FAQ
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Frequently asked questions
Created to reverse the flow of the Chicago River and better establish the commercial route, Redefining the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal provides a vast array of opportunity for industry, commerce, shipping, and economic development companioned with wildlife habitat, public health and ecological opportunities, and recreation in the larger Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal subwatershed and the I&M Canal National Heritage Area. In short, it means changing how we understand, view, and value the Canal and recognize its economic, environmental, cultural and historic role.
Beyond renaming the Canal, the redefining process will engage multiple stakeholders in conversations through which we aim to uplift the people, places, and environments that define this remarkable corridor.
Over the coming months, the coalition will focus on site tours, data gathering, collecting stories, and sharing the incredible work already happening among the businesses, municipalities, open spaces, and communities along the canal. This work will include:
Compiling current data about the canal corridor such as demographics, land use, ownership patterns, major businesses, historical resources, ecology, water quality, upcoming projects, and existing plans.
Meeting directly with communities and stakeholders along the canal. We want to hear your stories, understand your efforts, and see how all of these pieces relate to one another.
Touring and exploring the canal corridor to document current conditions and understand the day-to-day experience of the spaces along the canal.
Mapping and documenting the canal’s physical features, its unique characteristics, and the many destinations that make up the corridor.
Identifying significant investment needs to improve water quality, habitat, riverfront access and connectivity, and other desired infrastructure and community projects.
Our goal is to redefine the future of the Canal through a discovery process that will build momentum and broader understanding of the value of the waterway, and lead to investments in public health, conservation, cultural resources, economic strength, climate resilience, and a new name. A new name would more accurately reflect and celebrate the Canal's improved health and its place in our collective history--and bright future.
Support for Redefining the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal comes from a broad coalition of municipalities, nonprofits, government agencies, elected officials, businesses, and engaged citizens with a shared goal of redefining the canal’s present and future including by removing the stigmatizing term “Sanitary” from its title, and to catalyze creative thinking for what is possible culturally, environmentally, and economically with the Canal in the future.
The name Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is indicative of its reputation. Times have changed and so has the Canal. Although it is still an important corridor of commerce, it is also critical habitat for a wide variety of wildlife species including endangered and migratory species and is increasingly valued by the people who live along it and wish to have greater access to parks and open space.
The Canal is also a significant element of the I&M National Heritage Area. According to the National Park Service, the Heritage Area is a passageway for transportation and recreation, and the 60 communities within it are connected to its history and future.
Renaming and Redefining the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal will help to improve and protect the canal corridor in support of human, ecological, and economic health.
Ideas for the new name were determined by a public process that will shape a new Canal narrative, coordinate planning, and drive investment to the subwatershed that contains the 28-mile canal.
The widely supported naming process included conversations with Native Americans, historians, conservationists, community representatives, elected officials, business leaders, government agencies, and more. News releases went out to local media. Tens of thousands of people received a widely promoted community survey.
That data was used to develop a choice of names including:
Chicago–Lockport Canal
Chicago Portage Canal
Chicago Shipping Canal
Illinois Prairie Canal
Southwest Canal
or to keep it the same as Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
Nearly 4,000 people voted.
The purpose and function of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and shipping and commerce will remain the same.
We will facilitate a process to build momentum and broader understanding of the value of the waterway leading to investments in land protection and conservation, cultural resources, economic investment, climate resiliency, and a new name which more accurately reflects and celebrates the canal’s improved health and its place in our collective history—and future.