North/Damen/Milwaukee

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

It wasn't crystal clear from the presentation earlier this month which "near-term" improvements are slated for construction this summer, so here's a recap.

While most of this stretch won't be getting bike lanes in the near future, a number of bike- and pedestrian-friendly changes are planned for later this year.

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

Last night some 90 residents turned out for a community meeting where the Chicago Department of Transportation presented plans for short-term, forward-thinking improvements to the intersection that will make it safer for all road users.

Fixing the North/Damen/Milwaukee intersection, adding bike lanes on Milwaukee Avenue, and making the viaducts by the Clybourn Metra stop safer and more pleasant are all scenes we'd love to see.

Update 5/30/18, 2:15 PM: Today Alderman Hopkins provided documentation that indicates that he asked the 14th Police District to hold a targeted enforcement event on January 19, 2017, to ticket motorists for dangerous driving, but the police took it upon themselves to focus on ticketing bicyclists instead. Read the full story, including the correspondence from Hopkins, on this Twitter thread.