Once Again, the Construction of a Mariano’s Creates a Hazard for Pedestrians

Broadway is a city-designated Pedestrian Street between Diversey and Cornelia in Lakeview. But during the construction of a new car-centric development, people on foot are encountering a decidedly pedestrian-unfriendly situation.

A massive new complex featuring a Mariano's grocery store and an XSport Fitness gym, plus 279 car parking spaces, is currently being built at 3030 N. Broadway. For the past several weeks, the sidewalk on the west side of Broadway has been closed to accommodate the construction.

Streetsblog Chicago reader J. Patrick Lynch sent us photos of the situation, which is all-too-common in Chicago. Since the sidewalk closure signs are located mid-block, people who encounter them are supposed to backtrack half a block to the crosswalk in order to detour to the east sidewalk. Lynch tells us that many people simply opt to walk in the street.

Moreover, there's plenty of room to provide proper pedestrian accommodations during construction. While curbside parking has mostly been left in place next to the work site, the contractor, Leopardo, and the Chicago Department of Transportation could have barricaded the parking lane to create temporary walkway. Lynch also noted that while this is a 24/7 sidewalk closure and on weekends, construction truck traffic – likely the main reason for the sidewalk closure – only occurs during weekday business hours.

This situation is particularly troubling because there was a similar scenario two winters ago when Leopardo built a Mariano's on Lawrence Avenue, next to the Ravenswood Metra station. In that case, they also closed the sidewalk next to the work site, which resulted in hundreds of disembarking train commuters walking in the street. After Streetsblog posted a video highlighting this dangerous situation, Leopardo finally used barricades to create a temporary pedestrian route in the roadway.

In August, Leopardo boasted that the Broadway site would be one of Chicago's first clean-diesel construction projects, which would mitigate its effect on air quality. But if they really care about the health and safety of residents, they'll do the right thing by setting up a protected walkway in the street, instead of forcing pedestrians to share the road with cars.

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