Heavy shipping traffic required movable bridges, which cable lines couldn't cross.

In 1882, the Chicago City Railway opened the first of two cable car lines south from the downtown business district.

But the city had previously built two horse and pedestrian tunnels under the river, both were in poor condition and neither was being used.

[8] In 1888, The West Chicago Street Railway (WCSRy) made a similar arrangement with the city over the Washington St. tunnel.

[10] When built all three tunnels were 18 feet under the riverbed, but in 1900 the direction of the Chicago River was reversed by deepening it.

In 1906 all cables, which had become obsolete, were replaced by electric service that could cross the bridges and all three tunnels were closed.

The WCSR filed a suit that went to the US Supreme Court, but they lost and had to pay for lowering the tunnel.

The Van Buren St. tunnel ended regular service on September 14, 1924, after that it was sometimes used as a bypass when bridges were open.

The approach grades were steep for horses, it leaked, and it was dark and uncomfortable for pedestrians, by 1884 it had been closed as unsafe.

West of the river the approach climbed and the track came to street level just east of Clinton.

[4][12][13] After closing in 1906, a wider and deeper replacement was built under the original and the approaches were deepened to the new lower level.

Like the Washington St. tunnel, approach grades were steep for horses, it leaked, and it was dark and uncomfortable for pedestrians.

South of the river the approach climbed and the track came to street level just north of Randolph St.

Like the Washington St. tunnel the grades were aligned for the cars to enter a shallow subway just below street level.

[4][16] A deeper replacement was built thru the original tunnel and opened to electric streetcar service in 1910.

[17][18][19] In 1937, Chicago petitioned the Public Works Administration (PWA) for funding for the State Street subway.

Harold L. Ickes vetoed this plan in favor of a Milwaukee-Dearborn subway, which was eventually enacted.

The only construction accomplished in advance of these plans were the pair of portals in the Eisenhower Expressway median, 200 feet east of Halsted Street, constructed in 1952 simultaneously with the pair of portals for the Blue Line, and the double-wide station built at Peoria Street in 1964 to accommodate the anticipated platform north of the UIC-Halsted platform for the Blue Line.

The plan was cancelled in April 1962, although the design and placement of the Peoria Street station house went unchanged.