Curious City recently answered a question about two separate small planes that made emergency landings on Chicago’s scenic lakefront expressway.

As it turns out, DuSable Lake Shore Drive has served as an intentional runway too.

On July 14, 1983, four vintage airplanes landed on Lake Shore Drive on a (slightly curvy) straightaway near Jackson Park between 59th and 63rd streets. The pilots received a police escort as they taxied to their destination. And that wasn’t even the only time this happened.

For a professional pilot, landing on a strip of concrete is no big deal. But for a city to turn a popular thoroughfare into a runway? That would require a big ask from a local institution and an assist from the mayor, making this story about as Chicago as they come.

Provided by Lee Hilbert

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