Create a pedestrian gateway into UIC on Peoria Street
How?
1. A raised intersection calms traffic, increasing the safety and comfort of people on foot
2. The shared street prioritizes pedestrian movement, and provides seating and bike parking on textured, permeable surfaces
3. Bioswales treat and drain surface water runoff naturally, alleviating Chicago's overburdened combined sewer system
4. Shortened CTA station opens the north-south view, visually connecting the urban planning and art colleges with the main campus
5. A sculpture doubles as a wayfinding landmark, and is centered in views from the north, southeast, and southwest
Site Plan
1. A sculpture doubles as a wayfinding landmark, and is centered in views from the north, southeast, and southwest
2. Shortened CTA station opens the north-south view, visually connecting the urban planning and art colleges with the main campus
3. Bioswales treat and drain surface water runoff naturally, alleviating Chicago's overburdened combined sewer system
4. The shared street prioritizes pedestrian movement, and provides seating and bike parking on textured, permeable surfaces
5. A raised intersection calms traffic, increasing the safety and comfort of people on foot
Connecting the campus
Half of Peoria Street from Van Buren to Harrison has been car-free since 1965; let's make it 100%.
2013 presents the perfect opportunity for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to implement the university's 2010 Campus Master Plan and create the gateway that connects the West Loop neighborhood, CUPPA and Art & Design Halls, the CTA Blue Line station, and the east campus.
Get our Pecha Kucha slides
Presented at the UIC Urban Innovation Symposium on Friday, February 8, 2013
Circle Interchange
IDOT is building three new flyovers, with six new lanes, to expand the car-carrying capacity of the Circle Interchange, where the Dan Ryan, Kennedy, and Eisenhower Expressways, and Congress Parkway meet IDOT would rebuild the Peoria Street bridge in order to fit one of the flyovers. Our proposal works well with IDOT's plans.
Fewer Cars
A pedestrian street needs fewer cars. Certain groups of people will still be able to drive on Peoria Street, to access parking lots, the dry cleaning business, the CTA station, and UIC buildings, but at a walking speed.
CTA Station Mods
The CTA station house size would rebuilt as part of IDOT's Circle Interchange project. We recommend removing the station house from the bridge and placing all functions inside the waiting area. CTA is asking IDOT for an elevator at the Peoria Street entrance.
About
The Peoria Street Pedestrian Street is a campaign to convert the primary connection on Peoria Street linking UIC's east campus, an entrance to the UIC-Halsted CTA Blue Line Station, CUPPA and Art & Design Halls, and the West Loop neighborhood, into a pedestrian street, that enhances the vitality of the street with people-oriented features like seating, landscaping, textured pavement, bike parking, and most prominent of all, the removal of cars.
Contact
You can contact Ryan Lakes and Steven Vance by emailing info@peoriastreet.info.
Call Steven at 312-593-4857.
