Despite Bennett's previous attempts to push forward the Plan's Congress Street axis and some early route studies conducted in the early 1940s, Chicago still lacked a coherent, regional highway plan. With a "Master Plan of Thoroughfares" complete and approved by the city council in April 1945, local governments quickly moved into action with construc-tion of the first of the region's expressways, the Edens, which opened on December 20, 1951. Numerous additional expressways followed over the next 15 years, both reflecting and facilitating the steady depopulation of the urban core and growth of the greater metropolitan area.

1. Congress Expressway map study, Cook County Highway Dept, c.1950.
2. Congress Expressway, construction view looking west from Canal St. or Desplaines St., May 26, 1952.
3. The Comprehensive Plan of Chicago, Summary Report, January 1967.
4. Cook County Highway Department, "Maximum 1954 Car Dimensions," c.1954.
5. Congress Expressway, interchange study, c.1950-1952.
6. Carl Sandburg Village; Clark, LaSalle, Division Sts., North Ave., Chicago, IL. brochure, early 1960s.