Evanston residents question Northwestern’s Ryan Field transportation assessment

Evanston residents are raising concerns about Northwestern University’s Ryan Field transportation assessment as presented to Councilmember Eleanor Revelle’s working group.

Some accuse the university of rushing the development application process with a surface level report.

“ (I’m disappointed in how) inadequate Northwestern’s transportation assessment is. It’s only seven pages, compared to other assessments that have been completed for the city being more than 40 pages,” Most Livable City Association member Fiona Martin McCarthy said. “It comes off as a flimsy effort on Northwestern’s part to potentially complete a traffic assessment without doing their due diligence to provide adequate data.”

McCarthy said the Kensington School application’s traffic study serves as an example of what Northwestern should strive for. The school began its application process at the June 22 Land Use Commission meeting with hopes of constructing a two-story, 22,416 square foot child day care center at 3434 Central St.

The school’s traffic assessment is nearly 100 pages and shows how specific intersections would be impacted during rush hour commutes. The study also sheds light on current traffic patterns alongside 2050 projections.

McCarthy said she wished Northwestern’s transportation assessment had these more refined details, especially how it might interfere with emergency response times.

Northwestern University’s Executive Director of Neighborhood and Community Relations Dave Davis said the university is committed to transparency and more details from the traffic study will be available when the university submits a planned development application to the city.

“Several features of the new Ryan Field design plans do address the traffic congestion concerns of Evanston residents, such as reducing the number of seats in the stadium (12,000 fewer seats), creating a complimentary bike valet program, and working with Metra, Chicago Transit Authority and ride-share services like Uber and Lyft on scheduling changes on game days,” Davis said.

Northwestern’s transportation assessment was prepared by development planning and design consulting firm Kimley-Horn and Associates and the school’s traffic study was prepared by transportation planning and engineering firm Kenig, Lindgren, O’Hara, Aboona, Inc.

Members from other advocacy groups, such as Community Alliance for Better Government, echoed McCarthy’s concerns.

“When talking about transportation issues and traffic issues, that is not just going to affect the 7th Ward, it’s going to affect downtown Evanston as well,” CABG President Lesley Williams said. “Not to mention, Central Street is a main corridor for Evanston Hospital.”

Williams and Most Livable City Association Co-Founder David DeCarlo say outside traffic going to Ryan Field will likely impact Evanston in its entirety. DeCarlo said since Evanston isn’t right off the highway, traffic will bleed onto local streets. The transportation assessment suggested having shuttles going to Ryan Field from downtown and Northwestern’s main campus to help alleviate traffic, but Williams said that would negatively impact other neighborhoods.

[ [Don’t miss] Residents worry Northwestern’s new Ryan Field proposal could turn Evanston into Wrigleyville ]

“Our city is not structured to be able to handle this much traffic. We’re pushed against the lake, not immediately accessible off of a major highway to handle a major entertainment district,” DeCarlo said. “Even in its inadequate transportation assessment, Northwestern admitted the majority of people would be coming by car, many of which would be filtered down Central Street.”

The transportation assessment also says Ryan Field attendees might travel via Chicago Transit Authority and Metra trains. The Kimley-Horn and Associates prepared report suggested the university work closely with the CTA and Metra to “design modified schedules as appropriate for event days.”

The assessment also suggests exploring a partnership program with Metra similar to Ravinia where event ticket holders can show their ticket to Metra staff to ride the train free of charge. The study said a partnership like Ravinia’s could incentivize taking the train and help reduce parking demand and limit traffic.

Northwestern is proposing a 20% seating capacity decrease for football games, according to the assessment which concludes, “event transportation management strategies can accommodate concert events at the proposed Ryan Field redevelopment.”

It also cites Ryan Field’s proximity to public transportation as key management components. Chicagoans are currently experiencing longer than usual CTA wait times and “ghost trains,” which is impacting commute times.

Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.