Steven Vance

Opponents of the CTA’s plan to build fast, reliable bus rapid transit on Ashland Avenue have argued that, despite the success of BRT in numerous international and U.S. cities, Ashland is a unique street where converting car lanes to dedicated bus lanes won’t work. Streetsblog readers also have asked for examples of systems that share the elements of the CTA’s plan: a four-lane street converted to two travel lanes plus center-running bus lanes, with most left turns prohibited, on-street parking, and some local, curbside bus service retained.

Divvy completed the first season's rollout with the installation of the 300th station at Lincoln/Halsted/Fullerton yesterday afternoon. As the system has grown, annual members are making more trips, even while the temperature drops.

The Chicago Department of Transportation continues to expand its role in building livable streets with the introduction of the Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Guidelines [PDF]. These guidelines address much more than transportation – including issues like water quality and economic development – because streets are not just for moving people and goods. CDOT intends this document to guide its own staff, sister agencies, and utility companies to incorporate green and sustainable components into all projects.

Alderman Patricia Dowell (3rd, Bronzeville, South Loop) floated the idea yesterday that Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s budget proposal to raise the cable television tax could be eliminated by charging a licensing fee to ride a bicycle instead. She pegged the fee at about $25 a year and said one would have to complete one hour of classroom education to receive the license to ride a bicycle.

New Bikeways Week pedals ahead as we look at new and upgraded bike lanes all over the city. Yesterday I visited the Lakeside development in South Chicago to get a tour in anticipation of the grand opening of what's known as the South Lake Shore Drive extension. After that, I checked out 1.25 miles of upgraded bike lanes on a recently repaved section of South Shore Drive, a northwest-southeast diagonal road, between 71st and 79th streets.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is heading toward its winter goal of completing the statewide transportation bike plan. A meeting in Chicago this July led to a slightly tense discussion about IDOT's ban on protected bike lanes, during which a staffer deftly tempered the mood by saying, "We used to focus only on highways… you’re right, but we have been given direction to focus on all modes. We’re trying as a department to move away from old cultures."

It's "New Bikeways Week" here on Streetsblog, and John and I will be writing up the many new neighborhood greenways, protected bike lanes, buffered bike lanes, and refreshed bike lanes installed this summer and fall. First up: the Berteau neighborhood greenway.

Yesterday, 11 members of the Metropolitan Planning Organization policy committee, including Metra and Pace, voted to add the Illiana Tollway to the GO TO 2040 regional plan. This enables the Illinois DOT and Indiana DOT to move forward with the project approvals necessary to receive federal funds.

The Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Committee, part of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's governance, poked a billion dollars worth of holes – the estimated amount of public subsidy ranges between $400 million to over $1 billion – in the GO TO 2040 regional plan today by voting to list the Illiana Tollway as a "fiscally constrained" project even after staff found it to be highly incompatible with the plan's focus on development near existing communities and IDOT and analysts said taxpayers would have to pay the private operator for 35 years until the toll revenues can pay the operator.