Downtown Chicago traffic trends continue to grow from their pre-pandemic averages

Chart shows traffic volume in downtown Chicago from Q4 2019 to Q4 2023
  • Whether it be by car, bus, bike or foot, overall traffic crossing Chicago’s bridges in Q4 2023 totaled over 114 million traffic counts, according to data from Placer.ai. This represents 78% of traffic counts recorded in Q4 2019; the earliest data available.
     
  • Major pass-through bridges such as Lake Shore Drive, Columbus, and Grand experienced the highest volume of traffic and most significant relative recovery (all above 90% of Q4 2019 totals).
     
  • The emergence of new construction projects like the Salesforce Tower and Wolf Point East apartments have contributed to increased traffic flow at the corner of the river (Franklin, Lake bridges).
    ​​​​​​​
  • State and Wabash bridges have experienced a significant decline, each with a relative recovery of under 70%, coinciding with a notable downturns in retail and office activity in this area.

Get market intel

US-IL-CHDWTN Chicago