CDOT

Bloomingdale Trail construction charges ahead, with bridge work that involves closing Milwaukee at the viaduct, tonight at 8 p.m. through early Monday morning. Cars, trucks and buses will detour around the construction via North and Western, and pedestrians are advised to take a shorter detour via Oakley, Wilmot, and Leavitt Street to reach Wilmot. Winnebago, which would otherwise be a detour option since, like Wilmot, it parallels Milwaukee, will also be closed at the Bloomingdale viaduct during construction.

As the Chicago Transit Authority prepares to fix up Blue Line tracks, the agency is warning riders that they'll face significant delays during the weekends when work is underway. But tens of thousands of transit riders would face less inconvenience if the city cleared some room on Milwaukee Avenue by diverting motor vehicle traffic.

A huge complaint during this #Chiberia season has been the lack of snow removal from sidewalks. The problem is nothing new, but complaints are rising along with the frequency of the snowfall -- it is the fifth snowiest winter, after all. The issue was discussed at February's Mayor's Pedestrian Advisory Council, and last week CDOT released stats on how many 311 reports residents have submitted requesting snow removal.

The Chicago Department of Transportation will close 115th Street just east of Western Avenue to motor vehicle through traffic, creating a cul-de-sac to reduce neighborhood traffic after a Chicago Park District ice hockey rink and gymnastics center opens. The closure for cars could improve this important bike route, but only if it maintains street connectivity for bicycling, which doesn't seem to be the case in previous designs and project renderings. 

Crews will be demolishing a viaduct over Western Avenue this weekend as part of Bloomingdale Trail construction, necessitating the closure of Western and diverting automobile traffic and CTA buses to Damen and California, each a half mile away. People walking or biking will be rerouted to the underpasses a block away on either side.

Back in April we showed that people were driving, parking, and blocking the sidewalk next to the BP gas station on the newly redesigned Congress Parkway streetscape. After publishing, we found out that the post had drawn the attention of Chicago Department of Transportation staff.

When I worked at the Chicago Department of Transportation’s bicycle program, from 2001 to 2006, it was a very different department than it is today. While there was an interest in improving conditions for walking, transit, and cycling, the city’s main transportation goal, as it had been for most of the previous century, was to move cars. The most blatant example of this attitude during my time at CDOT was the 2005 removal of the pedestrian crossing between Buckingham Fountain and the lakefront to speed traffic on Lake Shore Drive.

A mysterious dumpster blocked both lanes of the Dearborn protected bike lane this morning, causing Chicagoans to tweet their displeasure.

This week's snow storm -- which is still coming down -- has made a lot of sidewalks tough to navigate, but here's one case that's worse than most.