Here's The Plan To Create A Garden 'Low-Line' Walkway Beneath CTA Tracks In Lakeview [Renderings]

By Stephen Gossett in News on Sep 19, 2017 8:15PM

The ambitious, long-in-the-works plan to convert a stretch of land beneath CTA Brown Line tracks into a continuous, half-mile walkway and garden continues to take shape.

Dubbed Low-Line, the project ultimately calls for a series of plazas to be connected underneath the tracks—which straddle the west side of Lakeview and the eastern border of Roscoe Village—at Southport, Ashland and Paulina. (The popular Low-Line Market launched back in 2013 underneath the Southport CTA station and was the first major step in the project.)

Now, recent renderings from design consultancy PORT Urbanism offer a fuller glimpse at what the full Low-Line project might have in store, including lighting scrims along the top of the CTA tracks, some rather dramatically designed seating pods, and space for public art. The Southport plaza has in the past to temporary pop-up murals, according to the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce.

Low-Line was first introduced by the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce back in 2011 as part of the Area Master Plan, to single out growth opportunities and streetscape upgrades.

It all looks like a promising step toward getting some public use out of land that otherwise have been largely ignored. Residents can learn more at tonight's community meeting/design presentation at Saint Luke Church Memorial Hall (1500 W. Belmont Ave.), from 6-8 p.m.