complete streets

Check out these aerial photos Steven took this evening of the complete streets makeover of the Wicker Park intersection.

The changes make this hectic six-way safer, better organized, and more pleasant for the many people who pass through on foot and bike each day.

To further check the community's pulse on these proposed changes, I dropped by the crossroads to buttonhole people during the evening rush.

The widening of Grand Avenue will encourage faster driving, but at least bicyclists are getting thrown a bone in the form of shared-lane markings.

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.

Need some inspiration to make your city's streets safer and more inviting?

Last week a ward staffer provided me with a preview of plans for the Lincoln/Ashland/Belmont reconstruction project. From what I gathered from that conversation, the Chicago Department of Transportation was planning a relatively conservative redesign of one of the North Side’s most dangerous intersections.

The six-way intersection of Belmont, Ashland, and Lincoln in Lakeview is one of the most confusing and scariest intersections on the North Side, especially for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets. One year after some progressive civil engineers around the country feared a crackdown against new-fangled street and signal designs, the opposite seems to be taking place. The obscure but powerful National Committee on … Continued