Logan Square

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.

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.

A proposal to legalize transit-oriented development would make it easier to build walkable and bikeable neighborhoods, in part by halving the car parking requirement for residences and eliminating it for non-residential uses near train stations. The ordinance is set to go before aldermen at the zoning committee's next meeting in September. Right now, without the ordinance, launching a new business that complies with Chicago's parking minimums can be a ludicrous ordeal. Here's what two business owners in Logan Square had to go through to get around their parking minimums.

Although Chicago was one of the first U.S. cities to consider staging a ciclovía, a Latin-American-style event that creates temporary car-free street space in order to encourage healthy recreation, community interaction and commerce, we’re currently way behind peer cities. New York, Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco are each hosting several ciclovía events this year on routes that are several miles long. Meanwhile Chicago will be hosting one event, called Open Streets, on Sunday, September 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., on a 2.6-mile stretch of Milwaukee Avenue between Division Street and Kedzie Boulevard in Wicker Park, Bucktown and Logan Square.

I’m getting really fed up with hearing about cyclists’ blood being spilled on Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park, Bucktown and Logan Square from dooring crashes that might have been prevented by protected bike lanes.

Last Thursday at around 4:30 p.m., a driver crashed into a bicyclist returning from a quick trip to The Bike Lane, a bike shop on Milwaukee Avenue across from the Congress Theater. The driver fled the scene and remains at large, while the cyclist – Michael Leete, visiting from Brooklyn, New York – was left on the ground with bleeding around his brain. The driver may have been exiting or entering a parallel parking space near 2207 N Milwaukee Avenue.

Chicago's bike-share system, which will go by the name of Divvy, is on track to launch by the Bike To Work Day Rally on June 14. Divvy will start out with 75 stations in downtown and River North before growing to about 400 stations in an area roughly bounded by Lake Michigan, Devon, California and 63rd. So will there be a bike-share station where you live or work? While station locations are still subject to change at this point, some details about the system map have emerged from aldermen's offices.

Alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno of the 1st Ward has introduced an ordinance that would zone Milwaukee Avenue between Sacramento Avenue and Rockwell Street/Francis Place as a Pedestrian Street, or P-Street, which could help ensure that future development is walkable and pedestrian-friendly.

On-street bike corrals have many benefits for retail areas. They accommodate a high number of customers and advertise the efficiency of cycling, since one car spot fits up to 12 bikes. Parking bikes in the street frees up space on sidewalks for pedestrians. On-street racks placed at corners improve sight lines and shorten crossing distances for peds. And while motor vehicles often block the view of storefronts, bike corrals make them more visible.