Lake Shore Drive
View of Lake Shore Drive taken from the Rubloff building, near the Lake Michigan shoreline | |
Original portion of Lake Shore Drive in red 2013 extension in dark green | |
| Part of | US 41 / LMCT for most of its length |
|---|---|
| Length | 15.83 mi (25.48 km) (Original 1937 section only; not including the 2013 extension) |
| South end | Marquette Drive and Jeffery Drive (6600 South) |
| North end | Hollywood Avenue (5700 North) |
| Construction | |
| Completion | 1937 |
| Inauguration | 1946 |
Lake Shore Drive (officially Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable Lake Shore Drive; also known as DuSable Lake Shore Drive, the Outer Drive, the Drive, LSD or DLSD) is a semi-limited access expressway that runs alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan and its adjacent parkland and beaches in Chicago, Illinois. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue (5200 North), the Drive is designated part of U.S. Highway 41. A portion of the highway on the Outer Drive Bridge and its bridge approaches is multilevel.
On June 25, 2021, the Chicago City Council approved a compromise ordinance renaming the outer portion of Lake Shore Drive for the city's first non-indigenous settler, Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable.
The Lakefront Trail, an 18-mile (29 km) multi-use trail, parallels Lake Shore Drive on the east side for most of its length. Pedestrians can access the lake at numerous points all along Lake Shore Drive through underpasses and overpasses that connect the lake with the city's lakefront neighborhoods. For much of its length north and south, it has a landscaped median separating directional traffic. It prominently runs street level through eastern Grant Park and then around the Museum Campus, past McCormick Place convention center, where it provides the terminal interchange of Interstate 55. It runs north through most of Lincoln Park and south through Burnham Park and Jackson Park.