A 23-year-old man died early Saturday morning, September 19, 2026, after he was struck by a car while trying to cross DuSable Lake Shore Drive near the North Avenue Bridge in the Gold Coast, Chicago police said. The man had been walking along the sidewalk near the bridge before he crossed the highway's southbound lanes, climbed over the median, and stepped into the northbound lanes, where a blue sedan heading north struck him.
The crash happened in the 1500 block of North Lake Shore Drive, according to police, as reported by ABC7 Chicago. Chicago Fire Department paramedics treated the man for major injuries at the scene before rushing him to Northwestern Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His name had not been released as of Friday, and police said no citations were being issued.
A Bridge Built to Keep Pedestrians Off the Highway
The stretch of roadway where the man was struck sits close to the North Avenue Pedestrian Bridge, a historic overpass completed in 1940 to connect Lincoln Park with North Avenue Beach, according to HistoricBridges.org.
Illinois law does not leave much room for ambiguity in situations like this one. Under Section 11-1003 of the Illinois Vehicle Code, any pedestrian crossing a roadway where an overhead pedestrian bridge or tunnel is provided is legally required to yield the right-of-way to oncoming vehicles, per the statute cited by ILGA.gov. State law also bars pedestrians from crossing between signalized intersections outside of marked crosswalks.
Chicago's Deadliest Roadway Keeps Claiming Lives
DuSable Lake Shore Drive has earned a grim distinction in recent years. City crash dashboard data compiled through August 2025 shows the corridor recorded 61 traffic fatalities between April 2019 and that month, making it the single deadliest roadway in Chicago, Hoodline previously reported in its coverage of a fiery motorcyclist crash downtown. Illinois Department of Transportation data cited in that report indicates roughly 95% of motorists exceed the posted 40 mph speed limit along the Drive.
Pedestrians bear an outsized share of the risk on Chicago streets more broadly. A September analysis of city and federal traffic safety data by Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers found pedestrians accounted for 38 of Chicago's 109 total road deaths in 2024, or roughly 34.9% of all traffic fatalities, according to Markets Insider. That same analysis noted that while citywide traffic fatalities fell 14% between 2017 and 2024, total traffic crash injuries actually rose 8% in 2023 compared with 2017 levels.
Chicago Department of Transportation crash data reported this month showed some progress overall, with traffic fatalities citywide falling nearly 30% in 2024 compared to peak pandemic-era levels in 2021. City officials noted that reckless driving contributed to roughly 85% of fatal crashes in Chicago.
Investigators and a Push to Redesign the Drive
The Chicago Police Department's Major Accidents Investigation Unit is handling the case, the same unit that investigates fatal crashes citywide and coordinates with the Bureau of Detectives' Family Liaison Office to support surviving relatives. The unit recently investigated the July death of a 20-year-old motorcyclist on North Lake Shore Drive, detailed in Hoodline's report on that crash.
Transportation advocates and city planners have proposed rethinking the highway. Participants in the “Redefining Outer DuSable Lake Shore Drive” study have proposed converting the highway into a lower-speed, multimodal boulevard to improve pedestrian access and eliminate hazardous expressway conditions along lakefront parkland, according to Streetsblog Chicago. Advocates behind the proposal contend the current eight-lane expressway design induces speeding and dangerous crossing attempts between neighborhoods and the beach.
