Seen in this two picture combo, at left taken on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011 are cars abandoned during the beginning of the this week's blizzard on north bound lanes of Chicago's Lake Shore Drive, while photo at right taken on Thursday, Feb. 3, more than 28 hours later, shows traffic flowing freely. City officials took criticism for keeping Lake Shore Drive open at the beginning of this week's blizzard. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley spoke publicly for the first time to defend his city's handling of the storm, which stranded hundreds of motorists in whiteout conditions on the famous Lake Shore Drive.