United Center Streetscape Is a Tie at Best for Cyclists, But a Win for Pedestrians
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The main fly in the ointment is the lack of a proper bikeway on this stretch of Damen.
Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about West Loop
Once Again, Police Assume a Bike Crash Was Solely the Victim’s Fault
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After a bike crash was inadvertently captured by a news crew, police ticketed the cyclist for blowing a red. But closer examination shows the cabbie may have disregarded his signal as well.
MCZ’s Car-Centric West Loop Project Thumbs Its Nose at the TOD Ordinance
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Talk about a missed opportunity. It’s good news that a parking lot located at the southeast corner of Lake and Aberdeen in the burgeoning Fulton Market District will soon be replaced by a mix of residences, office space and retail. But it’s a crying shame that the developer MCZ Development is also building a glut […]
The Union Station Transit Center and Wilson Station Rehab Are Rolling Along
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Steven Vance and I took advantage of today’s sunshine to check out the progress of two major transit projects that are slated to wrap up this spring. The $43 million Union Station Transit Center will be a key enhancement to the Loop Link bus rapid transit corridor. Located on Jackson between Canal and Clinton, the […]
Cyclist Arrested by Allegedly Road-Raging Officer Will File Civil Rights Lawsuit
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[This piece also runs in Checkerboard City, John’s column in Newcity magazine, which hits the street in print on Wednesday evenings.] Picture yourself bike commuting downtown on Milwaukee Avenue, the city’s busiest cycling street. After you turn south on Des Plaines Street, the driver of a silver SUV starts edging into the bike lane as […]
Ald. Reilly Has a Responsible Approach to Off-Street Parking
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When it comes to parking management in Chicago, there have been a couple of encouraging developments recently. In September, City Council passed a beefed-up revision of the transit-oriented development ordinance, which makes it easier than ever to build dense, parking-lite developments near train stations. And, recently, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) made some very sensible statements […]
Romanelli Is Right: Randolph Would Be a Better Bike Route Than Lake Street
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As the old saying goes, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Streetsblog Chicago readers know Roger Romanelli as the guy who has led the charge against fast, reliable bus rapid transit on Ashland Avenue with his anti-BRT group the Ashland-Western Coallition. He also made headlines for asking Chicago Police Superintendant Garry McCarthy […]
Eyes on the Street: New Buffered Lanes on Halsted Between Fulton and Erie
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The Chicago Department of Transportation has taken advantage of recent warm spells to do some late-year bikeway construction. In addition to new bikeways on Lincoln, the department recently striped buffered bike lanes on Halsted, between Fulton and Erie in the West Loop and River West. This half-mile stretch, done as part of a repaving project […]
A Real Estate Investor Explains the Value of Bus Rapid Transit
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Yesterday Blue Cross spokesman Michael Deering told me about how the Central Loop Bus Rapid Transit project will make it faster and easier for hundreds of the corporation’s employees to access it downtown headquarters. This morning I spoke with Peter Vilim, co-chair of the real estate investment firm Waterton Associates, about why his company supports […]
Eyes on the Street: The Union Station Sneckdown — Let’s Make It Permanent
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A snowy neckdown — or “sneckdown” — is that place in the roadway where the snow sticks around because no one drives over it. Sneckdowns show where there’s too much asphalt that could easily be claimed for pedestrian space and traffic calming. As Angie Schmitt reported for Streetsblog USA, officials in Philadelphia were inspired by […]
Pedaling to All 68 Divvy Stations in One Day Was Fun, Not Frustrating
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In a hurry? Read a shorter version of this piece at Grist.org, an environmental news website. To hear the Chicago Tribune tell it, people who used the Divvy bike-share system on its first day of operations last Friday experienced nothing but headaches. But on Sunday I rode a Divvy to and attempted to dock at […]