The Bureau of Bridges and Transit of the Chicago Department of Transportation
Executive Summary This report documents recent efforts to examine the vessel traffic conditions on the Chicago River and to develop recommendations to the City of Chicago, Department of Transportation for establishing a River Management Plan. Interviews were held with numerous stakeholders from city, state and federal governmental personnel as well as individuals representing commercial, private and environmental concerns. Historical data on river usage by industrial and commercial interests as well as private recreational craft (power and human-powered) were examined. There are two general issue areas and four more specific issues that are discussed in this paper. The general issues refer to overall data collection, storage, and analysis and the potential terrorist threats in a post-9/11 era. The specific issue categories are Operations, River Banks, Capital Projects, and Programming. In order for a river management plan to be effective it is essential that there be a centralized site for the collation, analysis, and dissemination of river-related data and information. With the numerous agencies currently involved in construction, permitting, safety, licensing, and special events it is often the case that important information required by someone gets lost and the process can be confusing. By establishing a central analysis repository for all such data, total river operations can be managed much more efficiently. It is recommended that this office be located within the Chicago Department of Transportation. Operations. This category is subdivided into two sub-groups: River Operation Issues and Waterway Zones. The former deals largely with issues related to safe operation on the river in terms of licensing, regulations and education.
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