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Streets: Diagonal 

The 1909 plan called for the addition of many more diagonal streets in the city of Chicago. While the Plan recognized that Chicago already had more diagonal streets than a lot of cities, especially those in the mid-west, it pleads a case for why more would help ease congestion. 

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Such diagonal streets could serve as main thoroughfares that could be used to more easily cut from one neighborhood to another without meandering through the city grid. The plan argues that while this may be temporarily (especially if you lived in a house or owned a business that got torn down to make them), these diagonals would be a major asset to the city in the long-run. 

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While some extensions were made to the diagonal streets that already existed, few new diagonals were added. The construction of automobile freeways that cut though the city and around it provided much quicker routes that did not involve carving up the current city to as great of an extent.

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This map shows in red the proposed addition or lengthening of diagonal streets

"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood..."

- Daniel H. Burnham

Created by Jarod Pletcher. This website is for educational purposes only.  Created with Wix.com

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