Logan Square redesign ribbon cutting unveils reconfigured public space on Milwaukee Avenue
The Logan Square Chamber of Commerce and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson unveiled a new public space at Milwaukee Avenue on Monday morning.
Johnson attended the ribbon-cutting for the new $27 million one-acre space. It has improved roadway safety and replaced aging infrastructure that runs through Logan Square and Avondale. It also created a new public plaza, called La Placita.
The ribbon-cutting celebration included music and local vendors.
"You see, look how beautiful that looks, those light poles down there. Those were never there," said Hector Gutierrez. "This is incredible what they've done."
Gutierrez lived in the Logan Square neighborhood for 20 years and was impressed by the improvements. The new public plaza adjacent to the Logan Square CTA Blue Line station.
Lee Trinh, owner of Banh Mi Spot, has been in the neighborhood for 15 years and has seen the before and the after.
"The previous, it was a Kedzie Street here. I think everybody was having trouble with this roundabout. Now I think it's much better," Trinh said.
The redesign addresses longstanding traffic safety challenges at one of Chicago's most complex intersections.
"You used to get a line of traffic from there, going that way... the only way they can go. Now you see them there, they get to go both ways. So now they can get to Kedzie faster," Gutierrez said.
The city says this summer, construction will begin on the rehabilitation of the Blue Line station canopy. It'll be the first renovation of the station since it opened in 1970.
Construction in Logan Square began in the spring of 2024 and included building brand-new traffic patterns around the square. The redesign also created curb bump-outs for pedestrian crossings, bike lanes, raised crosswalks along side streets, and other improvements focusing on public space and community input, the city said.
The project also restored eight historic globe light fixtures surrounding the centennial monument, returning them to their original design by architect Henry Bacon.
