Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 249, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1915 — World's Three Busiest Blocks Are In Chicago [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

World's Three Busiest Blocks Are In Chicago

CHICAGO.— The three busiest blocks in the world, where the clanging of street car bells, chugging of automobiles and the humming sound of thousands of pedestrians unite in one great turmoil, are in the business dis-

trict of Chicago, according to a statistical compilation of traffic figures completed by W. J. Galligan, assistant superintendent of streets. The statistics indicate that 56,301,600 vehicles pass through the loop in a year. With the Rush street bridge ranked as the busiest span in the world, the busiest merchandising block in the world is State street between Madison and Washington streets, where 3,160,000 vehicles of all kinds and descriptions pass up and down in a

year, the computation being based on only nine hours a day. An actual check by Investigators for Mr. Galligan showed 10,544 vehicles passing through this block in nine hours. The second busiest block is on Michigan avenue between South Water and River streets. An investigator checked traffic here for eight hours and counted 8,984 vehicles. Next in density of traffic is the block in State street between Madison and Monroe streets. Investigators working nine hours checked 8,004 vehicles in the same period of time. “Without question these are the busiest traffic blocks in the world, said Mr. Galligan, who is an expert on traffic matters. “It exceeds anything New York has. and neither London, Paris nor Berlin has a business block showing the same amount of density.’’