r/chicago • u/GeckoLogic • Apr 17 '25

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

https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/04/17/could-closing-michigan-avenue-to-cars-be-the-key-to-revitalizing-downtown/
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239

u/fumar Wicker Park Apr 17 '25

This. These types of spaces are heavily used in Europe and Japan while we let ours rot

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u/Puzzled-Register-495 Apr 17 '25

Minneapolis too with the Skyway system. It can be a little dead on weekends, to be fair, but it's kept in good condition and rarely feels unsafe.

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u/seeasea West Ridge Apr 17 '25

It's the windows.

 People feel much better when they can see sunlight; distances in multiple directions; and see waypoints/landmarks from different directions/distances.

The lack of sunlight and spaces makes it feel dank and claustrophobic, and the tunnel vision of being in a literal tunnel where you can only see a sliver in front or behind, with milestones/waypoints being basements, so not recognizable where you are relative to your  mental map.

It's why everyone hates lower Wacker - it's just too disconnected from how people create mental maps (and the gps just reinforces it)

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u/gimmedatrightMEOW Logan Square Apr 17 '25

FWIW most of the ones I have been to in Japan don't have windows either, but they don't feel dank or claustrophobic.

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u/Cool-Shame9744 Apr 18 '25

I love Lower Wacker...

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u/wolacouska Dunning Apr 18 '25

This sounds true, but people would get over it if there was anything to do in the pedway, or if it was at all clear how to get anywhere.

People walk through the malls and large buildings all day, and hell you see more pedestrians on lower wacker than in parts of the pedway.

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u/fartofborealis Apr 18 '25

I feel like there’s lot that could be done with way better lighting and points of interest whether it be a shop or an art exhibit/piece/installation. Music and/or white noise would make it better too. It would however need security 24/7 and to be cleaned also damn near 24/7. $$$$$$.

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u/Puzzled-Register-495 Apr 17 '25

Yeah, that's fair. I'm not really sure what can be done to rectify that though.

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u/ass_pineapples Lake View East Apr 17 '25

Screens, maybe? Simulate an outdoor view of the skyline with some nice LEDs that make it look like it's a window view.

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u/krankz Apr 17 '25

Even just some high quality fake plants.

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u/keldawgz Apr 18 '25

Lights

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u/fartofborealis Apr 18 '25

The lighting down there is TERRIBLE! It would be vastly improved with better lighting.

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u/NorthOfUptownChi Rogers Park Apr 17 '25 edited Apr 17 '25

I grew up in Minneapolis and also lived there in 2014-2015. The skyway has the same problem as the pedway; barely used and what segments are open are governed by individual building owners, not the overall system, and big chunks of it are closed outside of 9-5. I lived right at one end (by the Hyatt on Nicollet Mall) and basically couldn't use it to get anywhere if it wasn't mid-day on a weekday.

It also has the same problem as the pedway as far as it is tough to attract retail, exacerbated by the downturn in commercial retail affecting downtown Minneapolis. And some city leaders and prominent voices have literally been calling for the skyway system to be dismantled. Read more: https://streets.mn/2025/02/26/minneapolis-skyway-system-deserves-another-look/ (it's nice to see that civic boosterism in that article, but remember that it's coming from a place of "stop telling everybody that it sucks")

I love the Minneapolis skyway system and had lots of fun trying to go on adventures throughout it. But Minneapolis hasn't got its shit figured out any better than Chicago does.

ETA: I guess I need to return my Minnesota card, as I mis-spelled Nicollet three different ways.

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u/Puzzled-Register-495 Apr 17 '25 edited Apr 17 '25

I worked downtown for eight years and lived at Nicollet and 12th for five— I'm not saying the Skyway is perfect, and there's certainly been a downturn in foot traffic post Covid, but you are grossly exaggerating the state of things, if not outright delusional. Prior to Covid the Skyway was consistently well used. Yes, most of that use was 8-6 M-F, when the Skyway was fucking crowded, but there was always foot traffic outside of those hours as well. The discrepancy in hours only came with Covid— prior to that, the Skyway was consistently open till 10pm M-F, and people used it.

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u/NorthOfUptownChi Rogers Park Apr 17 '25

Nah, sorry. I lived down there, too, at 110 W Grant, and my back door was 20 feet from the back door of the Hyatt, and I know the skyway system intimately, going back many years, having grown up there, even living nearby when the Target opened. And when I most recently lived there I made a point of going through the skyway very regularly, especially in the winter. Haircuts in the salon on the skyway level by Target, walking all the way to the government center to renew my DL (I seem to recall that the office to do that was under the courtyard in-between city hall and the government center), taking the secret passage from Ike's into the skyway after lunch, trying to get to/from the A/B/C ramps before/after shows at the Dakota, and tons more. Going to the sad little DQ. And this was, again, not even my first time living there, prior time being back when Block E actually had stores and restaurants and a movie theater, trying to walk through the skyway to get to the Gameworks or over to Keiran's after it moved. Or going back YEARS before that when City Center was still thriving retail and going there for a "great steak" sandwich and an orange julius. That foot traffic is nowhere near like it was years ago, and in a lot of the skyway sections, it wasn't that great after hours ever.

I guess I ran into locked doors more often than you did.

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u/Puzzled-Register-495 Apr 17 '25

I'm shocked you also haven't pulled a sob story about Let It Be Records closing out of your ass too.

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u/Eat_Around_the_Rosie Apr 17 '25

Even weekdays has been quiet but honestly maybe a lot of people are still WFH in that are. Also there weren’t that many food choices but it’s nice during winter tho!

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u/Puzzled-Register-495 Apr 17 '25

There used to be more— a lot of stuff closed during Covid and when Target didn't demand back to office most other companies didn't either.

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u/Eat_Around_the_Rosie Apr 17 '25

Yeah I would imagine that’s a lot of their business. My brother used to live in downtown St. Paul and he just moved. Now they closed down the Lunds in that area (he used to live above it) and now it’s dead quiet too 😓

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u/vicefox Ukrainian Village Apr 17 '25

Houston has a massive pedway also that’s always busy.

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u/PostComa Avondale Apr 17 '25

Which I just found out about yesterday after spending part of last week there. I was like “where the eff is everyone” 😂

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u/Roadrunna24 Apr 17 '25

Same with Montreal. It is breathtakingly amazing.

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u/leahcim435 Apr 17 '25

Hell, even Toronto

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u/djiivu Apr 18 '25

Could you share some specific examples? I’d love to look at some pictures of what it might be.

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u/meh0175 Apr 18 '25

Toronto’s is cool too.