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Voices united: Rallying for better transit on NDLSD
Community spirit and collective determination took center stage as many dozens of people gathered recently to demand that city officials take their foot off the gas with the plan to rebuild DuSable Lake Shore Drive.
The event brought together residents, advocates, and elected officials, all united in the belief that the current plans by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) for rebuilding NDLSD fall short of addressing the needs and desires of the community.
The rally highlighted the agencies’ failure to adequately incorporate community interests into its plans for the roadway, and specifically their refusal to include dedicated lanes for transit, a desire that has been highlighted time and again in community feedback.
Because the current plan maintains the status quo by giving priority to drivers and incorporating few transit improvements, Save the Lakefront rally attendees insisted that the agencies go back to the drawing board with the plan.
The speakers at the rally urged the agencies to dream big and reimagine our city’s infrastructure to reflect our current needs and values.
Below are a series of quotes and video snippets from speakers.
Maria Hadden, 49th Ward Alderperson
“We need to see active transportation prioritized in a plan for the future of DuSable Lake Shore Drive. We need to see bus rapid transit lanes at a minimum.”
Rony Islam, Chicago Bike Grid Now
“CDOT and IDOT have spent 13 years pushing forward a vision that fails to redefine anything. Their process has been inaccessible, opaque, and slow. Their vision is a wider highway on our lakefront — a faster and louder and more dangerous highway. Their vision will serve as a future case study in how to fail our city, state, and nationwide goals for sustainable transportation. Their engineering and modeling is out of date, has been called out by the RTA, and does not grapple with the reality of our climate crisis. If cities all across the world can make these kinds of changes, we know Chicago can be a leader.”
Daniel La Spata, 1st Ward Alderman
“We have to be planning and building for the future….We are building for a Chicago that we know is going to take fewer car trips [and] more bike and public transit trips.”
Check out Ald. La Spata’s full remarks.
Bennett Lawson, 44th Ward Alderman
“In addition to the great need for better transit, they need to improve our park space. [Residents] need to be able to cross the street safely.”
View Ald. Lawson’s full remarks.
Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth, 48th Ward Alderwoman
“We want our city to act like the world class city that it is — a leader in sustainability. How does this plan reflect those values? It doesn’t. Who has felt heard in this process? We want to pause the process and bring more people to the table. We want a dedicated bus lane. Why is that not in the plan? We want to know.”
Robert Peters, Illinois State Senator
“In Chicago, we talk all the time about how we’re a world class city. Well, this is an opportunity to do a world class thing.”
See Sen. Peters’ full remarks.
Laura Saltzman, Access Living
“We were disappointed to see this design chosen. As you heard from a number of people before me, this is not reflective of what the community needs more broadly and certainly not reflective of the needs of disabled people specifically, particularly to the extent to which we rely on transit. Disabled people are disproportionately non-drivers and rely on transit.”
“In a recent CTA survey, the number one non-accessible improvement that disabled people said they wanted was improved reliability and speed of buses. Here’s an opportunity to make a meaningful improvement in that direction.”
“This also isn’t just about this project — although it is a very big one. This is about going forward who or what will be considered by our transportation agencies, what kind of community engagement standards have we used.”
Check out Saltzman’s full remarks.
Robert Schultz III, Active Transportation Alliance, Campaign Organizer
“The first principle of Chicago should be that people are more important than cars. Let’s scrap your current flawed plan for another highway. Come back with a plan that puts bus lanes and pedestrian access first.“
“What I hear when I talk to people is that they want better, faster, more reliable bus service, and what better place to start this process than in rebuilding North DuSable Lake Shore Drive with bus lanes as a predominant travel feature.”
Mike Simmons, Illinois State Senator
“The Illinois Senate passed a resolution unanimously demanding that IDOT and CDOT think big [about] Lake Shore Drive. We’re talking about a boulevard that has at least a dedicated lane for express buses.”
See Sen. Simmons’ full remarks.
Andre Vasquez, 40th Ward Alderman
“When we think about bus rapid transit and what it means, it’s centering the people who need the services. This is literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to actually shape where our lakefront needs to be.”
See Ald. Vasquez’s full remarks.
Sativa Volbrecht, Sierra Club Chicago
“IDOT has repeatedly shown that they are unwilling to listen to the calls of transit advocates, elected officials, and community members. CDOT and IDOT say that public transit is a priority, but time and time again they have shown us that they don’t care about transit riders or community access. IDOT and CDOT: stop the process until your plan supports the city’s goal to double transit ridership with dedicated transit space.”
Jack Warren, Urban Environmentalists Illinois
“Chicagoans now spend 150 hours a year sitting in traffic, resulting in lost productivity, environmental degradation, and human misery. The solution is simple. Make sure that we prioritize people in transit when we design or retrofit our public spaces like Lake Shore Drive.”
“Lake Shore Drive must be returned to the boulevard that it was meant to be, with a smaller footprint and lower speeds. And it must include dedicated bus lanes, which would decrease transit times by 10 minutes on many routes. Let’s design the city of the future that puts people first.”
We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who spoke at the rally, all who attended, and all who have expressed concerns over the proposed redesign of North DuSable Lake Shore Drive.
Your voices are crucial in the fight to ensure that our city’s infrastructure aligns with our climate and transportation goals.
Let’s continue to advocate for redesigning NDLSD in a way that truly reflects the needs of all Chicagoans — one that prioritizes public transit, pedestrian access, and environmental sustainability.
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