City's Riverwalk Vision Is Bold, Needs Money

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 8, 2012 10:20PM

Check out these renderings from what could one day be Chicago's Riverwalk. The Mayor's office released a statement today announcing plans to complete the Riverwalk and, dare we say, we like it.

The idea is to give a different theme to a six block stretch along the river, using the bridges that span them to separate each block into its individual thematic element. The themes include: The Marina (from State to Dearborn); The Cove (Dearborn to Clark); The River Theater (Clark to LaSalle); The Swimming Hole (LaSalle to Wells); The Jetty (Wells to Franklin) and The Boardwalk (Franklin to Lake).

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who is touting the project as a boost to Chicago's tourism industry, said in the statement:

“The Chicago River is our second shoreline, which has played such a critical role in Chicago’s early history, the development of our industry and our quality of life,” said Mayor Emanuel. “It is now time to celebrate this incredible waterway with the completion of the entire riverwalk project, from Lake Michigan to the confluence of the three branches.”

Now the city only needs to find the money to complete the project. The Chicago Department of transportation recently submitted a letter of interest to the U.S. Department of Transportation to fund the project via the Transportation Infrastructure Finance Innovation Act (TIFIA) program. The city is estimating the project to cost between $90-100 million to complete.