Category: Neighborhoods

Fall bike lane construction update

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A Marking Specialists work truck in the Marshall Boulevard bike lane it just helped create (they work on weekends, too!). 

Chicago Department of Transportation staff and its contractor Marking Specialists have been busy this summer and fall, striping miles of conventional, buffered, and separated bike lanes in Chicago. This post documents all of the new bike lanes we haven’t yet featured prominently, some of which are likely still under construction as the photos were taken between 1 and 4 weeks ago.

Sacramento Boulevard, 24th Boulevard, Marshall Boulevard

Still to come on this project through Little Village, Lawndale, North Lawndale: Douglas, Independence, and Hamlin Boulevards. It connects with a short, separated bike lane on Jackson Boulevard between Independence Boulevard and Central Park Avenue. The Central Park Avenue bike lane then connects north to separated bike lanes on Lake Street and Franklin Boulevard. Collectively these bike lanes are called “West Side Boulevards”. I like how this new separated bike lane “goes places”: through and to residential neighborhoods, past schools and parks.

People parked their cars in the bike lane, which we’ve found to be typical for under-construction separated bike lanes. The pavement quality issues that Franklin Boulevard suffers from are present on this project as well, in multiple locations (there’s a small bush growing in the bike lane a few feet before your reach a large pothole). I look forward to seeing the ultimate design created at the intersections and high-speed curves in Douglas Park and the pavement issues corrected. This project is likely still under construction.

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A separated bike lane on Marshall Boulevard, looking south at a Pink Line viaduct. It’s parking-protected in some locations. In this photo, new parking spaces are created where none previously existed.  Continue reading Fall bike lane construction update

Fatality Tracker: 44-year-old pedestrian killed in hit-and-run crash in West Rogers Park

Tsering Dorjee, 44, seen here with his youngest son
Tsering Dorjee. Photo by Bill’s Digital Photos.

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 23 (12 have been hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 6 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)
Transit: 8 (our last update listed 7)
Skateboard: 1 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)

Update November 17, 09:30: The driver turned himself in on Thursday. Fernando Jasso Perez, 23, has never had a driver’s license. “Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. set bail at $750,000 for Perez, who was charged with reckless homicide and failure to report the crash” (source). The Chicago Sun-Times published an editorial Friday urging state legislators to create a visitor drivers license for illegal immigrants. One of the benefits they espoused? “Police officers making a stop would know who is driving the car. With the threat of deportation lessened, illegal immigrants would have less of a motivation to leave the scene of an accident.”

Tsering Dorjee, a 44-year-old Tibetan man from India, was killed in a fatal hit-and-run crash on Monday around 6 PM in the 6400 block of N Maplewood Avenue in West Rogers Park and police are still looking for the driver, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Dorjee worked in the Cook County Clerk’s office and was the president of the Rogers Park Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s very distressing and very disappointing because, in our community, we have very few deaths but they are natural – sickness or old age,” [Lhakpa] Tsering said [president of the Tibetan Alliance of Chicago]. “This is the first time a hit-and-run has taken a life in our community.’”

The car was described as a dark blue Volkswagen Beetle with the Illinois license plate P121817. Police asked anyone with information to call 312-745-4521.

Dorjee’s brother-in-law, Dakpa Jorden, 46, “was also injured in the collision and suffered a fractured neck and leg”, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

* The information is only accurate as of this post’s publishing time. View previous Fatality Tracker posts.

Could CDOT’s “Zero in Ten” strategy also work for homicide prevention?

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Mural at Drake Avenue and Bloomingdale Avenue in West Logan Square.

[This piece also appeared in Checkerboard City, John’s weekly transportation column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets in print on Thursdays.]

Each morning Steven and I scan the dailies for sad stories of local pedestrian, bike and transit deaths to adapt for “Fatality Tracker” posts on Grid Chicago, in order to raise awareness of the need for safer streets. And almost every time I look at the papers I also see tragic news about the latest murders, averaging more than one killing per day.

This year the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) put out two planning documents with the stated goal of eliminating all traffic deaths and crashes within the next ten years. I applaud this bold approach, and I can’t help but wonder out loud if “Zero in Ten” could be successfully applied to our city’s homicide crisis as well.

Continue reading Could CDOT’s “Zero in Ten” strategy also work for homicide prevention?

Eyes on the street: No pedestrian access at intersections

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At the southeast corner of Madison and Green Streets. Fortunately, only 1 corner was impassable. The same isn’t true for some of the other intersections under construction. 

Does your neighborhood look like this?

Across the northwest side, including Logan Square, Avondale and West Loop, many intersections and alleys are having their curb cuts rebuilt to be compliant with transportation standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). At all of the construction sites I’ve passed by, none have alternate access or signage for pedestrians, forcing people’s paths to divert into the street and into traffic.

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At the southeast corner of Diversey and Kedzie Avenues. This corner was completely non-barricaded at the time of the photo. 

Continue reading Eyes on the street: No pedestrian access at intersections

Fatality Tracker: Man skateboarding to his car involved in hit-and-run crash a week ago has died

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A memorial for Reggie outside Café Con Leche. 

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 22 (10 have been hit-and-run crashes) (the Illinois Safety Data Mart reports 30 pedestrian fatalities today)
Pedalcyclist: 5 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)
Transit: 8 (our last update listed 7)
Skateboard: 1 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)

Reginald “Reggie” Destin died today from injuries he sustained in a crash on October 19 while skateboarding to his car in the 1700 block of North Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park. He was hit by an unlicensed and uninsured driver whose blood alcohol level was 0.188 with a previous DUI; the driver didn’t stay but was quickly caught by police. The Chicago Sun-Times has an obituary:

Destin was well known in the Chicago skating community and often frequented the skateboard shop Uprise, which is a block from the accident. He had jobs working for popular skateboard companies and owned a skateboarding shop called Push near Chicago and State in the late 1990s, Fonseca said.

Grid Chicago apologizes on behalf of the Chicago Sun-Times for their inaccurate use of the word “accident”.

We are classifying this as a skateboarding crash type, even though the Illinois Department of Transportation data will likely classify it as a pedestrian crash as skateboards are not recognized as vehicles or devices (like pedalcycles). Skateboarding is sustainable transportation; if you don’t believe me go to Destin’s crash location on a warm weather day to see people skateboarding to their destinations.

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A skateboarder in Chicago, at Milwaukee Avenue and Division Street – I don’t know his name. 

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Skateboarding is transportation. A happy skateboarder at Milwaukee and California Avenues – I don’t know his name either. 

* The information is only accurate as of this post’s publishing time. View previous Fatality Tracker posts.

CTA getting neighborhoods ready for Jeffery Jump

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A Jeffery Jump station at 67th Street, just south of Jackson Park and where the bus route transitions to Lake Shore Drive. Rendering by the CTA. 

I visited several south side infrastructure projects yesterday, including the 31st Street cycle track (after a week, only two blocks striped) and South Chicago Avenue buffered bike lanes. I also caught some of the new features being built as part of the Chicago Transit Authority’s J14 Jeffery Jump bus service (what is currently the 14/Jeffery Express) that starts in November.

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The buses will have dedicated bus lanes from 67th Street to 83rd Street (north of 67th Street the route runs on Lake Shore Drive). New, very wide, lanes were striped recently, as seen here at 72nd Street in South Shore. The lanes are dedicated only in the peak direction, northbound from 7-9 AM and southbound from 4-6 PM. South of 83rd Street there are other improvements (triggering traffic signal to turn green sooner or stay green longer) and queue jumping) to give buses priority and realize 6 minutes travel time savings in the enhanced parts of the route.

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The J14 bus stops, every half mile instead of the 15/Jeffery Local’s 1/4 mile stop spacing, feature a blue strip along the curb (for about the length of the bus) to identify this as a Jeffery Jump station. Get more information about Jeffery Jump on the CTA’s website, or write your question in the comments below. Scroll down to see some graphic renderings of the proposed station design.

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The CTA advertises the Jeffery Jump service in a bus stop on the 30/South Chicago route, at the six-way intersection of 83rd Street, South Chicago Avenue, and Jeffery Boulevard. 

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Looking north along Jeffery Boulevard from 71st Street. The train tracks in the foreground belong to the Metra Electric South Chicago branch. Rendering by CTA. 

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This eye-level view shows a Jeffery Jump station at 71st Street. Rendering by CTA.