South Water Street (triple decker: South Water St, Lower South Water St, and South Water Service St).Wacker Drive (triple decker: Wacker Drive, Lower Wacker Drive, and Wacker Service Drive or Sub Lower Wacker Drive).Stetson Avenue (triple decker: Stetson Ave, Lower Stetson Ave, and Stetson Service Ave).Michigan Avenue (including a double-decker bridge over the Chicago River).Lake Shore Drive (including a double-decker bridge over the Chicago River).Columbus Drive (triple decker: they are (in descending order) Columbus Drive, Lower Columbus Drive, and Columbus Service Drive).This list is incomplete you can help by adding missing items. The city's famed Billy Goat Tavern, immortalized by John Belushi in a Saturday Night Live sketch as the Olympia Cafe, is located on the lower level of Michigan Avenue. On January 3, 2005, the upper and lower levels were closed at Kinzie Street for reconstruction (in conjunction with the Trump Tower Chicago development) but have since been reopened. The double-decked portion of Wabash Avenue north of the Chicago River was built in 1930, in conjunction with the single-level Wabash Avenue Bridge. Public road planning in Chicago began in 1910 when the Chicago Plan Commission was created to implement Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett's plan. When the Illinois Center development was built on the east side of downtown, a new upper level was built, making most streets in that area three levels.Īfter about 1890, special interest groups, including recreational bicyclists, farmers delivering harvested crops to market, and motorists, began to mount support for concrete paving to replace the previously common dirt roads. However, this did not produce any two-level streets the first of those was Michigan Avenue in the late 1910s. The higher elevation allowed for sewers and proper drainage. The first raising occurred from 1855 to 1858, when streets and buildings were raised between four and seven feet above their former elevation, just a few feet above lake level, where they were constantly muddy. As a result, loading docks at street level are noticeably absent. This level houses the receiving/shipping entrances to the buildings on these streets. The lower levels generally serve through-traffic and trucks serving businesses along the roads. The primary entrances of buildings are usually located on this level. Generally, the upper levels of the multi-level streets usually serve local traffic. This also created an anomaly not only in the layout and uses of streets, but also planning of buildings. Many double-decked or triple-decked streets were created because they fell within this clearance zone. Thus, a clearance zone was created along the river at locations that contained many closely spaced crossings. Clearances were further necessitated due to the presence of many existing railroad tracks along the river (as in the west bank of the south branch) and tracks that ended at the river (such as the tracks ending at Randolph Street). However, most downtown streets crossed the river, and all of these crossings were bascule bridges, which required height clearances at the approaches to and over the river. In most other parts of the rest of the city near the Chicago River, only major streets crossed the river. The multilevel configuration arose from geography and traffic patterns in the Loop. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker.The Michigan Avenue Bridge crossing the Chicago River Marker is at or near this postal address: 398 West Wacker Drive, Chicago IL 60606, United States of America. Marker is at the intersection of West Wacker Drive and West Lake Street on West Wacker Drive. Marker is in Chicago, Illinois, in Cook County. A significant historical year for this entry is 1924. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Roads & Vehicles. Arthur Engh, Ass’t Chief Engineer Chicago Plan Commission Charles H. Busch Corporation Counsel Board of Local Improvement John J. South Water Street 1834 South Water Street 1924, Wacker Drive Begun 1924 Completed 1926, Built by the City of Chicago Wm.
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