Wacker Drive is a major multilevel street in Chicago, Illinois, running along the south side of the main branch and the east side of the south branch of the Chicago River in the Loop. The vast majority of the street is double-decked; the upper level intended for local traffic, and the lower level for through-traffic and trucks servicing buildings on the road. It is sometimes cited as a precursor to the modern freeway, though when it was built the idea was that pleasure vehicles would use the upper level. The upper level is normally known as Upper Wacker Drive and the lower level is Lower Wacker Drive.
It is the only street in the city that is prefixed with all four cardinal directions, albeit on different parts of its route. The drive is named for early 20th century, Chicago businessman and city planner Charles H. Wacker.
In 1909, architects Daniel Burnham and Edward H. Bennett drew up a plan for the Commercial Club of Chicago to unify the city's urban design and increase its physical beautification. The improvement of traffic flow in Chicago was a major part of the plan. The original double-decker road was completed in 1926 at a cost of $8 million and stretched from Lake Street to Michigan Avenue.
An extension south to Congress Parkway and Harrison Street was built between 1948 and 1954, replacing Market Street. Extensions east were built in 1963 and 1975, with the latter taking it to Lake Shore Drive.
The current alignment of Lake Shore Drive was finished in 1986, and in 1987 Wacker Drive was extended to meet the new alignment. The ramps to bring upper traffic down had already been built; upper has been dead-ended where it used to end at Lake Shore Drive.
In 2001–2002, Wacker Drive was redesigned and reconstructed between Michigan Avenue and Lake Street. The original upper deck was crumbling, and the entire roadway did not meet modern standards for road widths and clearances. Using a specially-developed "flat-slab, longitudinally post-tensioned, reinforced, high-performance concrete cast-in-place system", the new road deck was expected to have a lifespan of 75–100 years. Walkways along the river were meant to make the drive more pedestrian-friendly, while restoration of historic limestone elements and reproduction lighting evoked the drive's original 1926 appearance. The 20-month, $200-million project was completed on time and within budget.
In April 2014, The American Council of Engineering Companies awarded the Wacker Drive and Congress Parkway Reconstruction project its Grand Conceptor Award.
