Slip Lanes

CDOT recently made some, ahem, concrete improvements to the stretch of Broadway between Irving Park and Grace in Lakeview.

Last week the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a report showing that all traffic fatalities increased significantly on U.S. roads from 2014 to 2015, by 7.7 percent to reach 35,200, the worst death toll since the 2008 economic crash. Streetsblog USA's Angie Schmitt pointed out that, while Americans drove 3.5 percent more during this period, that's "not enough to explain the rising death toll." U.S. pedestrian and bike fatalities rose even more during that period, by 10 and 15 percent, respectively.

The controversial right-turn ban at Grace/Halsted/Broadway in Lakeview East may have created a new Chicago record for the number of community meetings held over a pair of traffic signs. Fortunately, it appears that a compromise has been reached which should satisfy the drivers who groused about the turn ban, as well as folks who are concerned about improving pedestrian safety.

Last month when the city put up signs banning right turns from northbound Halsted onto southbound Broadway at Grace, eliminating a slip lane, the intersection became little safer. Thanks to what appears to be a guerrilla intervention by an unknown party, the site also became a little prettier.

Since Monday, when I wrote about the controversial new right-turn ban at Grace/Halsted/Broadway, I’ve gotten background from the key players about how this change came about.

The Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce has launched a petition calling for the removal of new signs installed by a slip lane at the southeast corner of the five-way Grace/Halsted/Broadway intersection. The “Do Not Enter” and “No Right Turn to Broadway” signs essentially nullify the slip lane, which previously allowed northbound drivers on Halsted to make quick southeast turns onto Broadway. Right turns from Halsted around the far side of the pedestrian island onto Broadway are also banned.