16 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



to provide a series of diagonal ave- 

 nues that will permit every quarter 

 of the city to reach every other quar- 

 ter without going around two sides 

 of a square. The plan can best be 

 visualized by reference to the map 

 on page 40. 



In the execution of the plan the 

 widening of Twelfth Street was first 

 undertaken. This is one of the prin- 

 cipal east and west thoroughfares. 

 It was a narrow, cluttered street, but 

 one of the main arteries through 

 which the West Side reached the 

 Lake Front. At an expenditure of 

 about five million dollars, buildings 

 were razed or moved back and a 

 splendid thoroughfare developed. 



The Michigan Avenue improve- 

 ment came next. The beautiful 

 highway, with its connecting arteries, 

 unites the North Shore with the 

 South Side. For years this thor- 

 oughfare has been the pride of Chi- 

 cago and the admiration of all who 

 visit the city. As a part of the Lake 

 Shore drive that links the woods of 

 southern Wisconsin with the plains 

 of northern Indiana, it is a magnifi- 

 cent street, yet it has one impossible 

 section. 



THE BUSIEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD 



That section is at the crossing of 

 the Chicago River. The Indians in 

 the olden days called this immediate 

 vicinity by a name that meant "the 

 place of the wild onion," and if it 

 smelled as bad then as it does now, 

 the name was not a misnomer. Yet 

 here converges what is believed to be 

 the densest traffic that crosses any 

 bridge in the world. 



A break in the Avenue at Ran- 

 dolph Street makes a jog leading to 

 the Rush Street bridge, which is 

 about as homely a structure as the 

 eye could see, being an old-fashioned, 

 single - span drawbridge. Other 

 streets besides Michigan Avenue 

 lead to it from both sides of the 

 river; and morning, noon, and night 

 it is the neck of a traffic bottle, al- 

 ways blocking vehicular movement 

 both by reason of its smallness and 

 because the draw frequently is open 



