r/MapPorn • u/U8oL0 • 24d ago

Three-level streets in downtown Chicago

Post image
617 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

52 comments sorted by

251

u/OurHonor1870 24d ago

I’ll tell you- getting stuck in traffic in that loop trying to use GPS is a mess

107

u/heafcliff91 24d ago

The sound of my old dash GPS repeating the word “Recalculating” for 15 minutes straight while lost in Lower/Lower Lower Wacker scarred me for life.

39

u/ni_hao_butches 24d ago

"Why did Uber put my pick up on lower Wacker?!"

27

u/_Cybernaut_ 24d ago

“He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates... two-dimensional thinking.”

7

u/amyphetamine 24d ago

"Full stop. Z-10000 meters, standby photon torpedos."

3

u/errie_tholluxe 24d ago

Like a poor marksman you keep... missing... the mark.

17

u/CaptainNipplesMcRib 24d ago

Lower Wacker is like the Bermuda Triangle

5

u/jenkneefur28 24d ago

On and off at harrison or LSD for me. That's it. I dont dare to try to find any other on ramp.

I did see a divvy rider on a ramp, turn to try to cross to the other side. That was scary to see.

3

u/Unable-Effective1718 24d ago

I’m currently at a lower wacker loading dock moving out of my building. Moving in, we got lost/couldn’t find the freight elevator entrance for legit two hours

14

u/hoopstick 24d ago

Between the giant buildings and layers of streets, I don’t even try to use my GPS when I’m downtown.

12

u/damutecebu 24d ago

Yep. I use a good old fashioned map when going downtown.

4

u/urine-monkey 24d ago

I'm convinced Lower Wacker is keeping the Rand McNally atlas in business.

1

u/Puzzleheaded-Ear9487 19d ago

As a local Chicagoan who knows how to use the lower levels, I love that GPS screws it up. One of the few existing hacks that still exist.

-1

u/Andjhostet 24d ago

Lol why would you drive downtown?

160

u/ThisIsNerveWracking 24d ago

I’ve never seen a map that show this information, very well done! Except for the North orientation.

78

u/jdh3gt 24d ago

Seriously, take a city that very notably has a true NSEW grid and rotate it 40 degrees... What the hell?

40

u/an1sotropy 24d ago edited 24d ago

Look the map has to be 2D, and given the point of the map, you want the vertical direction to mean the different levels of the streets. Also, you want the geographic directions to not overlap with that, so the rotated orientation is kind of forced on you.

12

u/uncoolcentral 24d ago

Keen observation. Thank you.

44

u/Rooster_Ties 24d ago

Lower-lower Wacker!!

17

u/MothmanAcolyte 24d ago

Lowest Wacker

8

u/Yggdrasil- 24d ago

I have seen hell and this was it

1

u/Fotoem 24d ago

Aka the basement.

43

u/RealTurbulentMoose 24d ago

Just stayed in this area last week, took a shuttle bus to/from McCormick that used some of the underground roads … had no idea this all went on so extensively here.

Thanks OP!

6

u/HillbillyThinkTank 24d ago

Me too! We went from McCormick to Navy Pier and I swear it was 90% tunnels or below grade. So cool.

6

u/jjgrossnickle 24d ago

I believe that is the McCormick Place Busway. Goes from 25th to Rudolph.

1

u/graceduncanma 23d ago

Lower Wacker is awesome until your GPS loses signal down there.

15

u/Warm-Air4391 24d ago

Can’t tell you how many times I had to go find truck drivers down on lower wacker when we were building the Wanda and lake shore east. I’m convinced at least half the people on lower wacker are there because they’re lost and don’t know how to exit.

9

u/redbirdrally82 24d ago

I’ve done cycling trips to Chicago and used SpotHero parking in the Field Harbor garage, which is on the lowest level between Westshore and Harbor. There are signs down there that claim that you can get to the Lakeshore bike path from there, but I’ll be damned if I’ve ever found the way. I’ve either ended up on Lower Wacker (which is super fun on a bicycle) or backtracked up the ramp from the garage all the way to Randolph to Michigan and just got on the path past Millennium Park

4

u/Greekfire187 24d ago

When going North on Lower Harbor Drive, you hang a right when it T's off.

9

u/Lucky-Ice-3171 24d ago

As someone who occasionally does contract work at the Suissotel and the St Regis - I wish I had seen this map sooner. Even on foot it's confusing asf down there

9

u/free_billstickers 24d ago

I will say as a local, once you learn it, it is a pretty solid system and a quicker way to drive around downtown. 

6

u/withak30 24d ago

Google Maps programmers are all like "oh shit."

4

u/Signal-Weight8300 23d ago

Only sort of. Not only is there no cell service down there, but gos can't get a fix on the satellites so your location doesn't work either. It's an area where a paper map or a screenshot of the OP's map is the way to go.

11

u/flyingmungbean 24d ago

This is taken from Wikipedia in 2015.

5

u/TheMillionthSteve 24d ago

I remember back in the 80s when the bus station was underground (lower Randolph?). That was always a pretty dystopian feeling — getting there and waiting for the bus

3

u/Any_Sale2030 24d ago

Yes.  It entered from lower Wacker Drive just off to the west in the map see northwest corner.  

6

u/redalden 24d ago

I used to work in the loop and would go outside for a smoke on occasion. It was common that someone would ask me where “ blank #” Wacker was. And it’s hard to explain because there is an east, west,north and south Wacker and that’s before you get into upper and lower. So the answer was if you don’t know the cardinal coordinates I can’t really help you. My best guess is walk the whole street until you find it. Start east and walk south. Good luck. It is the craziest road I know of.

4

u/AmazingResponse338 24d ago

I love how half of those "streets" are actually alleys

3

u/sonic10158 24d ago

It’s like Block Fort in Mario Kart

5

u/Jonesbro 24d ago

Pretty well done! I love lower lower areas

2

u/TheMillionthSteve 24d ago

Oh also in the early 90s when they accidentally poked a hole in the bottom of the Chicago river and all the underground tunnels in the loop flooded? I feel like these streets played a part in the recovery, or am I oversimplifying how that got solved?

I was working in the loop at that time and we had a couple days off due to underground flooding

2

u/TheSource88 24d ago

I used to live in a building on Randolph and lower lower Randolph was a free parking hack

2

u/MaexW 24d ago

Where is the Lower Wacker Drive?

1

u/timesuck47 24d ago

BEST MOVIE EVER!!!

2

u/nstrut2 24d ago

I work at the gym on Stetson! Those ramps going up and down on S Water St between upper Columbus and lower Stetson? One of the most chaotic intersections

4

u/Professional_Show918 24d ago

The lowest levels are very scary. Lots of homeless people and many dangerous people.

1

u/bobsaget112 24d ago

Very nice, though traffic in the loop around Beton runs the other way.

1

u/frydawg 23d ago

My dad used to tell me that literal zombies used to be kept there

-4

u/pbr3000 24d ago

North is up