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Hoping to ease concerns about plans to close Cornell Drive at the site of the proposed Obama Presidential Library, the Chicago Department of Transportation wants to add a lane to Lake Shore Drive near the site and two extra lanes to a portion of Stony Island Avenue, officials said on Wednesday.

Expanding the two roads would ease traffic that would spill over once a portion of Cornell Drive is closed, said Rebekah Scheinfeld, a Commissioner with CDOT.

CDOT's proposal was presented Wednesday night just hours after the Obama Foundation announced it is planning to pay for the construction of a covered parking facility, as well as a new park, on a section of the Midway Plaisance across from the site where the Obama Presidential Center will be built.

On Wednesday, CDOT presented their plans to the public and solicited written feedback, alongside officials from the Obama Foundation and the Chicago Park District.

Obama Foundation

Two cutaway drawings show a parking facility planned across Stony Island Avenue from the Obama Presidential Center campus in Chicagos Jackson Park.

Two cutaway drawings show a parking facility planned across Stony Island Avenue from the Obama Presidential Center campus in Chicagos Jackson Park. (Obama Foundation)

Currently, commuters rely on Cornell as a quick alternative to South Lake Shore Drive and Stony Island. According to the new proposed plan, a southbound lane would be added to Lake Shore Drive from 57th Street to Hayes Drive. Two lanes would be added to Stony Island Avenue from 59th to 63rd Streets.

Scheinfeld said expanding those streets would mean that commuters would see little change to their travel times, which has been a concern of the community.

CDOT's proposal would also eliminate street parking along East Hayes Drive, so that more cars could travel there. The overall loss of parking as a part of the project is a concern that is still being evaluated, Scheinfeld said.

Plans for the center also still include the closing of Marquette Drive between Stony Island Avenue and Richards Drive to accommodate the expanded South Shore/Jackson Park golf course.

In addition, if adopted, the plan would add three to five new acres of parkland.

Parking garage

The Obama Foundation's parking facility had been included in the original plan for the center presented earlier this year, but just how it was going to paid for was previously unclear. The city of Chicago, the Park District and the University of Chicago were thought to be candidates to pay for it, but officials were mum when pressed recently as to who would be responsible.

The property where the garage and new park are proposed is owned by the city. In its announcement Wednesday, the Obama Foundation said the city would "convey" the rights for parking to the non-profit organization, pending input from the community and approval by the City Council.

The addition of the garage and the land immediately around it, an estimated 4 to 5 acres total, would bring the total amount of public land area devoted to the Obama center to 23 or 24 acres. Twenty-one acres of Jackson Park were handed over to the Obama Foundation for the center; that area has shrunk to a little more than 19 acres because the center now occupies less land on its southern boundary, according to the foundation.

In its statement released Wednesday, the foundation said the proposed parking facility and park would provide views of lagoons and have a picnic area and children's play area. Foundation officials said it would increase pedestrian traffic to areas around the presidential center.

Renderings show that the garage would not be buried below ground level like the one at the nearby Museum of Science and Industry. It would be a two-level, above-ground facility, largely concealed from view by grass, trees, shrubs and other landscaping on its flanks and roof. The parking facility would hold 400 to 450 vehicles, and a bus parking area would be located to the exposed west side of the garage. The bus parking area would be wedged between the garage and nearby Metra tracks.

"This plan creates the opportunity to get people outside. The parking is across the street from the Centerpeople will get out, get into the neighborhood, get into the park," said Michael Strautmanis, the Vice President for Civic Engagement for the Obama Foundation. "It takes a really underutilized piece of land and activates it and creates a new park, public amenity."

Building the garage above ground would save on costs, eliminating the need to construct a concrete "bathtub" around the perimeter of the garage to prevent groundwater from infiltrating it. The Obama Foundation did not provide a cost estimate for the garage, just as it has not yet provided an estimate for the overall cost of the center.

The Obama center garage would have only a third of the capacity of the one at the Museum of Science and Industry. Completed in 1998 at a cost of $57.6 million, the science museum garage has three levels and 1,500 spaces.

Questions remain

The announcement of the garage raised other questions that the foundation did not address in its news release or at the open house: How, for example, will visitors get from the garage, which is on the west side of busy Stony Island Avenue, to the east side, where the center will be located?

When conceptual plans for the center were released last spring, they showed a curving pedestrian bridge that would have risen over Stony Island Avenue and linked the garage with the center. But the new renderings released Wednesday do not show the bridge. It's unclear whether the foundation has eliminated the span or has yet to reach a decision on whether to build it.

Also not appearing in the plan was a short bend in Stony Island Avenue that was proposed last spring. The road was instead shown as straight. It was not clear why that change was made.

Other elements have been added for example, a new landscaped median in a portion of Stony Island. The plan also indicated a spot for the Cheney-Goode Memorial, which includes a stone bench and sundial built in the 1930s in honor of two female political figures. The memorial is on the north side of the Obama center site, across Stony Island from the garage site. Neighborhood activists had expressed concern that the foundation's plan for a basin in that area of Jackson Park would eliminate or disrupt the memorial.

Michael Van Valkenburgh, the Brooklyn-based landscape architect who is handling the landscape design for the Obama center, will design the landscaped portion of the garage, foundation officials said. His Chicago credits include Maggie Daley Park and The 606 pedestrian and bike trail.

Planning process continues

The foundation previously has said it will seek approval for the center from the Chicago Plan Commission in November. That timetable still holds, a foundation official said Wednesday.

The Plan Commission's hearings on the Obama center will belong to a separate approval process from those of the Chicago Park District. The district is conducting public hearings for a new Jackson Park framework plan, which would encompass both the center, a proposed Tiger Wood-designed golf course and the roadway changes.

At CDOT's open house, officials showed a 20-minute video of their latest proposed changes, and allowed time for questions and suggestions. As she wandered the South Shore Cultural Center examining the proposed road changes, Shirley Newsome, 72, of nearby Oakwood, said that it would take time to adjust to the new routes.

"Once people get accustomed to being divertedat first they will moan and groan and complainbut then they get used to it," she said.

Although officials said both adding the parking garage and changing the roadways would mean more park space, not all residents agree.

"They're claiming that's park land? That a landscaped garage is parkland? I think that's a new definition and I'm not sure a lot of people are going to buy that," said Margaret Schmid, with Jackson Park Watch, an activist group.

lbowean@chicagotribune.com

bkamin@chicagotribune.com

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New lane on Lake Shore Drive and parking garage proposed for Obama center - Chicago Tribune