Author: Steven Vance

This week in CTA news: Changes to Red and Purple line stations plus faster service to airports

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The Morse Red Line station would be affected by the CTA’s plan. In the two Modernization scenarios, it would become accessible. Photo by Eric Rogers. 

On Monday and Tuesday, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) held identical meetings about the Red & Purple Modernization Project it started planning (at least with the public) last year. According to the CTA’s website, the project “would help bring the existing transit line into a state of good repair, reduce travel times, improve access to job markets and destinations, and provide improved access to people with disabilities”. The project area is in two areas: on what’s called the North Side Main Line, the four tracks from Belmont to Howard, and on the Purple Line-only tracks from Howard to Linden in Wilmette, Illinois. Continue reading This week in CTA news: Changes to Red and Purple line stations plus faster service to airports

Police traffic enforcement is not a recoupable cost

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Even if you changed the speed limit to a very reasonable 20 MPH, it would still need enforcement. A campaign in New York City and the UK is called “twenty’s plenty”. Photo by ddartley. 

Just throwing this out there… There’s a lot of talk about speed cameras (and red light cameras) being a “money grab”, that it’s about making money more than improving street safety. (See my comprehensive review of what it means for Chicago that Governor Quinn signed legislation authorizing the City to install speed cameras.)

Let’s say you’re the administrator of a city that needs to do two things: 1) make streets safe to walk and cycle on, 2) receive revenue for needed services (like crime investigation, libraries, or road resurfacing).

To make streets safer, you can reduce the incidence of speeding, and reduce high speed traffic. You could make this happen in several ways with one or more of these strategies: Continue reading Police traffic enforcement is not a recoupable cost

What speed camera legislation means for Chicago (updated)

See all of our speed camera coverage. 

Governor Quinn signed legislation, public act SB965, on Monday morning to allow any municipality in Illinois with greater than 1 million inhabitants to construct and operate an “automated speed enforcement system”. There’s already a lot of misinformation and I intend to correct the record. I also present information gathered from multiple research studies on the impacts of speed cameras.

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A car crash on North Avenue at Kedzie Avenue, in the new safety zone around Humboldt Park. There’s not a red light camera here but there could be a speed camera in the near future. From 2005-2010, there have been 22 injuries to pedestrians and pedalcyclists at this intersection, inflicted in automobile crashes.

The law is an amendment to the red light camera law. It is not the first time speed cameras have been allowed in Illinois. In 2004, Illinois passed the Automated Traffic Control Systems in Highway Construction or Maintenance Zones Act (view it), enabling speed cameras to be used in work zones on highways. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the Illinois State Police (ISP) quickly deployed mobile speed camera vans – I discuss the study of this pilot project in the section, “Do they really make a difference?”. Continue reading What speed camera legislation means for Chicago (updated)

Federal government update: Clean air legislation and surface transportation bill

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“rot” may be the new state of transit if the House of Representatives passes two transportation bills that affect the entire nation. Photo by Eric Rogers. 

This is a quick update on two federal government topics I’ve been following: the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was proposing to make the Chicago region an “attainment zone”, meaning we’d meet our pollution reduction goals (for just particulate matter) and that we would lose our eligibility for Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds (CMAQ) – see the original post. But those funds may not be so protected, if the House Republicans have their say and are able to pass H.R.3864, the new surface transportation bill – see the original post. Continue reading Federal government update: Clean air legislation and surface transportation bill

Streets for Cycling concerns: What about Logan and Western?

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LOOK!

You ask, I answer. Or, really, the Chicago Crash Browser (super beta draft version) and automobile collision data from the Illinois Department of Transportation answers. James Baum asked on The Chainlink:

From an engineering point of view I am very interested in how they plan on “fixing” the mess that is the Logan Blvd underpass. I feel that this area definitely fits under the “do the easy stuff first and the hard stuff last”  category on the hard side. The intersection is dangerous enough for motor vehicles and I’d like to see some crash statistics for autos there.

I agree that cycling through here is a problem; it seems that getting through here regardless of mode is a problem, though. The Moving Design group of design activists, of which I took part, created a large visual to raise awareness (“LOOK!”), using stencils, hair spray, and a fire extinguisher.  Here are all the pedestrian and “pedalcyclist” crashes. Notice how few pedestrian crashes there are within 250 feet of the center where Logan Boulevard and Western Avenue meet. That might be because few people actually walk here, avoiding it like the plague our streets are: Continue reading Streets for Cycling concerns: What about Logan and Western?

Stories from the Grid Chicago Network: After school programs, speed camera legislation

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Bike Club racing team from West Town Bikes at the Indian Lakes Cyclocross race, presented by South Chicago Wheelmen. Photo by Michael Young. 

The Grid Chicago Network is a collection of articles from 43 websites, updated twice a day. The Network page always shows a 7 day stretch (right now there’s 73 articles listed). Here’re the most interesting articles I saw today:

And on my personal blog, Steven Can Plan, I take a different look at the future and potential of the bike boulevard on Berteau Avenue, and compare it to “neighborhood greenways” in other cities.