Category: News

Recap: New bike lanes and NATO closures, plus upcoming Bloomingdale Trail and bike plan meetings

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A view down the North Side Main Line ‘L’ tracks by Drew Baker. 

This is a recap of the 12 articles posted in the last 5 days, as well as a look at the calendar ahead.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Thursday, May 10

Friday, May 11

Saturday, May 12

Sunday, May 13

Monday, May 14

Calendar

Tonight is a meeting about Bloomingdale Trail access parks and is the first meeting following yesterday’s release of the Framework Plan. “We are particularly interested in your feedback about access parks. After a short presentation, we’ll break into small groups to discuss the following access parks, and how ramps and other amenities will be designed.”

Tuesday, May 15, 2012
6 to 8 PM
Humboldt Park Fieldhouse, 1440 N Humboldt Drive, Chicago, IL

Wednesday night is the Ride of Silence to “honor fallen cyclists and raise awareness in this annual procession past Chicago Ghost Bikes”.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012
6 to 8 PM
Gather at 6 PM, Depart at 7 PM
Eternal Flame in Daley Plaza

Next Tuesday is the public revealing of the draft network of the Streets for Cycling Plan 2020. There are three more meetings and two webinars.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012
4 to PM
Copernicus Center, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave, Chicago, IL
Presentation with Q&A at 1630 and 1830.

Elston Avenue bike lane returns in upgraded form

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Riding in the cycle track southbound towards the Magnolia Avenue “Y”. 

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Riding in the cycle track southbound next to Elston Materials’s property. The parking space and wide area in this photo are for a tanker truck as seen in this photo. 

After seven months without them because of neighbor and weather delays, pavement markings make their return today to Elston Avenue between North Avenue and Magnolia Avenue. The difference now is that buffered bike lanes and a cycle track replace last year’s conventional bike lane. The full project limits are North Avenue to Milwaukee Avenue, a distance of 1 mile. The enhanced bikeway should definitely bring cyclists back to Elston Avenue, after what I perceived was a period of avoidance. A cycle track at the “Y” intersection of Elston and Magnolia Avenues should reduce the incidence of high-speed, northbound passes.

At 12:42 PM today, only sections between North Avenue and Magnolia Avenue had been striped.  Continue reading Elston Avenue bike lane returns in upgraded form

Summary of transportation and transit changes because of NATO summit

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The Lakefront Trail will be closed from Balbo Drive to 31st Street. 

The upcoming NATO summit will greatly alter how people travel in the Loop, South Loop, Museum Campus, and Bronzeville areas May 19, 20, and 21 (Saturday to Monday). Travel on the Kennedy, Dan Ryan, and Stevenson Expressways will be affected. Transit agencies and other news sources have posted all the relevant information, linked on this page. If you are traveling to these areas, or normally travel through these areas, spend time reviewing the below webpages. This post will be updated as information changes.

How will these changes affect you? Continue reading Summary of transportation and transit changes because of NATO summit

CDOT’s Gabe Klein announces viaduct repaving project

At a press conference in Englewood Friday, CDOT Commissioner Gabe Klein announced a $4.1 million project to repave roads under 14 viaducts in 13 different wards across the city (average cost $250,000 per viaduct).

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He explained that seeking federal funding for this project would free up more locally generated funding for neighborhood street repair and repaving projects.  The entire project is federally funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

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Crews are doing complete road reconstruction on approximately 4,500 linear feet of roadway at the following locations (see map below): Continue reading CDOT’s Gabe Klein announces viaduct repaving project

Jose Lopez offers the PRCC’s perspective on the Paseo bike lanes

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Jose Lopez speaks at the opening of West Town Bikes / Ciclo Urbano in 2009. Photo by Vanessa Roanhorse.

Today I contacted Jose Lopez, longtime director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) for his perspective on the new bike lanes on Division Street along Humboldt Park’s Paseo Boricua business district. He had read yesterday’s post on the subject, and he feels it’s not quite accurate to say that his organization objected to the lanes when the Chicago Department of Transportation first proposed them in 2003.

Continue reading Jose Lopez offers the PRCC’s perspective on the Paseo bike lanes

Bike facilities don’t have to be “the white lanes of gentrification”

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The new buffered bike lanes, still under construction, in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood.

[Update: on Friday 5/11 The Puerto Rican Cultural Center’s Jose Lopez provided his organization’s perspective on the Paseo Boricua bike lanes. Click here to read Lopez’s comments.]

Bicycling doesn’t discriminate. It’s good for people of all ethnicities and income levels because it’s a cheap, convenient, healthy way to get around, and a positive activity for youth and families. So it’s a shame that cycling, especially for transportation, is often seen as something that only privileged white people would want to do. And it’s unfortunate when proposals to add bike facilities in low-income communities of color, which would be beneficial to the people who live there, are viewed as something forced on the community by outsiders.

Continue reading Bike facilities don’t have to be “the white lanes of gentrification”