Bally’s-commissioned traffic study gives house an unfair advantage

Anyone familiar with River North knows the area can be rough passage, traffic-wise, particularly during the evening hours.

Ohio and Ontario streets are often jammed with cars, as are Wabash Avenue and State Street — to say nothing of Michigan Avenue.

Bally’s Corp. now wants to put a temporary casino with 1,100 gaming positions right in the middle of this traffic mishmash at the old Medinah Temple, 600 N. Wabash Ave.

And Bally’s is using a traffic study the company itself commissioned to support their claim the gaming house, which is expected to bring in hundreds of gamblers a day, amazingly won’t contribute to the area’s already nightmarish traffic conditions.

Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), who represents downtown and River North — and is a critic of putting the temporary casino at Medinah Temple — disagrees with the study. We certainly can’t blame him.

“As far as I’m concerned this study is seriously flawed, overly vague and clearly written for the sole purpose of concluding a casino will work at Medinah Temple,” Reilly said.

The city is allowing Bally’s to turn the building into a casino until a permanent complex is built on the Chicago Tribune’s printing plant site at Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street.

The Bally’s-commissioned study, done by V3 Companies and Fish Transportation Group, estimated the casino would bring in 462 new vehicle trips to River North during weekday rush hours and 516 on Friday nights, the peak time for casinos.

The consultants claimed about 60% of casino customers will drive to the location, with the rest arriving by CTA, bicycle or walking.

The ornate 112-year-old former auditorium lacks its own parking, but the consultants’ report said the 5,000-plus spaces in nearby garages are enough to accommodate the 500 motorists using the casino at any given time.

We have our doubts about much of this, particularly any notion that gamblers are going to roll out of the casino with their possible winnings and hop on a bike.

But the larger question: What real confidence can the public have in these numbers, knowing they come from Bally’s own traffic consultant?

Not much.

The city could make some of this doubt go away by commissioning an independent — and more in-depth — traffic study for the Medinah site.

That way, we’d stand a chance of getting something better than the seemingly stacked deck Bally’s has provided.

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