Mayor Emanuel Outlines His Vision for Extending the Riverwalk

Tribune had an article yesterday about Mayor Emanuel's plans to extend the riverwalk.  As part of the speech he spoke about the plans for the South branch:

The mayor also briefly mentioned that he was “looking at building a new trail” from Chinatown’s Ping Tom Memorial Park on the South Branch of the river up to the Riverwalk’s western edge at Lake Street. Emanuel did not offer details, other than to say it would build on concepts offered during last year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial.

As part of that event, architectural firms developed ideas for three locations along the 1.8-mile potential extension to Ping Tom: the Civic Opera House waterfront, the stretch beneath the Congress Parkway Bridge and the area below the St. Charles Air Line Bridge.

While details are scant, there are certainly a lot of developments planned for the South brand of the river that extends through the South Loop.  When all of those get built will ultimately help determine if this vision will ever become a reality.

Many stars would have to align, but it would be an amazing amenity for the neighborhood (and the city). 

One thing that could accelerate this would be if Amazon chose Chicago for their HQ2 location and chose the Related Midwest spot south of Roosevelt, we imagine that could spur a rash of development along the river.

Time will tell, but a boy can dream.