Published by: Chicago City Council Publishing date: 1930 Plan Summary: The Chicago Area Transportation Study's first regional Chicago transportation plan, published in 1962, described the 1930 comprehensive transit plan this way: The series of plans proposed over the years from 1916 to 1927 by three separate engineering groups illustrate the depth of agreement with respect to the physical arrangement of recommended transit improvements. This agreement is reflected in action, in 1930, by the Chicago City Council. In that year the Council enacted an ordinance which officially approved specific plans for rapid transit improvement. The adopted ordinance represents a kind of composite selection of the stage one recommendations of the previous plans... This action by the City Council underscored official concern for improved transit and recorded public policy with respect to transit improvement goals. This action was taken in 1930, the first year of depression. Yet the tone was still optimistic -- no one then anticipated the length or depth of the depression of the thirties. The continued business decline made any substantial invest merit program by the city or the transit companies completely unrealistic Thoughts of major public improvements remained frozen by the recession until 1937 when a more optimistic outlook and the active public works programs of the federal government once again made it possible to think of investing in new construction.     This Chicago-L.org article is a stub. It will be expanded in the future as resources allow.

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