History of Chicago’s Expressways

Dan Ryan expressway — The Dan Ryan cuts through nearly 12 miles of the South Side’s neighborhoods.

Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons

How I-90 came to be — and who it displaced

More than half of the people displaced by construction of the Dan Ryan were Black despite being only 23% of the city’s total population.

The Dan Ryan cuts through nearly 12 miles of the South Side’s neighborhoods.

By Max Lubbers Lynnea Domienik

The system of expressways in Chicago can be traced back to the 1908 Plan of Chicago that envisioned a system of roads connecting the city center to neighborhoods further out. But in the process of constructing them, thousands of residents were displaced and segregation was entrenched.

Reset speaks with reporters who looked into this legacy.

GUEST: Richard Cahan, journalist, author “Lost In America: Photographing the Last Days of our Architectural Treasures”

Susy Shultz, freelance editor and journalist