West Loop Street Parking Will Cost You Starting In 2020

Chicago Pay Parking Box
Photo credit Chicago Pay Parking Box (WBBM Newsradio)

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) --  Used to free parking in the West Loop? Forget it.

You have just one more week to enjoy that luxury. Starting Jan. 1, it’ll cost you $4.50 per hour to leave your car on a neighborhood street as the city plans to install dozens of new meters.

The parking boxes will take up nearly every block in the West Loop from Carroll Avenue to Madison Avenue and Ogden Avenue to Halsted Avenue.

Streets in the West Loop that already have meters will also see their prices jump from $2 per hour to $4.50.

Parking fees for all the metered spaces in the neighborhood will be in effect from 8 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Sunday.

A couple dozen other blocks are also being converted to residential permit parking only, including a long stretch along the north side of Monroe Street, from Ogden to Morgan.

The changes are part of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget, which calls for generating $7 million in annual revenue by raising parking meter rates across the city for the first time since 2013.

The other new rates are:

  • $7 an hour, up from $6.50, in the Central area that includes the downtown theater district, Millennium Park and the Art Institute.
  • $4.50 an hour, up from $4, in a broader area that stretches from North Avenue to Roosevelt Road and from Lake Michigan to Halsted Street.
  • $4.50-an-hour, up from $2, in the area bounded by Grand and Ashland avenues, and Van Buren and Halsted streets.

Check the map below for specifics on every West Loop street that’s getting new parking rules. Black lines are streets getting new meters; and red lines are new residential permit spots. Click on a specific street for more details.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire & Chicago Sun-Times 2019. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)