Here’s How Argyle Street Will Change This Year The Uptown street will become very pedestrian-friendly this spring.

Illustration: Colin Hayer

In addition to the usual snowplows and pothole crews this winter, you’ll notice construction clogging the streets of Uptown. That’s because the city is turning a three-block stretch of Argyle between Sheridan and Broadway into Chicago’s first European-style “shared street.” The $4.5 million project, funded mostly with TIF money, aims to bring more shoppers and improved safety to the neighborhood by leveling the barriers between walkers, bikers, and drivers. The counterintuitive idea originated with the Dutch—a traffic engineer named Hans Monderman found that giving more space to pedestrians forces motorists to slow down—and has been adopted across Europe. Here’s how it will work.

1. Slower driving

Planners expect drivers will slow to a glacial 10 miles per hour.

2. Twisted street

New angles in the road will discourage speeding.

3. Infiltration planters

The planted beds will collect excess storm water and prevent flooding.

4. Wider sidewalks

They’ll expand by four feet in certain areas.

5. No curbs

The street will be raised to sidewalk level and repaved with new stones, including colored ones to indicate where the sidewalk ends.

6. More trees

Each block will have about 20 trees and six bike racks.

7. Less parking

Ten spots will vanish from the street, but don’t worry—there are two lots right off Argyle.

This article appears in the January 2015 issue of Chicago magazine. Subscribe to Chicago magazine.

Share







