John Greenfield

Fulton Market Association Executive Director Roger Romanelli is well-known to longtime Streetsblog Chicago readers as a resident of suburban Hillside who often intervenes in urban sustainable transportation matters. He's usually on the wrong side of these issues, with a decidely car-centric point of view. Most notoriously, his tireless lobbying against the City's Ashland bus rapid transit proposal helped get that project shelved.

• Ashland BRT foe Roger Romanelli got cold feet and moved his protest against the GRand Avenue Safe Streets project to yesterday, so no bike ride there today.

Note: While this is the first pedestrian or bike fatality I've seen in news reports in 2026, it appears there were some other crash deaths this year that haven't been reported yet. Streetsblog Chicago will provide an update on these cases soon.

• An SUV driver, 70, fatally struck a female pedestrian Tuesday around 6:15 PM in the 4000 block of West Foster Avenue in the North Park neighborhood (CBS)

On much of the project area, posts, paint and new curbs haven't been added yet to help keep drivers – such as the protesters – out of the future curbside bikeways.

• "Chicago on shortlist for 2028 Democratic National Convention" (Crain's)

• The Illinois General Assembly improved transit last October. Can they take similar bold action to improve walking and biking? (Active Trans)

• Active Trans: "We need a strong robotaxi policy for Illinois"

• Hit-and-run SUV driver, 37, charged with felony for critically injuring boy, 16, on scooter Wed., around 7:41 PM near 68th/Homan near Marquette Park (ABC)

Update 2/26/26, noon: On Facebook, a reader commented, "I don't even see how [opposition to Safe Streets and support for Trumpism] are connected." My response: "The Archer situation is clearly an example of right-leaning organizations and politicians like Urban Center and Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) taking advantage of (understandable) discontent over a Complete Streets project to try to win a sympathetic City Council seat. We're trying to shine light on this problematic strategy before it becomes a citywide issue, which would have a negative impact on politics, as well as traffic safety."