After Streetsblog reported on Leopardo Construction's poor pedestrian accommodations during construction on Lawrence Avenue next to the Ravenswood station, where the contractor is building a Mariano's grocery store, a company representative wrote to say that building a temporary walkway in the road wasn't feasible. Soon after, however, a temporary walkway was added.
Leopardo safety director Jim McInerney commented on Friday's post, saying that the temporary sidewalk closure was done in full compliance with CDOT, the Department of Streets & Sanitation, and the local alderman's office. But full compliance doesn't mean it's a good solution for a pedestrian-heavy area outside of downtown, where parking and travel lanes are frequently converted to temporary pedestrian walkways during sidewalk closures. McInerney incorrectly claimed that there is a bike lane on Lawrence and said "there isn't enough room... to create a pedestrian bridge on that side of the street during construction."
On Saturday morning, however, Michael Hurley, a Lincoln Square reader, tweeted a photo of the new temporary walkway on Lawrence Avenue, in exactly the place where I recorded more than 90 Metra passengers walking in the roadway after disembarking from a train during the evening rush.
