Last weekend, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, city officials, and the guy who greased the skids on a $98 million federal construction loan, former U.S. transportation secretary Ray LaHood, celebrated the completion of the third and so far final phase of the Chicago Riverwalk.
Here’s the really great thing about the Riverwalk: You can stroll along the south side of the Chicago River from the lakefront to Wolf Point (at the confluence of the North and South branches of the river), without having to surface at street level.
Does that strike you as just a little redundant? Bringing water to the river? I thought so, but there are two very important reasons why it’s not: First, there’s a rule that every single new public space, no matter where it’s located, must have it’s own splash pool and interactive fountain. Then there’s the other reason: despite improvement, the Chicago River is still really, disturbingly polluted, and you never, ever want your darlings to put their toes in it.
The last of the three new rooms, the Riverbank, between Franklin and Lake Street, was easily my favorite. Never mind that the rear of it backs right up to the roaring traffic of Lower Wacker Drive and is dominated by a zig-zag ramp that looks to be nearly as long the Riverwalk itself. The front has a welcome, curving swath of something we almost never see in this patch of the city: bright green grass.
