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December 22, 2010
Tunnel vision
Empty, originally uploaded by Mickey B. Photography.
Now that I work in downtown Chicago, I have come to learn about the Chicago Pedway. It's a system of tunnels pedestrians can use to walk between various buildings in the Loop, without having to go outside during the harsh winter.
Unfortunately, it doesn't go many places. As you can see from this map, many segments of it are unconnected to other segments, and some bits of it are only for one block. For some reason, this really annoys me.
The most useful part of it is the area around the Daley Center and the Thompson Center, but sadly I have no way to get to those areas. By the time I am, I'm already where I need to go. Other places, there are no signs, or doors are locked. The last time I was down there, I was afraid I was going to get mugged. What's the point of that?
In contrast, I was in Minneapolis a few times last winter. If I complain about the Chicago winter, slap me, because Minneapolis is worse. Not only does it snow, it is consistently frigid. I'm not talking high teens/low twenties. I'm talking about single digit and sub-zero temperatures. That, my friend, is insane.
But Minneapolis has an awesome pedway. It's like eight miles long, connected, easy to get around, and has shops and restaurants. It was truly remarkable. One gets the feeling the average denizen of Minneapolis spends a great deal of time in that pedway. Because, even though Minneapolis is a beautiful and clean city, sometimes you just want to stay inside when it's cold. Hopefully we can get a more well-connected system like that here.
entry no. 1534
Posted at December 22, 2010 05:33 PM