Lake Street

Lake Street may refer to:

Lake Street (Chicago)

Lake Street is an east-west arterial road in Chicago and its suburbs. Part of Lake Street is designated as U.S. Route 20. Lake Street begins in the city of Chicago and travels west and slightly north to the Chicago suburbs. It ends at the eastern terminus of the Elgin Bypass around Elgin, where U.S. 20 once was routed west through downtown Elgin onto Villa Street. This is a distance of about 34.4 miles (55.4 km).

Route description

Lake Street begins (or, rather, ends, in the case of motor traffic) at Columbus Drive in the Chicago Loop as a one-way eastbound street. Starting at the first westbound segment at Canal Street, it runs west through the city of Chicago before heading into the western suburbs. For most of the first 7 miles (11 km) miles from Wabash Avenue to Laramie Avenue, Lake Street runs beneath the elevated Green Line CTA tracks and the Union Pacific railroad tracks near Central Avenue.

In Stone Park, Lake Street runs concurrent with U.S. 20 at Mannheim Road. Eastbound U.S. 20 turns south with U.S. Routes 12 and 45. Westbound U.S. 20 follows Lake Street westbound to the western terminus of Lake Street for 20.7 miles (33.3 km). A portion of Lake Street in Elmhurst has been replaced by the Eisenhower Expressway; at this point, U.S. 20 runs on the Eisenhower for 0.97 mi (1.56 km). Lake Street parallels the Eisenhower until the interchange with Interstate 355.

Lake Street (MBTA Lexington Branch station)

Lake Street is a former station on the Lexington Branch, opened in 1846 along with the rest of the Lexington Branch and ending its life as part of the MBTA Commuter Rail system. In 1958, the two Lexington Branch stations in Arlington (Lake Street and Arlington Centre) were closed; however, due to community opposition to their closure, the two stations were later reopened, Arlington Centre in October 1965 and Lake Street in March 1968. In January 1977, following a major snowstorm which temporarily shut down the Lexington Branch, stranding a train at Bedford Depot, the MBTA announced that commuter rail service on the branch would not be restored. In the 1980s, the MBTA planned to extend the Red Line through Arlington and Lexington to Route 128 along the former path of the Lexington Branch as part of the Northwest Extension, but fierce opposition from Arlington residents scuttled this plan, and the Northwest Extension was cut short to Alewife in northwestern Cambridge.