Promoted

The $5.7 billion Red Line Extension is moving closer to becoming a reality, more than half a century after it was first promised to Far South Siders. The CTA is holding three "Meet the Contractor" sessions this month to provide updates and answer questions about the project.

CTA Vice President of Security Kevin Ryan said that the artificial intelligence-assisted security cameras the transit agency started to pilot last August led to six arrests, including for a robbery in progress. 

Read the previously published first portion of this interview, focusing on the 25 mph speed limit issue, here.

"I’m tired of making ghost bikes," said Christina Whitehouse. She's the founder of Bike Lane Uprising, a Chicago-based civic tech platform that makes it "easy to report cars in bike lanes and hold violators accountable." BLU also helps organize the installation of white-painted "ghost bike" memorials to people killed while riding bikes that are installed along too many of Chicago’s streets. "We buy materials for ghost bikes in bulk. We have them in our basements," she said.

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.

Milwaukee Avenue, the diagonal street that runs about 11 miles northwest-southeast between downtown and Superdawg Drive-In in the Norwood Park neighborhood, is Chicago's most important cycling street. It's got the highest ridership of any roadway in our city, and since it's the most direct route from the Loop to Wicker Park, Logan Square, and Avondale, some call it the "Hipster Highway."

Whizz, billed as the largest e-bike rental and subscription platform in the U.S., recently announced it will expand into Chicago with a partnership with DoorDash. Whizz launched in New York City in 2022 and was built specifically for delivery workers. The impetus for the platform was seeing how many gig workers, especially immigrants, face barriers to accessing low-cost, two-wheeled vehicles. Whizz itself was founded by immigrants, so they understood how hard it can be to start over in a new country.

We talked about the Clark protected bike lane proposal in Uptown, the 25 mph speed limit campaign, and ideas to make traffic enforcement less regressive.

Want to urge state legislators to properly fund Chicago-area transit during their spring 2025 session, so as to prevent drastic service cuts in 2026? The Active Transportation Alliance recommends going to the webpage "Support the Clean and Equitable Transportation Act!" to send letters to your state reps.