Funding has been secured for planning! Please tell your elected officials you support the Bicentennial Improvements Project and Placemaking in Logan Square!
**show your support at change.org**
The Logan Square Bicentennial Improvements Project will implement positive changes to the square and bus station site at the heart of Logan Square. Embracing the community input ideals of Placemaking; these improvements will create a safer and more people-friendly space for the hub of our neighborhood. The concept creates a more usable “people place” at the historic square, and a “zocalo” type plaza space around the old blue line bus station terminal. These changes will greatly improve pedestrian and bicycle safety, allowing for easy, safe access to the public spaces used by residents of all ages. The improvements will allow for the activation of “car-free” places and plazas that will promote a sense of community, and support restaurants and shops along the growing Milwaukee and Kedzie Avenue commercial corridors. The surrounding “complete streets” will create efficient, safe roadways for motorists, while equally serving the needs of pedestrians and cyclists. The proposal creates approximately two acres of new pedestrian and green space at the center of Logan Square, and will add many new crosswalks and bikeways to the site. The use of permeable pavers will make unprecedented strides towards sustainable storm water management. Logan Square will be a widely utilized pedestrian and bicycle hub along the Streets for Cycling network with a direct link to the 606/Bloomingdale Trail via the historic Chicago boulevard system. With Logan Square’s status as the most well-preserved section of Chicago’s “Emerald Necklace” boulevard system, the revitalization of the historic square will be made within the guidelines of historic preservation. In summary, these improvements will:
• Support a Placemaking based design process to create a space that best serves the needs of the people who live and work in Logan Square, and create an attractive, safe environment for people visiting the neighborhood.
• Create “car free people places” with people plazas that can be activated for different uses throughout the year.
• Increase pedestrian and bicycle safety, and make the public spaces safely accessible for all residents by creating more crosswalks and bikeways.
• Create “complete streets” with safer, more efficient auto, bus, bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
• Stimulate and support long-term economic development of the Milwaukee and Kedzie Avenue commercial corridors. Support local restaurants and merchants.
• Promote sustainable storm water management through the use of permeable pavers and decreases in asphalt surface area.
• Create a pedestrian and bicycle hub for the Streets for Cycling network with bike sharing access, and a direct link to the 606/Bloomingdale Trail via the historic Chicago boulevard system.
• Acknowledge the history of the square and make changes within historic preservation guidelines.