The new, decades-in-the-making street redesign of the Logan Square Centennial Monument area (known for its eagle-topped pillar) was officially completed in early November. While there are many benefits of the new layout, after the traffic circle rehab has been in its final state for over a month, user reviews are mixed.
My overall impression, based on discussions with Logan Square locals, and online comments I've seen, is that drivers find the new design largely positive. In particular, people say there's better traffic flow now, resulting in potentially reduced travel times.
A majority of residents seem to support the creation of "La Placita," the plaza on the former block of Kedzie Avenue north of the traffic circle, although some hope there are trees or some other kind of shade planned for summer. They also like the pedestrianization of Milwaukee Avenue through the eastern section of the circle's green space, and the cul-de-sac-ing of the eastern service drive of Kedzie just south of the square, next to Lula Cafe. Last summer, these new public spaces were already in use for informal gatherings, play areas for kids, and small unofficial community markets.
The circle's redesign is only one piece of the ongoing reconstruction of Milwaukee Avenue from Logan Boulevard to Belmont Avenue. The Chicago Department of Transportation held the first public meeting for the the rehab of the monument area in December 2017, and the third and final meeting was in December 2018. The project was delayed at least a year by the COVID-19 pandemic. CDOT returned to the community with a Construction Start Update meeting in February 2025, announcing that the work would begin that spring.
CDOT recently announced the project's completion with a flier including three separate maps for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. The department also recently posted an explanatory video.
My friends longtime Logan Square residents and sustainable transportation advocates Julie Dworkin and Gin Kilgore joined me recently to walk and bike the perimeter of the circle. They both attended the project’s early public meetings.
Julie and Gin said that overall the new design seems to have prioritized motor vehicle throughput. This is due to removal and relocation of some key pedestrian crossings.
There previously was a striped crosswalk across Logan Boulevard that you could use to walk directly between the monument and Lula Cafe. That crossing was a win by Logan Square Walks, a now-dormant advocacy group that began organizing around pedestrian improvements in the area in the early 2000s.
The new layout at that intersection now requires a person making the trip to make two crossings, incorporating a triangular traffic island. That change was done to make it easier for northbound drivers on Kedzie to make a right turn onto eastbound Logan Boulevard. However, it makes the walking trip less convenient.
After Chicago had a record-breaking snowfall in late November, followed by a few more inches days later, by December 7, the previously existing north-south sidewalk across the monument green space was well-plowed. That made sense, because that sidewalks is the most direct route from one side of the circle to the other, especially if you're continuing to the Logan Square Blue Line station, or destinations on Kedzie north of the monument. But, ironically you couldn't take the sidewalk directly to the cleared walkway in front of Lula anymore, because that crosswalk had been removed.
Meanwhile, the new cul-de-sac, and the sidewalk to the west of it, hadn't been cleared of snow. That forced people to trudge polar explorer-style across to get to and from the east-west Kedzie crosswalk.
Julie and Gin agreed that the bike and pedestrian access heading east from Wrightwood Avenue into the monument area has been improved. A new east-west crosswalk lets you traverse Kedzie on the west side of the traffic circle to get to the pillar.
From there, if you want to continue south on Kedzie, you can bike onto that avenue's western service road, or walk on an improved sidewalk.
Many online comments cited this improvement, among other wins for walkers. Pedestrian crossings at all intersections are certainly wider, and more visible. And a possible benefit of the better flowing motorized traffic could be reducing the tendency for drivers to get frustrated by delays and speed when they have a chance, endangering vulnerable road users.
Responding to a November 22 post on the Logan Square Community Page Facebook discussion group asking what people think of the redesign, Devon Glish commented, "As a walker, I love all the new crossings." They added, "It's much easier to get around. I don't understand why they couldn't have just kept the normal [one-way] roundabout, though, and added crossings and bike lanes."
The transition from westbound Logan to the southbound Kedzie service drive by bike is much better now. Gin argued that previously that move was a nightmare for biking, even for confident cyclists.
"[The street remix] was touted as good for pedestrians/cyclists, but it seems to favor vehicles more than anyone," Leana Moon commented on the Facebook post. "As a driver, I was fine with one-way traffic. From a design / urban planning perspective, I don’t understand why we couldn’t have added more green space instead of SO much paving. We had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to enlarge green space in a heavily used public space and it was thrown away. For $27 million, we should’ve gotten a whole lot more."
Gin said she is especially flummoxed by being asked to make four street crossings instead of previously just one to bike from the northbound Kedzie service drive to eastbound Logan, via a weirdly circuitous route.
"While my detour tolerance is higher when biking than walking, that’s a lot of extra time and maneuvering (including mingling with pedestrians in crosswalks) in a short distance," Gin said via email. "So I will just ride on-street on Logan, which now means taking a 'car' lane, which might anger people who are driving ('Why aren’t you using the infrastructure designed for you!?!'), but it’s a short stretch."
However, Gin and Julie agreed that many bike and e-scoote who aren't willing to "take the lane" still want a direct eastbound route. So lots of people are probably just riding on the south sidewalk of Logan, endangering pedestrians.
Julie, Gin, and I wondered why CDOT planners thought this zigzag boondoggle, for the sake of using a bike path for less than 300 feet, was a good idea. Wouldn't it have made sense to install an eastbound curbside protected bike on the south side of Logan, rather than prescribe an inconvenient bike route that few people will use?
Lack of signage for motorists is another issue. For example, when you drive west on Logan, the lanes split before the circle. Two left lanes lead to southeast-bound Milwaukee and southbound Kedzie. A right lane takes you towards northwest-bound Milwaukee and northbound Kedzie.
But if you're goal is to continue westbound onon Wrightwood, you now need to make a nearly 90-degree left turn at the Logan/Milwaukee intersection at the northwest side of the traffic circle. If you don't know the new street layout and aren't using GPS to navigate, that must be a pretty non-intuitive maneuver.
Here's one more thought. CDOT's project goals stated that there would be an increase in open space due to the new plazas. But it seems like there has been a net loss of (water-permeable) green space. One example is an outer slice of the Paseo Prairie Community Garden, located next to the auxiliary 'L' entrance northwest of the monument. Apparently, this was done to create a wider turning radius and/or shorten the pedestrian crossing distance.
We hope that CDOT will be open to going back to the drawing board with the community to straighten some of these issues.
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– John Greenfield, editor
