[HN Gopher] A walk through Chicago Pedway (2017)
___________________________________________________________________
A walk through Chicago Pedway (2017)
Author : wglb
Score : 52 points
Date : 2024-02-10 23:16 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (chicago.curbed.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (chicago.curbed.com)
| cozzyd wrote:
| I live across the street from a pedway entrance, and commute to
| work via the Metra Electric from Millenium Station, so on rainy
| days, I sometimes take the extra few minutes to go through the
| pedway, but usually I walk the two blocks outside instead since
| it's substantially faster.
|
| One time on a particularly cold day I found occasion to take the
| Pedway all the way to the City Clerk to pick up my daughter's
| birth certificate...
| blakesterz wrote:
| I might suggest a link to the Wikipedia entry instead?
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pedway
|
| I've never heard of this, and it's interesting, but the Wikipedia
| page has way more info than the PDF there.
| dang wrote:
| We've since changed from the submitted URL (https://www.chicago
| .gov/content/dam/city/depts/cdot/pedestri...) to the article
| platz suggested
| (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39351010).
|
| Wikipedia submissions are fine if there really isn't another
| interesting article out there, but we prefer a non-generic
| source where possible.
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| Love to visit Hong Kong some day just to wander the pedestrian
| network, a fraction of which (apparently) is shown here:
|
| https://placesjournal.org/article/hong-kong-grounded/
| JadeNB wrote:
| > Love to visit Hong Kong some day just to wander the
| pedestrian network, a fraction of which (apparently) is shown
| here:
|
| If you get tired of wandering the pedestrian network within the
| city, make sure to visit the extensive network of hiking trails
| that (unlike so many other cities, where you have to drive
| before you can get a good hike) you can get to by walking from
| the city. I was there for two weeks for business, and
| frustrated my host no end because I refused to visit the
| celebrated shopping districts when there were so many trails to
| be explored.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacLehose_Trail
| robto wrote:
| Reminds me of the Minneapolis Skyway[0]. I wonder if other cold-
| weather cities have similar systems.
|
| [0]https://www.skywaymyway.com/
| blakesterz wrote:
| Rochester MN has a mini version too:
|
| https://www.experiencerochestermn.com/planning-tools/getting...
| itishappy wrote:
| University of Rochester in Rochester NY has one too!
|
| https://admissions.rochester.edu/blog/navigating-the-
| tunnels...
| lbourdages wrote:
| Laval University (in Quebec City) also has one.
|
| https://www.ssp.ulaval.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/plan-
| pi...
|
| Tunnels are dotted green lines.
| camjohnson26 wrote:
| Calgary too: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plus_15
| cozzyd wrote:
| Duluth has a (much smaller-scale) system
| etimberg wrote:
| Toronto has one. https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/visitor-
| toronto/path-to...
| itslennysfault wrote:
| Montreal has one: https://www.mtl.org/en/experience/guide-
| underground-city-sho...
|
| I grew up in Chicago and lived in Montreal for a while. Theirs
| is WAAY better than Chicago's.
| cognaitiv wrote:
| Des Moines, Iowa
|
| https://www.dsm.city/departments/engineering_-_division/skyw...
| larkost wrote:
| University of Wisconsin, Green Bay has a semi-tunnel, semi
| enclosed walkway system:
|
| https://www.uwgb.edu/UWGBCMS/media/Maps/files/concourse-map....
|
| It is very close to the eponymous Green Bay and the wind can be
| very cold if you are outside for any time in some parts of
| winter.
| nicholashead wrote:
| Link to video of folks checking this out/walking around it:
| https://youtu.be/K6C9dbducAw
| KerrickStaley wrote:
| A few other cities I've been to also have extensive pedestrian
| subway systems / skyway systems:
|
| Rochester MN: https://www.experiencerochestermn.com/planning-
| tools/getting...
|
| Taipei Taiwan: https://pqvst.com/2023/05/28/taipei-underground/
|
| New York NY near the World Trade Center: (can't find an up-to-
| date map or article)
|
| Hong Kong near Central area:
| https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design...
|
| They are great as a way to avoid extreme weather on the surface
| (cold in Rochester's and New York's case, hot in Taipei's and
| Hong Kong's case) and car traffic.
|
| Hong Kong takes things a step further in that it's actually hard
| to get around at ground level. Many streets don't have pedestrian
| crossings and there are barriers to prevent jaywalking. I'm not a
| fan honestly.
| chasil wrote:
| Montreal has one.
|
| https://www.mtl.org/en/experience/guide-underground-city-sho...
| paulette449 wrote:
| Singapore is an obvious omission based on my travels but many
| more probably qualify according to Wiki:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_city
| duncan_idaho wrote:
| Great way to avoid extreme weather... if you're part of the
| working class. Most of these pedways are private property
| acting as a public space, so any undesirables can be ejected.
|
| We need to stop the privatization of our public spaces.
| wvoch235 wrote:
| Most private underground pedestrian tunnels are basements of
| existing buildings. Do you think the government should be
| using tax payer money to be cease/buy basements instead?
| Seems like a really odd use of resources just to not be able
| to kick out people who aren't using the path for the intend
| purpose... but more so: Seems like something most local
| governments in North America would be too inefficient to
| handle without it turning into a project that takes 50 years
| and millions of dollars to complete 1 mile.
| bobthepanda wrote:
| Usually the primary complaint about making them private, is
| that coordinating wayfinding for a bunch of private rights
| of way is very difficult, so what may be a complete network
| can be hard to use as such. Some landlords may not want you
| to realize you can go to a different property a few blocks
| away to complete your needs.
| gosub100 wrote:
| do you have any evidence of that happening?
| bobthepanda wrote:
| One of the interesting things about the Hong Kong system is
| that unlike many places with this pedway system, the terrain
| gets quite steep quite quickly, and so using the pedway systems
| may result in the same or fewer level changes than using the
| street network.
|
| Hong Kong has one of the few examples of a public transport
| system consisting entirely of escalators.
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central%E2%80%93Mid-Levels_esc...
| javiramos wrote:
| Sydney also has a very nice underground walkway connecting the
| Town Hall all the way down to the Queen Victoria building.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cpkNTgYTxY&ab_channel=HWTou...
| sithadmin wrote:
| Houston, Texas also has an extensive underground tunnel system
| connecting large parts of the downtown business district and
| government buildings. It's a godsend during hot, swampy summers
| when commuting by foot at street level guarantees being soaked in
| sweat within a block or two, and is probably the most popular
| spot to head for lunch in the downtown area.
|
| One interesting factor here is that aside from the portions
| serving government buildings, the tunnel system has grown
| organically as each piece is constructed and maintained by the
| owner of the building above. Direct tunnel access from a building
| is considered a major perk for employees and drives up commercial
| rent prices in each section's associated building.
|
| https://downtownhouston.org/experience/downtown-tunnels
| epcoa wrote:
| While the Chicago Pedway is interesting, it is not extensive.
| The most interesting part of it is a relatively tiny section of
| mixed use commercial including hotels. It's not useful to the
| bulk of downtown workers on a day to day.
| klardotsh wrote:
| This + when I lived there (2015-17), large segments of the
| Pedway would close at seemingly arbitrary hours, making it
| pretty common to have to head back to street level anyway to
| get between, say, Millennium Station and the State/Lake L
| stop outside of core business hours.
| nate wrote:
| There's some useful dining and bar options down there too. They
| don't get super crowded either like the above ground places do at
| lunch and after work hours.
| dzhiurgis wrote:
| Would tunnels like this be cheaper and better alternative than
| dedicated bicycle commuter lanes? Covers from adverse weather and
| cheaper to dig than comparable car tunnels.
| karaterobot wrote:
| I don't think it's a separate, dedicated tunnel, as much as a
| network of public spaces including tunnels, but also, e.g.,
| building lobbies and concourses, dense with pedestrians and
| probably not a place for biking.
| lmm wrote:
| Climbing is disproportionately hard on a bicycle, and
| realistically you'd have to go in and out of whatever area had
| this tunnel network. Plus the great advantage of a bicycle is
| being able to safely mingle among shops/restaurants/etc. and
| stop off directly if you see somewhere you like. So no,
| probably not, just like bicycle overpasses at junctions seem
| like a good idea to non-cyclists but are usually pretty
| useless.
| paulkrush wrote:
| I used to live in the middle of the "The east side" and the
| pedway is really cool. If you're brave, there is way more walking
| complexity than just the pedway. Upper right on the map has 3
| levels of streets and the bridges have 2 levels(with pedestrian
| sidewalks). Its kind of dark and seedy to walk on the bottom
| levels. At the middle level you can walked to the river walk
| which is nice. Going to the lake is nice. Really no retail
| underground, except for Billy Goat Tavern on the other side of
| the river. There are the ghosts of the Blues Brothers driving by
| on Wacker...
| platz wrote:
| https://chicago.curbed.com/2017/9/21/16345460/chicago-pedway...
|
| https://data.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/Pedway-Routes/...
| dang wrote:
| Nice! Let's change to that first link from
| https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/cdot/pedestri...
| above.
| evbogue wrote:
| And pro tip, if you're waiting for a train at the Jackson blue
| line station you can actually walk to the Washington station to
| get closer to your destination.
| smallmouth wrote:
| This is another post that makes me so angry about what they did
| unleashing covid on the world!
|
| I walk through that lobby shown in the first image maybe 3 or
| more times a week, multiple times a day. None of those great food
| kiosks shown are there anymore and so many more that are out of
| camera shot are gone as well.
|
| The Pedway has become a filthy dirty mess in disrepair and
| reeking of powerful weed, and fresh human feces and urine.
|
| It's definitely a Godsend in the dead of winter and a great place
| to get exercise walking to and fro after sitting in front of a
| computer screen all day. But hell, it could be so much better and
| could server so many more people.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-02-12 23:00 UTC)