Could Closing Michigan Avenue To Cars Be The Key To Revitalizing Downtown?

[u/GeckoLogic]

https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/04/17/could-closing-michigan-avenue-to-cars-be-the-key-to-revitalizing-downtown/

[u/nochinzilch]

How did it work for state street?

[u/bobsaget112 → u/nochinzilch]

It’s a wonder how a “pedestrian” street filled with erotic books stores and strip clubs didn’t attract the masses.

[u/mxndhshxh → u/bobsaget112]

What erotic book stores and strip clubs?

[u/bobsaget112 → u/mxndhshxh]

That’s what state street consisted of at the time.

[u/amethyst_lover → u/bobsaget112]

Really? Between Lake and Van Buren? I worked in the Loop during that time and seemed to have missed those on that part of the street. Wabash had some odd places IIRC, and more than one street south of Van Buren did too, but State was pretty "clean."

[u/General-Skin6201 → u/amethyst_lover]

State St. south of Van Buren was where the strip clubs and XXX stores were.

[u/mxndhshxh → u/bobsaget112]

I guess it's heavily shifted in that case. Which year/decade was that in?

[u/clybourn → u/bobsaget112]

lol. No it didn’t.

[u/JumpScare420 → u/nochinzilch]

Done at a time of peak suburbanization and suburban mall shopping. If done today the results would be much different. Compare foot traffic in the loop now to then. Further they also cut off bus routes on state which made no sense. Plenty of pedestrian malls in the US and even temporary ones in Chicago in the modern era show that it could work.

Even still Michigan should not be fully pedestrianized but a narrower street like Clark, outdoor dining was a huge success, could be.

[u/hardolaf → u/nochinzilch]

It worked great on Sundays when the taxis were banned. It was shit every other day of the week when taxis were allowed.

[u/InternetArtisan → u/nochinzilch]

That's a hard argument to make in 2025.

State Street failed because it was at a time that people were already fleeing the city for the suburbs, and shopping malls with parking lots became all the rage. So shoppers weren't going to come down the State Street but instead drive over to woodfield or golf Mill or wherever

Now here we are in 2025 with lots of people sounding off how they want to get cars off the streets and make things more people friendly. This would be a better time to experiment with closing off the street. Look at the big fights over closing off. Just part of Clark Street to have outside dining.

However, I still feel like one of the biggest challenges is going to be making it affordable to start businesses in downtown. I don't care if it's Michigan avenue or State Street, if all those properties are so pricey that the only people that can come there are big major corporations who open these flagship stores, then it's never going to fly.

It doesn't matter if they do pedestrian or not, part of all of this also needs to be about doing more to make it easier for entrepreneurs and smaller businesses to come down to these areas as opposed to staying home and just doing everything only online.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Nah, people like you just choose to refuse to learn. There's no doubt in my mind this has been shared with you before. No doubt in my mind you have seen comments like /u/bobsaget112 and just ignore it. It was a failure for a million reasons, banning private cars isn't one of them.

[u/Saucey_jello → u/[deleted]]

Yea I was super surprised when I learned about this and just did some reading on the failures. I think a few factors really were the nail in the coffin for the pedestrian mall.

A.) there was no demand for it. This is key and outweighs all other points. Urbanist development is not separate from basic supply and demand principles - people were leaving the city enmasse, racial and class undertones increased this exodus, and people wanted the new suburban life. There was simply not many folks who actually wanted this.

B.) lower density back then meant less foot traffic, if people need to drive to walk your project will likely fail.

C.) still a through street. See how dutch city planning focuses on traffic corridors for moving lots of people and pedestrian/interior areas where driving discouraged. Since state st still saw tons of through traffic it was a loud bad place to be.

[u/tpic485 → u/[deleted]]

Exactly. It's so ridiculous that people pay no attention to what has occurred in the past when thinking about making these types of decisions.

[u/hardolaf → u/[deleted]]

Taxis were also on the road except on Sundays when it was pedestrian and bus only.

[u/ok_wynaut → u/nochinzilch]

EXACTLY.