2019 Chicago Roadway Gribblenation Features

[Henry]

Those are some impressive pics! Also, that story about Mayor Daley was an interesting read, and further proof that he was the greatest mayor the Windy City ever had.

[kphoger]

[Max Rockatansky]

What is the sponsorship these days? 

[ilpt4u]

What is the sponsorship these days?

Guaranteed Rate Field www.rate.com

[inkyatari]

To my knowledge, the Hancock Tower isn't even Hancock anymore isn't it? I mean officially.

What else are you going to call it? Currently, its only official name is its street address.

Correct.  The John Hancock company no longer has a presence in the building - hasn't for years - and they wanted their name off of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hancock_Center

[ftballfan]

To my knowledge, the Hancock Tower isn't even Hancock anymore isn't it? I mean officially.

What else are you going to call it? Currently, its only official name is its street address.

Correct.  The John Hancock company no longer has a presence in the building - hasn't for years - and they wanted their name off of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hancock_Center

Today I learned that the Sears and Hancock towers were both designed by the same person

[thspfc]

Sears and Hancock towers

I'm okay with Hancock Tower, but Willis Tower sounds better than Sears anyway.

[mrsman]

Visited Chicago again this year and made a point at checking out some roadways that I used to frequent in the 1990s.  Given I flew into O'Hare the first major roadway I checked out was the Kennedy Expressway.  Suffice to say not much has changed with the massive traffic volumes approaching downtown east of the I-94 merge point.  Really the only major difference that was apparent was the electronic BGS signs for the eastbound express lanes.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/04/kennedy-expressway-interstates-90-94.html

My photo set for the Kennedy Expressway was taken over two days and can be found below.  There was a cool low cloud cover the day I flew in which obstructed some of the taller buildings such as the Sears Tower.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskTLGLS5

The electronic BGSes are a great idea for ramps to reversible lanes.  It can be made to look like a BGS when the reversible lanes are open (with appropriate direction information as IDOT has done here) and when it is closed, it can simply say "closed" or something equivalent.  Should be done on more highways in other states.

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^

I thought the electronic signs were a nice touch.  The only place I really recall them being utilized in applications that were similar was in Metro Miami.

Completely forgot I had two more Chicago features:

I-55 north terminus

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/northern-terminus-of-interstate-55-on.html?m=1

Lake Shore Drive to the Link Bridge

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/us-route-41-on-lake-shore-drive.html?m=1

[mrsman]

^^^

I thought the electronic signs were a nice touch.  The only place I really recall them being utilized in applications that were similar was in Metro Miami.

Completely forgot I had two more Chicago features:

I-55 north terminus

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/northern-terminus-of-interstate-55-on.html?m=1

Lake Shore Drive to the Link Bridge

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/05/us-route-41-on-lake-shore-drive.html?m=1

The NJ Turnpike also uses them.  The lanes aren't normally reversible, but several maintenance projects may close either car or car-truck lanes in central NJ and directing all traffic to use the roadway that is open.  Similarly with the western and eastern spurs in northern NJ.

[storm2k]

Visited Chicago again this year and made a point at checking out some roadways that I used to frequent in the 1990s.  Given I flew into O'Hare the first major roadway I checked out was the Kennedy Expressway.  Suffice to say not much has changed with the massive traffic volumes approaching downtown east of the I-94 merge point.  Really the only major difference that was apparent was the electronic BGS signs for the eastbound express lanes.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/04/kennedy-expressway-interstates-90-94.html

My photo set for the Kennedy Expressway was taken over two days and can be found below.  There was a cool low cloud cover the day I flew in which obstructed some of the taller buildings such as the Sears Tower.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskTLGLS5

I find it interesting that all the replacement signage along the Kennedy now omits the local street's position on Chicago's grid. That was always one of the quirks I loved about IDOT's signage in Chicago, along with the comically small lettering they use for the expressway names (which perseveres). I wonder when they finally replaced the signage. All of it was from 1992-93 when it was all replaced as part of "Project Kennedy" that rebuilt the entire viaduct and modernized the express lanes.

[kevinb1994]

I wish that I had more time to check out more than just certain areas and buildings of the Loop when I was in the area for last year's Aurora-Naperville Road Meet, as I wanted to check out the Navy Pier and other areas and buildings north and west of the Chicago River (Union Station, for example). That being said, I did enjoy taking a guided tour of the old library building that has a really neat area on the old Grand Army of the Republic. This guided tour also included what is now Macy's but was once Marshall Field's. Neat building, but what was even more impressive was the old First United Methodist Church building that is associated with the Walgreen family. Of course, the tour guide did not forget about the whole Block 37 thing and yes, we did go underground and into the Chicago Pedway system which was also nice. We even went in and out of some of the underground "L"  stations (Blue Line, Red Line).

EDIT: forgot to mention that we rode the "L"  around the Loop itself via the Pink Line. Nice mixture of old and new "L"  stations. We did a guided boat tour of the Chicago River and going under the bridges was nice. And to top it all off, we had deep-dish pizza at Giordano's very close to the site of Fort Dearborn.

[ET21]

Visited Chicago again this year and made a point at checking out some roadways that I used to frequent in the 1990s.  Given I flew into O'Hare the first major roadway I checked out was the Kennedy Expressway.  Suffice to say not much has changed with the massive traffic volumes approaching downtown east of the I-94 merge point.  Really the only major difference that was apparent was the electronic BGS signs for the eastbound express lanes.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/04/kennedy-expressway-interstates-90-94.html

My photo set for the Kennedy Expressway was taken over two days and can be found below.  There was a cool low cloud cover the day I flew in which obstructed some of the taller buildings such as the Sears Tower.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskTLGLS5

I find it interesting that all the replacement signage along the Kennedy now omits the local street's position on Chicago's grid. That was always one of the quirks I loved about IDOT's signage in Chicago, along with the comically small lettering they use for the expressway names (which perseveres). I wonder when they finally replaced the signage. All of it was from 1992-93 when it was all replaced as part of "Project Kennedy" that rebuilt the entire viaduct and modernized the express lanes.

They've begun to move those position signs to the viaduct crossings. The small median signs that tell you what street goes over or under you now have the street grid. Though I've still seen a couple overheads with the grid #'s survive.