Chicago Mayor Announces New Data Transparency Tool That Puts City Road Construction & Special Event Information at the Public’s Fingertips

Chicago, Illinois (April 23, 2019)—Mayor Rahm Emanuel has unveiled ChiStreetWork, a new web-based tool that displays current construction and road repair projects, newly resurfaced streets and special event permit information. The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) initiative uses the familiar Google Maps interface and allows Chicago residents and visitors to easily find out what projects could affect travel plans and view permits for water, sewer, gas or electrical projects impacting city streets.

“Chicago has become a national leader in making data available and accessible,” Mayor Emanuel said. “ChiStreetWork enhances transparency, increases accountability and puts a host of data about ongoing infrastructure work and special events at the fingertips of Chicago’s residents.”

ChiStreetWork, which is being launched as construction season is starting to kick into gear and more work will be going on in the city’s public way, makes information from Chicago’s groundbreaking dotMaps web-based system for tracking construction activity available to the general public. Previously, dotMaps data was available only to CDOT staff, Aldermanic offices and utility companies.

“CDOT is excited to roll out the new ChiStreetWork website that creates an unprecedented level of transparency for information about work going on in the public way,” said CDOT Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld. “Our goal is to make ChiStreetWork the go-to site for city residents to find out what kind of construction work and special events are happening on their streets and in their neighborhoods.”

ChiStreetWork allows the public to search by ward, neighborhood, intersection or street address. Once the search terms are entered, the map populates 1-month past, current, and up to 1 year of future construction projects and infrastructure upgrades, special events and paving information in the public way. When a user clicks on an active project or event, it will display the CDOT permit, which includes details such as company name, street or lane closure impacts, work-hours and more. 

Along with project and event information, users can find which streets have been repaved in the past 5 years. The map also provides users with features such as bus routes and stops, parking impacts, bike lanes, viaduct heights, speed and red-light camera locations, and current traffic conditions.

The creation of the new website by Chicago based Collins Engineers Inc. and their partner, Sada Systems, is the result of years of planning and the modernization of the way CDOT’s division of infrastructure management issues permits and coordinates and tracks the use of the public way. The modernization occurred in coordination with Mayor Emanuel’s “Building a New Chicago” program to rebuild the city’s aging infrastructure by resurfacing city streets, installing new water and sewer mains, and coordinating private utility programs.

Recognizing that the scope of infrastructure work would require stepped up coordination, CDOT created a new project-coordination office that works with utilities and builders to efficiently coordinate overlapping work. CDOT has closely tracked these coordination efforts and estimates they have led to savings of $153 million since 2012.   

As an outgrowth of these efforts, CDOT’s Office of Underground Coordination worked with Collins Engineers Inc. and Sada to create the groundbreaking internal dotMaps system on the Google platform, an interactive map of construction and special event impacts in the public way that has been available to CDOT staff and other city and utility company partners.

This website leverages Chicago’s Data Portal, which was created to increase government transparency, make government data accessible to residents, and encourage the development of apps and tools that can enhance the lives of Chicagoans. Since its inception, the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) has grown the portal into one of the largest and most dynamic models of open government in the country.

For more information, visit chistreetwork.chicago.gov/map.