I live in Dearborn park and your criticism is valid. This area is basically unusable for vehicular traffic and as a through route, which I like as a pedestrian. Chicago’s grid system had a nasty side effect of inviting more car traffic to residential neighborhoods. Cars driving through these neighborhoods tend to speed and roll through stop signs and traffic lights, endangering pedestrians. Dearborn Park has only one car entrance and multiple modal filters to exclude car access. Residents of Dearborn Park townhomes can actually access Clark St through several locked doors with a key. This makes Dearborn Park a sort of gated community in the city, but with no actual gates actually present.
Yeah, our grid system doesn't have to allow for through traffic. If I had it my way, there would be a traffic diverter every time a side street meets an arterial. I encounter so many impatient drivers on side streets who should be on arterials so that they're not menacing cyclists and pedestrians.
It was one of the first planned areas to drive middle class citizens to live in downtown Chicago.. the area had extreme crime therefore its entrances & exits had to be obfuscated.
