from that ‘Great Street’ to a series of discount stores, pawn shops, and burlesque theaters to encourage city planners to push for all-weather pedestrian walkways. Another extension of the Pedway was added in 2010 which opened up access to north of Lake Street to Aqua Tower.

Then in late 1980s a connection was made to the Millennium Metra station which was completed in 2005. Washington Street was linked to the Civic Center. In 1966, the former Brunswick Building at 69 W. The system opened in 1951 with the completion of tunnel between the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway and the State Street Subway, connecting what is now the Red and Blue lines. Thompson Center, is connected by a section of the Pedway. Nearly every civically significant building in the Loop, including City Hall and the James R. The system includes several shorter sections, at times serving only as a connection between buildings and CTA or Metra Stations. LaSalle Street to the Millennium Park near Columbus Drive and Randolph Street with various points radiating north and south. The longest continuous section of the Pedway runs east-west from 120 N. The Chicago Pedestrian Walkway System works in conjunction with street level paths that connect to almost 50 buildings in the Loop. Shutterstock History of Chicago’s underground tunnel system Signage indicating an entrance point to the pedway system.

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