What was a car doing cruising down the Chicago Riverwalk?
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Many are wondering how a car found its way onto the Chicago Riverwalk this week.
User "Lettuce Cat" posted the video to X, formally Twitter, on Tuesday evening. It shows a silver sedan driving down the walk on the north side of the Chicago River as if it were just another road.
The car is seen rolling past the staircase leading from Columbus Drive down to the section of the Riverwalk known as the Esplanade – alongside the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk Hotel.
The car then proceeds under the Columbus Drive Bridge before the video cuts off.
The video appears to be taken from a boat on the river, and what sounds like an architectural tour guide is heard talking about the Medinah Men's Club — now the InterContinental Chicago Hotel — and its Arabic art motifs. The guide is never heard saying anything about the car but is heard suggesting people visit a Starbucks in the InterContinental to check out the architecture before pausing mid-sentence.
"Lettuce Cat" corrected some discussion participants who suggested the car was actually on Lower Wacker Drive, or Lower Lower Wacker Drive where the Chicago Central Auto Pound is located — pointing out that the car was on the north bank of the Chicago River, while Wacker Drive is on the south bank.
The most likely explanation, "Lettuce Cat" concluded, was that the car accessed the Esplanade by way of an expanse of pavement near the now-dry Centennial Fountain.
Most north-south streets in the downtown area rise above grade level to cross the river. But on the north side of the river between Columbus Drive and DuSable Lake Shore Drive, two north-south streets — New Street and McClurg Court — remain at grade level as they terminate at the river's bank.
The two streets are connected by a short east-west street called River Drive — which is directly adjacent to the pavement of the Esplanade in a configuration where a wrong turn could be imagined.
CBS 2's Joe Donlon used to live nearby, and said he has seen drivers end up on the Riverwalk before after they got thrown off around the mouth of McClurg Court. Donlon added that the only option for a driver who ends up on the Riverwalk in that area is to turn around and go back.
Chicago Police said they did not have any information about the incident.