Chicago suggests changes in response to February blizzard

Four months after a massive blizzard left motorists stranded on Lake Shore Drive for hours, Chicago officials said Monday the city should create a plan that “clearly identifies” when the historic thoroughfare should be shut down.

The city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications’ report defended its response to the February blizzard that dumped 20 inches of snow and caused Lake Shore Drive to be shut down for 33 hours, but acknowledged the city was not as prepared as it should have been for a blizzard officials knew was coming.

Under a section of the report titled “areas for improvement,” officials concluded the city should develop a plan that “includes clearly identified triggers for a systematic shutdown” of Lake Shore Drive.

Several stranded motorists said after the blizzard that they’d had no idea how bad things were and heard no warnings on their car radios describing the conditions they would encounter on the drive.

The report also addressed the chaotic and frightening scene in which some motorists, without information, either sat and watched helplessly as the blizzard buried their cars or climbed off buses — sometimes after bus drivers told them they didn’t know what was going — or out of their vehicles and started walking in near white-out conditions.

Among other things, the OEMC recommended improving communication between the bus drivers and the CTA’s control center and making better use of radio stations to give drivers information.

The report also found emergency workers had difficulty getting to those who needed help and recommended putting more median cuts in the drive so emergency vehicles can enter from the southbound lanes and vehicles can get off quicker.

“I think the biggest thing that we learned from this is there is limited access for emergency responders on Lake Shore Drive,” said Gary Schenkel, the new OEMC chief Mayor Rahm Emanuel brought in shortly after he took office.

While Schenkel said emergency crews did a “fantastic” job responding to the blizzard, some of the things that have been done since then suggested the city did not have all the information about what was going on that it should have. For example, OEMC officials said four new surveillance cameras have been installed along the drive to supplement the 13 that were there before the blizzard.

And while officials said some tow trucks were dispatched to the area before the blizzard hit, the OEMC report suggested that as an improvement, towing equipment should be placed along the drive when extreme weather is expected. It also suggested dispatching city buses before severe weather events like the blizzard so pedestrians can use them as warming centers.

The report also addressed what motorists said was a major frustration: Finding the approximately 500 vehicles that were towed away. After motorists said they had to go from lot to lot where the cars were taken, the report said that a parking plan for towed vehicles must be developed, and the plan should be shared with private tow truck drivers.