Under what conditions is it OK to drive a pick up truck on Lake Shore Drive? Seem to recall it was OK if it was not registered as “commercial” and it had a bed cover.
I believe the current* de facto* test is whether it has B class plates.
Forgive an ignorant, non-Chicagoan this, but why WOULDN’T pickup trucks be allowed? Considering how many of them are private vehicles nowadays it wouldn’t seem like that big a deal.
Unless something has changed since I last lived in Chicago there several streets on which trucks/commercial vehicles are not permitted to drive for more than 1 block (or is it 2?). Boulevards, for instance (vs. streets, avenues, etc.) are a no no.
I think it’s just a matter of aesthetics (sights, sounds, and smells). After all, LSD is the “front yard” of Chicago.
By the way, trucks of all sizes ARE permitted on a short stretch of LSD, from McCormick Place to the entrance to the Stevenson Expressway.
Chicago’s boulevards were built to be pleasure drives, a place for lightweight carriages and those new bicycles. So teaming traffic, heavy wagons, and streetcars were forbidden. This prohibition was carried forward to forbid trucks, which were then solely commercial vehicles, and extended to Lake Shore Drive when it was built.
That said, are pick up trucks not allowed on LSD, regardless of how they are registered/equipped?
Unless they’re owned by the park district or its contractors.
I’m pretty sure that pickups with covers and RV plates are allowed.
A buddy of mine got a ticket for driving his pick-up on LSD back in '91 or '92. It was even a smallish Toyota pick-up; not like a big F-250 or something. The signs said “No Trucks,” and, at least at the time, police interpretation was pretty literal.