Wicker Park

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.

If you’re running for a Chicago political office and want to showcase your inadequate knowledge of local transportation issues, a great way to do it is to trash the city’s Ashland bus rapid transit plan. At a recent panel of candidates for state rep in the 10th district of Illinois’ House of Representatives, which includes neighborhoods from Garfield Park to Lincoln Park, veteran policeman Eddie Winters did just that.

Last Thursday, Dutch "mobility advisor" Sjors van Duren stood by the Lakefront Trail, pointed to the block of Monroe Street between Columbus and Lake Shore Drive, and asked, "What is the function of this street?" The answer, it was agreed, is to distribute automobiles between the Loop and Lake Shore Drive. Van Duren works for the Arnhem Nijmegen City Region in the Netherlands, and he was brought to Chicago last week by the Dutch Cycling Embassy (a public/private program that aims to export Dutch cycling policies) to lead a group of local advocates, planners, engineers, and neighbors to find a way to make Monroe Street better for cycling between the Loop and Lakefront Trail.

[This article also appeared in "Checkerboard City," John's column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.]

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.

In a hurry? Read a shorter version of this piece at Grist.org, an environmental news website.

At a community meeting Tuesday night at the McCormick-Tribune YMCA, planners discussed the final designs, construction schedule, and new name for the trail and "linear park" formerly known as the Bloomingdale. The newly coined appellation "The 606" is an umbrella term referring to the trail as well as five adjacent parks that will serve as access points.

When the Chicago Department of Transportation proposed a redesign of Milwaukee Avenue that will improve safety for cycling, a few merchants groused about the loss of parking directly in front of their stores. Change can be scary, but this fear is misplaced. A safer street is a more inviting street, and CDOT could actually implement much more dramatic transformations that would still benefit the bottom line of local businesses.