Lake Shore Drive (formally Jean Baptiste Point DuSable Lake Shore Drive; also known as DuSable Lake Shore Drive, the Outer Drive, the Drive, LSD or DLSD) is a semi-limited access expressway that runs alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan and its adjacent parkland and beaches in Chicago, Illinois. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue (5200 North), the Drive is designated part of U.S. Highway 41. A portion of the highway on the Outer Drive Bridge and its bridge approaches is multilevel. On June 25, 2021, the Chicago City Council approved a compromise ordinance renaming the outer portion of Lake Shore Drive for the city's first non-indigenous settler, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. The Lakefront Trail, an 18-mile (29 km) multi-use trail, parallels Lake Shore Drive on the east side for most of its length. Pedestrians can access the lake at numerous points all along Lake Shore Drive through underpasses and overpasses that connect the lake with the city's lakefront neighborhoods. For much of its length north and south, it has a landscaped median separating directional traffic. It prominently runs street level through eastern Grant Park and then around the Museum Campus, past McCormick Place convention center, where it provides the terminal interchange of Interstate 55. It runs north through most of Lincoln Park and south through Burnham Park and Jackson Park.
Route description
The southern portion of Lake Shore Drive begins at the intersection of Ewing Avenue (US 41), Harbor Avenue, and Mackinaw Avenue. Lake Shore Drive runs through the former South Works steel plant as a four-lane divided highway, effectively bypassing the built-up area in South Chicago. Lake Shore Drive ends at the intersection of 79th Street and South Shore Drive; US 41 continues north through South Shore via South Shore Drive. The main section of Lake Shore Drive begins at the intersection of Jeffery Drive and Marquette Drive. After 57th Street, Lake Shore Drive becomes an expressway. Exits to Hyde Park Boulevard and 53rd Street are only accessible for southbound traffic. The interchange design at 47th Street is unusual as traffic would exit or enter on the left side of northbound Lake Shore Drive instead of on the right side. South of McCormick Place, Lake Shore Drive meets I-55 at a Y-interchange, where I-55 begins/ends. There was once an inverted SPUI north of I-55; however, the overpass became pedestrianized and became part of McCormick Place in the mid-1990s, leading to the closure of this interchange. That same year, northbound traffic on Lake Shore Drive shifted west onto its current configuration west of Soldier Field and Museum Campus. The controlled-access portion ceases between Waldron Drive and Monroe Drive and again at Chicago Avenue. Lake Shore Drive briefly becomes double-decked between Randolph Street and Grand Avenue. The upper deck facilitates expressway-like traffic, while the lower deck facilitates local traffic. After intersecting with Chicago Avenue, Lake Shore Drive travels in a sharp reverse curve at Oak Street Beach before returning to controlled-access once again. In Uptown, three diamond interchanges are spaced 1⁄4 mile (0.40 km) apart. US 41 leaves Lake Shore Drive at an interchange with Foster Avenue. The expressway continues north, serving Bryn Mawr Avenue, before ending at Hollywood Avenue/Sheridan Road in the Edgewater neighborhood.
Outer Drive and Inner Drive Outer Drive, signed as DuSable Lake Shore Drive, is a limited-access road that runs north from Marquette Drive in Jackson Park to Hollywood Avenue in the Edgewater neighborhood. The outer drive limits the ability of pedestrians to access the lake directly from the street grid. Trucks are prohibited on Outer Drive except for a section between I-55 and 31st Street. The original Inner Drive, signed as Lake Shore Drive, is used for slower local traffic and is connected to the street grid. The local drive runs from downtown in Streeterville to LaSalle Drive, (becoming Cannon Drive). Then the inner drive reappears just south of Diversey Parkway, continuing north to Irving Park Road. The portion from Belmont to just south of Irving Park was previously named Sheridan Road (which can still be seen carved in stone in at least one vintage high-rise).
Link Bridge
The Outer Drive Bridge, also known as the Link Bridge, is the official name of the bridge carrying the Lake Shore Drive portion of US 41 over the main branch of the Chicago River. It is designed as a bascule bridge, and is one of only two in the city to have an upper and lower deck, both dedicated to automobile traffic (the other being on Michigan Avenue). The Wells Street Bridge and Lake Street Bridge also have two levels, but the upper level is for elevated train traffic into the Loop. The Link Bridge was constructed in 1937. At the time of its construction, it was considered to be both the widest and longest bascule bridge in the world.
History
Early history
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