Eyes on the Street

I took a spin to the South Side to check out the in-progress trail separation project between 31st and 41st, which broke ground last August and is almost done.

Despite infrastructure improvements and the best efforts of city workers like Ana, we need to do more to ensure that the rights and safety of pedestrians are respected.

While the block previously had no lane markings, making it a de-facto three-lane westbound street, the city recently striped a median that serves as a bit of a road diet, transforming it to a two-lane thoroughfare.

As I discussed last week, the 14th Police District’s plan to patrol the Bloomingdale Trail, aka The 606, on all-terrain vehicles makes no sense. They have virtually no benefits over patrolling the path by bicycle, since bike are much more maneuverable (a huge advantage when the trail is crowded), cycles with saddlebags have almost as much carrying capacity, they don't burn gas, and they provide healthy physical activity for the officers. Even the potential speed advantage of the ATVs isn’t much of an issue since the trail is less than three miles long.

The surface parking lot on the west side of the stadium has been transformed into the Park at Wrigley, a plaza and lawn that will function as public space for all Chicagoans when there aren’t events at the stadium.

Construction plates have created a hazard for cyclists on the 1700 block of North Milwaukee, just south of the Milwaukee/Leavitt entrance to the Bloomingdale Trail.

The blockage of sidewalks and bike lanes by construction projects is a common problem in our city, and often the problem doesn’t get addressed unless a citizen (or Streetsblog) gives a heads-up the Chicago Department of Transportation.

The northern suburb of Lincolnwood recently filled in the final gap in the Valley Line Trail, a paved multiuse path that runs from Sauganash to Skokie. The Weber Spur trail is also in the works.

The curb-protected bike lanes are a win, but the wide new section of Elston encourages speeding. It remains to be seen whether the street remix will result in a safer situation overall.