No funding yet to extend Chicago Riverwalk past State Street

Total cost will exceed $50 million

20-Mar-09 – Although the Chicago Riverwalk is expected to be completed by June up to the State Street bridge, there are no immediate plans for it to go any further. Eventually, the public walkway on the south bank of the Chicago River will extend west past Marina City and then south to the Lake Street bridge. But a spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Transportation told Marina City Online “there is no set schedule for the State-Dearborn section, nor the rest of the Riverwalk.”

Above: Chicago Department of Transportation rendering of planned Riverwalk between State and Dearborn Streets.

Brian Steele says CDOT is still looking for money to pay for the remainder of the project. “We continue to try to identify from federal, state and local sources, but none is yet secured. We don’t yet have cost estimates for the remaining sections.”

It will cost about $22 million to extend the Riverwalk just to Michigan and Wabash Avenues, according to Steele. That money came from raising property taxes in the Central Loop. Last April, the estimate was $8-10 million.

Steele told the Chicago Tribune in early March that the cost for the entire project will be more than the previous estimate of $50 million.

To build a Riverwalk, construction crews first hammer steel piles into the bottom of the river. Piles provide support for buildings and other structures. Water is then pumped out of the piles and replaced with stone and broken-up concrete. On top of that will go poured concrete, pavement, and landscaping.