Kristen Maddox
Recent Posts
Saving Time and Money Through Transportation Demand Management
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Traffic jams cost Chicagoland residents more than $7.3 billion every year in wasted time and fuel, according to the Metropolitan Planning Council’s 2008 report “Moving at the Speed of Congestion.” And we’re not headed in the right direction: The share of drive-alone commuters in the region increased from 46 percent to 51 percent from 1990 […]
On the Heels of the South Red Rehab, City Announces O’Hare Line Overhaul
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Yesterday morning, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Par Quinn announced that the O’Hare Branch of the Blue Line will receive $492 million in station and line upgrades. At the press conference at the Logan Square stop, CTA President Forrest Claypool called the project “the largest single comprehensive investment in the Blue Line since the Jefferson […]
A New Pot of Funding Is Available for Illinois Safe Routes Programs
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Illinois students celebrate National Walk and Bike to School Day. Photo: Champaign-Urbana MTD As autumn turns to winter, parents across Illinois hustle through the sleepy, pre-dawn period to bundle up children and get them ready for school. By this time of the year, the rhythm has become engrained. However, the daily task of commuting to […]
Digging Into More Dearborn Data From an Elevated View
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Three months ago, on the morning of July 24, I observed the intersection of Dearborn Street and Washington Street to collect data on bicycle traffic on Dearborn’s two-way protected bicycle lane, keeping track of factors like bicyclists’ gender and helmet use rates. Last Thursday during the morning rush I returned to the bi-directional bikeway to […]
Protected Bike Lanes Will Make State Street a Greater Street
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If support from aldermen Patricia Dowell (3rd) and Will Burns (4th) expressed at a public meeting on Tuesday is any indication, it should be relatively easy for the Chicago Department of Transportation to install buffered and protected bike lanes along State Street from 18th to 26th streets. This eight-block stretch is .8 miles long, since […]
CDOT Reveals Plans for Chicago’s First Raised Bike Lane on Roosevelt Road
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At a community meeting Tuesday at Columbia College, Chicago Department of Transportation Project Director Janet Attarian outlined plans for the new Roosevelt Road streetscape from State Street to Columbus Drive. The project will include a groundbreaking new segment of sidewalk-level, two-way bicycle lane, part of a bike-friendly route to and from the lakefront. The info […]
Have No Fear, Ashland Residents, BRT Is a Good Fit for City Neighborhoods
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Bus rapid transit opponents may have made the most noise at Tuesday night’s community meeting about the CTA’s plan for fast, reliable bus service on Ashland Avenue, hosted by the Chicago Grand Neighbors Association at Talcott Elementary School in Noble Square. But when you’re familiar with the details of the proposal, as well as successful […]
The Latest Word From the Mayor’s Pedestrian Advisory Council
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The Mayor’s Pedestrian Advisory Council met last Wednesday, the day after an SUV driver struck and killed an 83-year-old man in Rogers Park, then fled the scene. At the meeting, Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein, co-chair of MPAC, along with Peter Skosey, vice president of the Metropolitan Planning Council, described the crash as “gruesome.” […]
Residents Reimagine Clark Street at Streetside Workshop
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When participants at Tuesday night’s Streetside Workshop on how to improve Clark Street from North to Dickens avenues were asked to identify which transportation mode currently dominates Clark, the answer was obvious: cars. The seminar, organized by the grassroots group Bike Walk Lincoln Park, the Active Transportation Alliance, and 43rd Ward Alderman Michele Smith, took […]
Digging Into Dearborn Data: Patterns and Behavior on the Two-Way Bike Lane
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Guest contributor Kristen Maddox recently spent a year in Copenhagen as a Fulbright fellow and worked with Copenhagenize Design Company. Now back in the US, she is actively looking for work in bicycle planning and advocacy. Dearborn Street’s two-way protected bike lanes are equipped with 16 micro-radar sensors with four wireless access points so traffic […]
Chicago Versus Copenhagen: Elevated Bikeways and Multilane Highways
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[This is the second post of a two-part series by guest contributor Kristen Maddox. Part I compared the modal hierarchy, bike infrastructure and bike culture in Chicago and Copenhagen. Kristen recently spent a year in Denmark as a Fulbright fellow and worked with Copenhagenize Design Company. Now back in the US, she is actively looking […]
How Does Chicago Infrastructure Compare to Copenhagen?
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[This is the first post of a two-part series by guest contributor Kristen Maddox. Kristen recently spent a year in Denmark as a Fulbright fellow and worked with Copenhagenize Design Company. Now back in the US, she is actively looking for work in bicycle planning and advocacy. We’ll post the second half this piece on […]