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Will the New Morgan Park Sports Center Include Good Bicycle Access?
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.
February 7, 2014
Let’s Measure What Happens With the Western Ave Shutdown This Weekend
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.
February 4, 2014
Eyes on the Street: CDOT Adds Curb to Prevent Sidewalk Driving
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.
January 23, 2014
You Can’t Make a 21st Century City With a 1950s Approach to Streets
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.
January 22, 2014
CDOT Acts Quickly To Remove Dumpster Blocking Dearborn Bike Lane
A mysterious dumpster blocked both lanes of the Dearborn protected bike lane this morning, causing Chicagoans to tweet their displeasure.
January 9, 2014
Eyes on the Street: Gravel Sidewalk at Plaza Site Forces People Into Street
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.
January 2, 2014
CDOT’s Two-Year Strategic Update Lacks Street Safety Data
The recently released update to the Chicago Department of Transportation's first-ever two-year plan, the Chicago Forward Action Agenda, fails to give a status report on critical street safety metrics. The two-year update to Chicago Forward [PDF] does say a lot about what CDOT is doing to improve safety, but it doesn't provide information on traffic crashes and injuries.
December 16, 2013
Clybourn Ave and State St Could Get City’s First Curb-Separated Bikeways
At yesterday's Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Council, Chicago Bicycle Program project manager Mike Amsden revealed a new detail about the missing piece of the Clybourn Avenue buffered bike lane. The Chicago Department of Transportation is working with the Illinois Department of Transportation to install a protected bike lane on Clybourn that may be separated by a curb.
December 12, 2013
Like Gabe Klein, Deputy Commish Scott Kubly Is Calling It a Wrap at CDOT
Last Tuesday was Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein’s last day on the job. Three days later Deputy Commissioner Scott Kubly, one of Klein’s key lieutenants, announced his resignation as well.
December 3, 2013