McKinley Park Neighborhood Plan

The proposed recommendations fall into four categories: 1) street and site design standards, 2) complete streets guidelines, 3) sustainability, and 4) community identity. The recommendations provided in this chapter are in support of the City of Chicago’s complete streets guidelines. These guidelines are in place to ensure that streets and transportation infrastructure are safe and designed for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, freight, and motor vehicle drivers, and in particular, the most vulnerable populations including children, elderly, and people with disabilities.

Streetscape illustrations for Archer Avenue and Western Avenue/Boulevard are meant to be conceptual in nature. It should be noted that feasibility level planning — such as analyzing traffic count information or running auto-turn geometric analysis — was not conducted. Such follow-up work should be undertaken to ensure the recommendations proposed in this plan are the best possible solutions. The illustrated concepts are only meant to show the possibilities of how each of these corridors could be repurposed to provide greater access, improve safety, and reduce congestion. Proposed improvements at the Archer Avenue intersections do not substantially alter the way traffic operations function. However, the Western Avenue/Boulevard corridor recommendations (converting from two-way operations to one-way couplets) are a transformative change.