Chicago Park District installs automated parking gates at 10 beaches

Beachgoers may notice changes at several lakefront parking lots citywide this summer as the city rolls out a new “modernized” payment management system.

The Chicago Park district installed automated parking gates at 10 lots across the city’s lakefront and is using license plate readers to track when drivers enter and exit.

But paying at the lots isn’t new, instead, the park district says the recent changes “simply modernize how payment is managed and enforced.” The park district also said the new gates will help with park security.

The lots, managed by SP+, have been paid lots since 2009.

Under the system, visitors will be allowed a 15-minute grace period free of charge that can be used for pick-up, drop-off or unloading supplies. After that, a parking fee will be applied. However, the parking rates have not increased as a result of the upgrades, according to the park district.

Parking rates vary slightly by location, with fees around $4.07 for up to one hour and a maximum of $24 for vehicles parked longer than nine hours.

Giacomo Cain/Sun-Times

The park district said it expects parking fees will generate $9.4 million in revenue that will “directly support parks and park programming citywide.”

The new gated system was installed at the following locations:

• Waveland Park 
• Wilson and DuSable Lake Shore Drive
• Foster Beach
• 55 and South Shore Drive
• Oakwood and DuSable Lake Shore Drive
• Museum of Science and Industry – East and South lots
• Rainbow Beach – North and South lots
• 63rd Street Beach
• Diversey Driving Range; and
• North Avenue Beach, which was previously gated but was upgraded with the new gate technology.