Edgewater

Yesterday, I visited the site where a northbound minivan driver fatally struck Juslene Akeza, 4, as she was crossing Talman Avenue (2630 W.) westbound on the north side of Granville Avenue (6200 W.) in West Ridge. That tragedy happened along the recently installed Granville Avenue Neighborhood Greenway. But as I noted in my writeup of the crash, the new east-west street design was basically irrelevant to the motorist's failure to hit the brakes in time, the reason why police cited them for failure to reduce speed.

Thanks Obama! If you're psyched about the four new ADA-accessible, aesthetically pleasing Red Line stations that opened in Uptown and Edgewater this morning, give a hat-tip to the 44th president, a former Chicagoan.

Back in January, A City That Works writer and Streetsblog Chicago contributor Richard S. Day discussed the benefits of a potential land use plan for Broadway in Uptown and Edgewater on this site. Harnessing the potential of the Red and Purple Modernization project, he wrote, the upzoning proposal would allow for more density and walkability on the 2.6 mile segment of Broadway between Devon and Montrose avenues.

Streetsblog Chicago has fact-checked anti-bikeway articles from the local "Not In My Back Yard" neighborhood newspaper chain Inside Publications many, many times. Their publisher / editor Ronald Roenigk should make a donation to us for all the free publicity he's gotten.

This week, the CTA released the final design concepts for a pedestrian path and other new amenities on a 1.3-mile segment under Red and Purple tracks, between the Lawrence and Bryn Mawr stations in Uptown and Edgewater. At the second of two community meeting this week, held last night at Truman College, 1945 W. Wilson, attendees seemed generally satisfied with the design.

This post is sponsored by Keating Law Offices.

Update 2/12/25, 1:30 PM: The Chicago Department of Transportation will host another public meeting on this project Thursday, February 13, 6-7 p.m. on Zoom. Register at bit.ly/granville2025.

Editor Ronald Roenigk argues that Granville Avenue must allow crosstown traffic because it's halfway between Devon and Peterson, which "are a mile apart." They're actually a half-mile apart.

The department proposes adding traffic calming infrastructure, one-way segments, and contraflow bike lanes on the nearly three-mile, two-way side street, where speeding and crashes are common.