Photos: Newest Stretch Of Downtown Riverwalk Is Opening Soon

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Oct 19, 2016 7:32PM

The newest and final stretch of the city's much-anticipated downtown Riverwalk is being unveiled to the public this weekend.

Portions of the city's riverwalk have been under construction for over a year, and the city unveiled the first completed stretch of a new portion of $108 million riverfront park in May of 2015. The final phase stretches from Lake Street to LaSalle Street, and the completed riverwalk will total 1.25 miles in length. It was designed by Sasaki and Ross Barney Architects and constructed by Alfred Benesch & Co. Engineers and Walsh Construction with federal and state transportation funds.

The goal, according to an announcement from the Mayor's Office, was to improve water quality while allowing Chicagoans and visitors to interact with the riverfront more than they could before. The final segment of the Riverwalk features several "rooms," or areas where pedestrians can sit. They are the Water Plaza, a plaza that comes near the edge of the river between La Salle and Wells streets; The Jetty, from Wells to Franklin streets which features a series of piers and floating wetland gardens where visitors can learn about river ecology, fish and identify native plants; and the Riverbank, an accessible walkway and public lawn that stretches from Franklin to Lake streets and allows access to Lake Street on the street level.

The downtown Riverwalk is one of several exciting riverfront projects that have been in-the-works this year. Most notably, plans for an expansive $1.5 billion real estate development on a 62-acre parcel of South Side riverfront prairie land were announced earlier this year. And earlier this week, the Active Transportation Alliance, a local advocacy group, launched a campaign to get every walkable portion of the riverfront connected to make one contiguous, 27-mile trail.