posted by Zach Patton
If you have a few million dollars lying around, and if you've always wanted your name attached to an unsightly, congested roadway, has Chicago got a deal for you!
The city is auctioning off naming rights for the Chicago Skyway, the 7.8-mile long, 125-foot high toll road built in 1958. The naming-rights plan, says the Chicago Tribune, is unique:
The plan has raised eyebrows. While naming rights are nothing new in the world of professional sports or even in municipal government, it's never been tried successfully with a crowded toll road before.
Of course, the big question here is what happens when, say, there's a massive accident with 20 fatalities on the Coca-Cola Highway? Or how good is the publicity if there's a carjacking on the General Electric Freeway?
Chicago's continuing undaunted, though. City officials are already budgeting $3 million in naming-rights revenue for next year. They'd better hope they find some takers.
Photo via Flickr, from Daniel Montesinos.
The Skyway is a fascinating road, and far more interesting to drive (especially visually) than are I-94, or many of Chicago's other highways. Each to his/her own, I guess. Teri Carns
Posted by: T.W. Carns | Wednesday, April 26, 2006 at 07:49 PM