22-Mar-15 – With an exact count of pedestrians and vehicles on State Street, the value of investing in State Street will be clearer. (Left) State Street at noon on March 18, 2014.

That’s what Chicago Loop Alliance is saying as it prepares to replace the city’s current method of counting by hand with an automated system. Starting in June, counters will be installed at 18 locations along State Street, from Congress Parkway north to Wacker Drive. They will count traffic going north and south along State Street and east and west across it.

State Street is one of the city’s 53 “Special Service Areas,” where property taxes paid by businesses help pay for services to the area such as maintenance, marketing, and special events. CLA says it is the sole service provider for SSA #1.

“Our new pedestrian and vehicular counting system along State Street will provide further data to support the impact we’re making through the SSA and provide timely and accurate data critical to attract new commercial development,” says CLA CEO Michael Edwards.

(Above) Seen in its 2014 annual report, a Chicago Loop Alliance “Street Team Ambassador” talks with a homeless Chicagoan on State Street.

2014 by the numbers

CLA is the group behind the “Activate” music and art events held in alleys last year, which it says had $393,120 worth of economic impact on nearby businesses.

In its 2014 annual report released last week, CLA says its Street Team Ambassadors walked the Loop 13 hours a day, seven days a week last year, providing directions 163,391 times while looking for quality-of-life issues. The ambassadors, CLA estimates, provided assistance to about 16,500 visitors to State Street, interacted with panhandlers 7,750 times, and interacted with homeless Chicagoans 4,673 times.

CLA says its “Clean Team,” meanwhile, collected nearly 25 tons of litter and shoveled 80 inches of snow from State Street sidewalks.