Re: Street Level Access to Civic Opera House
Posted by:
Mr Downtown
()
Date: March 20, 2013 02:33AM
I believe the engineering situations were completely different for the different parts of Wacker Drive. For the east-west portion, I think they dug down about four feet for Lower Wacker, and put Upper Wacker about nine feet above the original level. They were planning to rebuild all the bridges at a higher level anyway, which is one of the reasons the "South Water Street Improvement," as it was originally called, went ahead so easily.
The north-south part wasn't built until the 1950s, as an expressway feeder, and there I think they dug down the full 12 feet or so to create the lower level. Many older warehouse and industrial buildings remained along Market Street until well into the 1980s and 90s.