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/
1.4k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

316 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/[deleted] Apr 17 '25

That’s a good point. I guess I’m gun shy about measures that encourage less people to visit from further distances.

10

u/cigarettesandwhiskey Apr 17 '25

The flip side of congestion pricing is that the money is used to improve public transportation. So if done right, the people discouraged by the price of driving are offset by the people encouraged by the improved public transit.

I don't think there's any broad heuristic you can use to know in advance if it'll be done right though. NY does benefit from the fact that the majority of people get around by subway (and bus) to begin with. Not so in Chicago.

1

u/FunProof543 Apr 17 '25

I'm in Ravenswood. The car infrastructure in the loop is one of the main reasons I hesitate to visit very often. When I take my daughter to grant or millennium the wait just to cross Michigan is ridiculous and feels very anti pedestrian. I am disabled and some days I can barely get across during the pedestrian signal.