The Chicago DOT (CDOT) and Illinois DOT are making significant investments to improve the North DuSable Lake Shore Drive roadway infrastructure along the city’s lakefront. Now, with a preferred functional roadway layout established, CDOT has partnered with Gehl to develop people-first concept designs for planned improvements that will increase connectivity between the city and the lakefront.
A public space, not just a transitional space Chicago’s North DuSable Lakeshore Drive is one of the city’s great boulevards and serves as a critical link—and in the past a barrier— between 11 neighborhoods, six wards, and many acres of open space and park land. With recent and significant infrastructure investments, the Chicago DOT (CDOT) and Illinois DOT (IDOT) engaged Gehl to consult on people-first public space improvements to better connect people to one of Chicago’s greatest public spaces.
The Gehl team used a multi-method approach to ensure that the new access points being conceived along the roadway are designed as public spaces, centered on the human experience and offer diverse amenity improvements that connect residents and visitors to their beloved lakefront parks and beaches.
To study the current access points and make future design recommendations for how to improve the quality of the public spaces and connections along North DuSable Drive, Gehl conducted the Studio’s second largest Public Space Study in North America to-date. With the help of over 100 community researchers, the team observed 34,000 people across 13 neighborhoods and seven miles of North Lake Shore Drive during a two day period in June 2022.
The resulting data from this grand scale PSPL, will inform Gehl’s future design recommendations for the on-going infrastructure project, ensuring that the future park program concepts are rooted in a sense of place and community-driven values, complement the existing neighborhood ecosystem of park amenities, and prioritize a mobility experience that is safe, intuitive, and accessible: encouraging new public realm opportunities in the city’s largest and most beloved park.
