The first Chicago area transportation study projections and plans for metropolitan Chicago in retrospect

This paper is an evaluation of the first Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) projections and plans for metropolitan Chicago. The CATS work was completed during 1956 to 1962, and the projection year was 1980. The CATS forecasts of population and employment were much too high, but it turned out that the travel demand forecasts were reasonably accurate because offsetting prediction errors were made. Partly because vehicle ownership was underpredicted, CATS did not fully anticipate the increase in per capita travel demand. The CATS transportation plan derived from the predictions included an elaborate highway plan, but no part of this plan has been built as of 1987. A more modest, but still rather extensive, mass transit plan was proposed. This plan was essentially implemented. Construction of the final part of the (revised) mass transit plan is now underway. The mass transit plan had the support of the City of Chicago municipal government and funding from the US federal government. The highway plan had neither.