The bus driver who got us to the McCormick Center yesterday for ASAE and The Center's annual meeting dropped this nugget when he saw a little pickup on the road: On Lakeshore drive, it's illegal to drive a truck or van. Meant to deter commercial vehicles, your basic little Toyota pickup or non-SUV van also could earn you a hefty fine.
He told the story of one commercial truck driver who didn't see the signs and drove on Lakeshore Dr. He got pulled over and, because he didn't have the $1,500 in cash fine on him, his truck was impounded. It took three days and $50,000 to get his truck back. The load of meat it carried, since this was high summer, had of course gone bad.
This probably doesn't just happen in Chicago, but I'd never heard of it before. So, when driving in a strange city, pay attention to the signs, and take them very, very literally!