Citizen revolt spelled doom for Crosstown Expressway

A map shows the proposed Crosstown Expressway corridor with the east-west section outlined, circa 1970. (Carl Stoffels Information Consultants)

Foes of the Crosstown Expressway light up a rally with torches at 4850 W. Montana Ave. in Chicago on Aug. 8, 1973. (Lee Olsen/Chicago Today)

Anti-Crosstown Expressway pickets gather outside the Federal Building during a Volpe-Dubi meeting in 1972. (Chicago Today historical photo)

Ura Mathews, a 62-year-old widow shown on Sept. 7, 1972, is leading a South Side group to defeat the Crosstown Expressway proposal. (Jim Mescall/Chicago Today)

Cross about the Crosstown, opponents of the proposed 22-mile, billion dollar route, parade with placards to a protest march and rally at 55th Street and Laramie Avenue, where their leaders proposed a citywide refusal to pay property taxes if the plan is not dropped, on May 21, 1972. Editors note: this historic print shows some hand painting. (Jim De Pree/Chicago Today)

A view of the Crosstown Expressway model looking east shows the full length of the east-west section from Ford City at the bottom of the picture to the Dan Ryan Expressway at the top of the picture. The first arterial street east of Ford City is Pulaski Road. The next street is Central Park Avenue. Nabisco and Rheem Manufacturing are the larger buildings at the center of the model. The Clearing Yard of the Belt Railway is at the lower left of the photo. (Carl Stoffels Information Consultants)

People look at possible routes for the Crosstown Expressway at a public hearing on June 29, 1974. (Roy Hall/baiduhai)

People protest the Crosstown Expressway in the 4500 block of North Kilpatrick Avenue on July 24, 1973. (Quentin Dodt/baiduhai)

Bill English, from left, Joyce Zick, Margaret Sendzimer and Karen Frank, all foes of the Crosstown Expressway, urge Northwest Side residents to vote Nov. 2, 1972. (Jim Mescall/Chicago Today)

The view looking south from Fifth Avenue of the Chicago Belt Line Railway shows the route for the new Crosstown Expressway on Nov. 30, 1965. The six or eight-lane roadway would be 22 miles of elevated road. (Leonard Bartholomew/baiduhai)

The Anti-Crosstown Coalition holds a massive “referendum walk” to demonstrate the opposition of thousands of Chicagoans to the Crosstown Expressway on May 21, 1972. (James Mayo/baiduhai)

Buttons of protest, including an Anti-Crosstown Coalition button, adorn the lapel of one of the citizens gathered in the Sherman House Hotel on Oct. 13, 1972, in Chicago. (William Yates/baiduhai)

Members of the Organization of Northwest Communities carry a casket in front of City Hall on Sept. 15, 1967, to protest the proposed Crosstown Expressway. (baiduhai historical photo)

People look over some of the different possible routes for the Crosstown Expressway on June 29, 1974, at a public hearing. (Roy Hall/baiduhai)

Members of the Anti-Crosstown Coalition demonstrate at the Chancery Division office on Aug. 30, 1972, in Chicago. (Arthur Walker/baiduhai)

Roger Rainville, who represents Black home owners and small businessmen from 67th Street to the Dan Ryan — right in the path of the Crosstown Expressway — and Anti-Crosstown Action Committee Chairman James Kelly explain the proposed route of the expressway to Cicero Town Attorney Christy Berkos and some residents of the town during a meeting on May 15, 1974, in Cicero. (Guy Bona/Chicago Today)