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Davis Street Disagreement Tables Evanston Bike Plan Progress
Last year, the City of Evanston started work on a 2014 Bicycle Plan Update [PDF], envisioning further improvements in its cycling infrastructure. The previous bicycle plan, adopted in 2003, resulted in 38 miles of bicycle facilities and a marked increase in bicycle ridership. The new plan will bring a new focus on "comfortable bike corridors" along Evanston's major streets, like Howard, Emerson, Greenleaf, Lincoln, Harrison, and Central -- and along the intersecting side streets of Hinman, Chicago, Maple, Orrington and Crawford. The city estimates the construction cost of these comfortable corridors at $4 million, and hopes that funding will come from the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program or other state and federal grant programs.
July 24, 2014
Eyes on the Street: Milwaukee Bottleneck Update and New Bikeways
The Chicago Department of Transportation is chugging along, creating new buffered and protected bike lanes this summer. Recently, new stretches of buffered lanes were striped striped in Noble Square, on Noble between Erie and Augusta, and downtown, on Upper Randolph between Michigan and the bike station.
July 18, 2014
Cost Isn’t the Issue With Palmer Square Speed Tables, NIMBYs Are
Last month, a DNAinfo.com article drew attention to a new campaign to improve pedestrian safety at Palmer Square by installing raised crosswalks, also known as speed tables. Unfortunately, factual errors in the piece left the impression that raised crosswalks would be an expensive solution that doesn't have the Chicago Department of Transportation's approval. It turns out that speed tables would be quite affordable, and CDOT first proposed adding them years ago. Other changes to the roadway could further discourage speeding and enhance the park – if only the park's neighbors would allow them.
July 17, 2014
Streeterville Residents Redefine Their Own Bit of Lake Shore Drive
John Krause isn't the only north lakefront resident who realizes that the Illinois Department of Transportation's "Redefine The Drive" reconstruction of North Lake Shore Drive is a chance to reinvent how the city meets the shore and the street.
July 10, 2014
Architect Urges Big-Picture, Design Thinking For North Lake Shore Drive
Local architect John Krause sees the reconstruction of North Lake Shore Drive, one of Chicago's most scenic locations, as a chance to think big -- not just about the road, but also about parks, transit, trails, the shoreline, and the future of the city alongside it. The Illinois Department of Transportation isn't used to thinking like that, though, and so Krause sees its "Redefine the Drive" project as a process "that looks and feels suboptimal."
July 7, 2014
Garrido Grandstands Against Milwaukee Road Diet at Public Meeting
Last night, announced aldermanic candidate John Garrido hijacked a crowded community meeting about the city’s proposal for a safety overhaul of Milwaukee from Lawrence to Elston. He interrupted the event to present Chicago Department of Transportation engineers with what he said were 4,000 signatures in opposition to any reconfiguration of the street that would involve fewer travel lanes.
July 3, 2014
Talking Shared Space With Ben Hamilton-Baillie
"Recovering architect" and street design expert Ben Hamilton-Baillie launched a broadside against the rules of traffic engineering during a plenary speech to the Congress for the New Urbanism's recent annual meeting in Buffalo. Baillie urges widespread adoption of "shared space" -- a design concept popularized by Hans Monderman over the past generation in the Netherlands that has only just begun to make headway in the United States.
July 3, 2014
Woonerf in the West Suburbs Offers a Sneak Peek at Uptown Streetscapes
On a recent bicycle trip, I came across a Dutch-style woonerf or "living street,” in the western suburb of Batavia, where Streetsblog Chicago reporter Steven Vance attended high school. The street layout blurs the line between pedestrian and vehicle space, encouraging drivers to proceed with caution, creating a more pleasant environment for walking, biking, shopping, and relaxing at sidewalk cafes. It’s a good preview of the proposed layout for "shared streets" in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.
June 30, 2014
Get a Leg Up: Steven and Friends Install the Nation’s First Bicycle Footrest
Streetsblog Chicago writer Steven Vance doesn’t just report on transportation news -- sometimes he makes it.
June 27, 2014
Eyes on the Street: Construction on the Bloomingdale Trail
Yesterday, Steven and I got a sneak peek at construction on the Bloomingdale Trail on a walking tour led by Jamie Simone from the Trust for Public Land, which is managing the elevated trail and linear park project for the city and the park district.
June 26, 2014