Chicago Park District installs automated parking gates at 10 beaches
Beachgoers may notice changes at several lakefront parking lots citywide this summer as the city rolls out a new “modernized” payment management system.
The Chicago Park District installed automated parking gates at 10 lots on the city’s lakefront and is using license plate readers to track when drivers enter and exit.
But paying at the lots isn’t new. The park district says the recent changes “simply modernize how payment is managed and enforced.” The park district also said the new gates will help with park security.
The lots, managed by SP+, have been paid lots since 2009.
Under the system, visitors will be allowed a 15-minute grace period free of charge that can be used for pickup, drop-off or unloading supplies. After that, a parking fee will be applied. Parking rates have not increased as a result of the upgrades, according to the park district.
Parking rates vary slightly by location, with fees around $4.07 for up to one hour and a maximum of $24 for vehicles parked longer than nine hours.
A sign is posted by a new parking gate Wednesday at the Waveland Beach parking lot in Lake View.
Giacomo Cain/Sun-Times
The park district said it expects parking fees will generate $9.4 million in revenue that will “directly support parks and park programming citywide.”
The new gated system was installed at the following locations:
Waveland Park
Wilson and DuSable Lake Shore Drive
Foster Beach
55th and South Shore Drive
Oakwood and DuSable Lake Shore Drive
Museum of Science and Industry – East and South lots
Rainbow Beach – North and South lots
63rd Street Beach
Diversey Driving Range
North Avenue Beach, which was previously gated but was upgraded with the new gate technology.
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