Every year many people camp out early to secure the best spots to catch the spectacular Chicago Air and Water Show, but this year one of the most coveted lakefront spots is blocked by construction.
The city’s North Avenue Beach is typically the best seat in the house for watching the annual show in the sky, and by Thursday setup for the weekend’s festivities was already well on its way. But the biggest eyesore is a construction site blocking access to the beach north of Fullerton Avenue – which is usually a prime spot for spectators at the Air and Water Show.
The lakefront park at Fullerton is now a closed off construction site, something many Chicagoans heading to the Water Show may have not been aware of.
“We are providing six new acres of land,” Chicago Department of Transportation spokesperson Charlene Walsh told NBC Chicago. “It will be green space and trees [when we are done with construction.”
CDOT, Chicago’s Park District and the Army Corps of Engineers broke ground on the $31.5 million Shoreline Improvement Project last October. By Thursday afternoon, the outer perimeter of the new park footprint was 85 percent done.
“We are a good portion ,” Walsh said.
What's now water will soon be land that aims to help ease the traffic crunch at Fullerton and Lake Shore Drive, where walkers, runners, cyclists and cars often get way too close.
“We are moving the trail our several hundred feet away from that connection point, that intersection,” Walsh said.
Unfortunately, the quarter-mile-long footprint sits on prime viewing area for this weekend's Air and Water Show.
“[We are just looking for] a little patience,” Walsh said.
It’s patience that she says will pay off in the long run.
“[When we are done] it will be a perfect viewing point,” Walsh added. “You can see into the water, you can see the downtown area.”
Which is a good thing for the massive crowds the Air Show draws each year.
This year will be no exception, as longtime Air Show announcer Herb Hunter told NBC Chicago.
“It’s going to be a good weather day, we're going to have 1.6 million [people] down there on the beach,” Hunter said.
For Hunter, it’s a show that will never get old to him.
“You and me, we're adults but the kid comes out of us when we watch these airplanes fly by,” Hunter said.
