It should be borne in mind that such obstructions interfere with movement not only to the extent of the space which they actually occupy, but in addition the space which it is necessary for pedestrians to allow to avoid striking them.

The use of sidewalk elevators, and the practice of piling merchandise upon the sidewalks, is another type of encroachment which should be rigidly restricted. The more progressive merchants of the city have, at considerable expense, provided loading facilities which do not necessitate this type of public interference. It is only just that their neighbors should be required to fall into line. See Fig. 25.

Street openings for the repair or adjustment of sub-surface services is another source of confusion to traffic. One does not have to travel far on any busy street to find a part of the roadway blocked off for these activities. A check of the central business district made by travelling once over the streets during the day revealed twenty-two openings. There should be a more general recognition of the fact that the streets of the city are just as important to the general public in the transactions of their business as is the right of way of a railway for its service, and that similar care should be taken to avoid obstructions and diversions. It is realized by the Survey that some street openings are the result of emergencies which require immediate attention. These should be expedited. Openings other than those required by emergencies should be prohibited during the heavy traffic hours of the day and evening.

Parking and loading and unloading activities in all of their forms offer a special obstruction to traffic movement which deserves a more adequate treatment than can be given here. This subject will be fully treated in Chapter IX.

LACK OF ADEQUATE REGULATION OF TRAFFIC

Much of the congestion found on the streets of Chicago at the present time is not entirely the result of the density of traffic, nor the physical condition of the streets but also of an unsystematic use of existing facilities, and an inadequate adjustment of the mutual rights and duties of street users of various classes.

Pedestrians in Chicago as in most cities (there are several notable exceptions) have been almost entirely neglected thus far in provision for traffic control. It was not more than a quarter of a century ago when the conflicts between wheeled traffic and pedestrians were so slight as to need no notice from regulating agencies. Street conditions have so radically changed that at present one of the most serious problems both from the standpoint of reducing accidents and expediting traffic is an adjustment of the rights of these two classes of street users so that the friction between them will be reduced to a minimum.

Fast and slow vehicles which usually represent the classification of passenger and freight vehicles respectively are permitted to use the same roadways, with the exception of some restrictions upon the bou

levards. Where roadways are narrow, the heavy vehicles tend to reduce the speed of all traffic to their own speed, making it necessary for any driver desiring to proceed more rapidly to overtake, a difficult and sometimes impossible move in dense traffic. Heavy horsedrawn drays contribute a very substantial part of the congestion of traffic on certain streets in the central business district. The Survey knows of no other high grade retail district in the country that is so filled with heavy commercial trucking, largely horse-drawn as is State Street. From the standpoint of congestion it is a fortunate thing that the registration of horse vehicles is declining so rapidly in the city.1

The cordon count of vehicles entering and leaving the central district indicates that horse vehicles now make up only 4.5 per cent of the total traffic between 7 a. m. and 7 p. m. and only 3.8 per cent of the total traffic between 7 a. m. and 11 p. m.2 The congestion which they develop is far in excess of this percentage, and it appears reasonable that regulations should be enforced, not only against horse trucking, but likewise against heavy motor trucking, at those points in the community where it interferes with freedom of movement.

Irregular turning movements contribute materially to the confusion of traffic in the central district as well as in other parts of the city. The prohibition of left turn at important intersections in the central district, as initiated by the Superintendent of Police and confirmed by the City Council, has served to relieve congestion. Unfortunately specific restrictions have never been placed prohibiting drivers from making left turns in the middle of the block. This turning movement is a very unique one in American cities, it not being permitted elsewhere to the knowledge of the Survey. A few moments' observation in almost any block will show the effect which this type of movement has upon the regularity of traffic flow.

Unnecessary movements add much to the density of traffic on the more congested streets, and as yet no adequate restrictions have been placed upon them. An indication of the amount of dead traffic which clutters the business streets is shown by the following study of taxicab operation during a typical business day at State and Madison streets, and at the Link Bridge. See Table 17.

1 See Table 9.

2 See Table 6.

REPORT OF THE CHICAGO STREET TRAI

TABLE No. 17

TAXICAB PRACTICE

vations made

State and Madison Streets and Michigan Avenue Bridge. Obor from 10:00 A. M. to 6:00 P. M., July 29, 1926. Fair Weat State and Madison Streets-Total All Four Directions

Per cent

COMPANY A COMPANY B COMPANY C OTHERS Loaded Empty Loaded Empty Loaded Empty Loaded Empty 2393 2468 290 165 59 89 151 251 49.3 50.7 63.6 36.4 39.8 60.2 37.6 62.4

ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF STREET TRAFFIC CONGESTION

The growing density of traffic upon the streets of Chicago which has been set forth and analyzed in the preceding chapters has had a very decided effect upon the life of the community. It has influenced the economic structure of the city, and menaced the lives of the citizens. In the present chapter the relation between street traffic and the business of the city will be shown and in the following chapter there will be set forth some of the social consequences of the growing street burden.

RELATION BETWEEN STREET TRAFFIC AND BUSINESS

The streets are an integral part of the business mechanism of the city. They serve as an extension of the plant of every enterprise that has been established, and without them it would be impossible for Chicago to maintain its commercial activity for a single day. An analysis of the composition of the traffic moving over any important street will show this intimate relation between local transportation and business activity.

The streets carry employes bound from their homes to their work in manufacturing establishments; the raw materials destined for fabrication, and the finished products being distributed to consumers; workers in office buildings and in stores going to and from their labors; the complex personal transactions that go to make up a normal business day; stocks of goods bound for retail stores and the deliveries of goods to purchasers; throngs of shoppers going to their markets, and similar throngs seeking entertainment and recreation. These and hundreds of other street uses show the part which the thoroughfares of the city play in its business life.

Their fundamental rôle is best indicated if one will imagine what would happen if all the streets of the city should through some catastrophe suddenly become useless. The wheels of the business world would immediately cease, and the entire economic structure of the com