Transportation – Page 10

CDOT fast to build new bikeways, but needs to rectify existing ones

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A properly installed sharrow, 11 feet from the curb.

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An improperly installed sharrow, 9 feet from the curb, that hasn’t been rectified in over a year.

A year ago I notified the Chicago Department of Transportation about some mistakes that were made in the installation of new bikeways. They replied October 25, 2011, with a description on how but not when they would be fixed. A year has passed and the fixes aren’t in. The first issue is “shared lane markings” (better known as “sharrows”) that were installed too close to parked cars after a construction project. The second issue is the case of bike lane signs far from any bike lane. Additionally, there are new (but longstanding) issues that are in need of resolution.

Sharrows too close

In the 2011 Chicago Bike Map, printed by CDOT, “marked shared lanes” are “usually established on streets with lots of traffic that are too narrow for bike lanes”. They consist of “special pavement markings [to] direct bicyclists to ride outside the ‘Door Zone'”. (The 2012 Chicago Bike Map omits these statements but they remain on the city’s bike map website and are printed in the federal manual of traffic control, MUTCD.) Continue reading CDOT fast to build new bikeways, but needs to rectify existing ones

Unique sharrow designs in Chicago

Officially known as “shared lane markings”, there are at least six unique designs for the marking on Chicago streets. The current standard, as set forth by the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), looks like this:

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A sharrow design installed by CDOT’s contractors on Milwaukee Avenue across from Uprise skate shop as part of a refreshing of the sharrows in the 1st Ward. You can see the dimension of the design it replaced. The current sharrow has a “pointer” and narrower chevron; the chevron tips are aligned differently, too. Installed in 2012.

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A second sharrow design, installed after water main construction on Milwaukee Avenue near Metzger Court and the Tocco restaurant. Notice how parts of it are tearing off. Installed in 2011.

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A third sharrow design on Milwaukee Avenue across from the Aldi at Leavitt Street. Installed 2005.

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A fourth sharrow design, on Clark Street just north of the Chicago River. Installed 2012.

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A fifth sharrow design (“bike in house”) on Halsted Street just south of the Chicago River. Installed in 2003 or prior.

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Then there’s the inverted sharrow, the sixth design. This location, at Elston Avenue and Webster Avenue, was installed after 2005 when the bike lane here was shortened to accommodate a left-turn lane. This is an older design but when Lincoln Avenue’s sharrows were refreshed in 2011, the design was repeated instead of switching to the current and proper design standard.

Eyes on the street: Railroad tracks in intersection being removed

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Crossing railroad tracks while bicycling is more than a bumpy annoyance. It can also cause a crash. The abandoned railroad track is finally being removed this month from the intersection of Division Street and Halsted Street. This is likely part of the larger project that removed the Kingsbury Street railroad track from Division Street to North Avenue this summer.

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Also new at this intersection is a new street name sign. It uses a different typeface, with larger text, but forgoes the grid numbering system (it would have “800 W” written on the sign).

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What the intersection looked like earlier this year in March.

Beers Across Wisconsin: Drinking and Biking from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan

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Potosi Brewing Company. All photos by Dave Schlabowske.

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

The Badger State is where I go when I want to get away from my daily grind in Chicago and leave my troubles behind. So when my old friend Dave Schlabowske recently invited me to join him on a trans-Wisconsin bike trek, I jumped at the chance.

Dave, a Milwaukeean whose brother Dean plays guitar in Chicago’s Waco Brothers, works as the director of communications for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin. He wanted to scout out the Badger Brewing Trail, a bike route from the Mississippi River to the Lake Michigan linking several rails-to-trails bike paths and a number of breweries, part of a network of intrastate paths the bike federation hopes to implement by 2020. I’ve posted the route here.

In October, Dave rode Amtrak to Chicago to photograph our new protected bike lanes in hopes of importing the concept to Wisconsin. Early the next morning we catch a Trailways bus from the CTA Blue Line’s Cumberland stop with our boxed touring bikes to Dubuque, Iowa. After stopping at a greasy spoon to scarf down pork tenderloin sandwiches, the indigenous cuisine, we mount our steeds, cross the Mississippi back into Illinois and pedal north along the river into Wisconsin.

Continue reading Beers Across Wisconsin: Drinking and Biking from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan

Grid Shots: Great public spaces

Public spaces are not necessarily where transportation occurs. But sometimes transportation creates public spaces.

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A crowded ‘L’ car. Photo by Mike Travis.

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Relaxing on a temporary lawn during this year’s Open Streets on State Street event. Photo by Jane Healy.

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The wide, well-lit sidewalk under the Palmer House Hilton’s overhang. Photo by John Iwanski.

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Taking the scenic route through Lincoln Park in October. Photo by Michelle Stenzel.

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Daley Plaza, surrounded by Clark, Dearborn, Randolph, and Washington Streets, is the location for many a gathering, protest, and market. Here is Critical Mass prior to departure in September 2012. Photo by Dubi Kaufmann.

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Ping Tom Park in Chinatown provides some views of the Orange Line viaduct and this moveable steel bridge across which Amtrak trains travel. Photo by Adam Herstein.

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Enjoy this path on Northerly Island while it lasts. The path will be reconfigured and “shortened” in the next few years as the “island” is transformed. A campground and lagoon are slated to be built. Photo by Michelle Stenzel.

Add your photos to our Flickr group for consideration for future Grid Shots posts. View past Grid Shots post. See what themes are coming soon.

Fatality Tracker: Man hit and killed by Metra train at Irving Park station

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A Metra train at the Irving Park station in 2010. Photo by Eric Pancer.

2012 Chicago fatality stats*:

Pedestrian: 27 (12 have been hit-and-run crashes)
Pedalcyclist: 6 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)
Transit: 9
Skateboard: 1 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)

Richard Garza, 56, of Wilmette, Illinois, was hit by a Metra train on the UP-Northwest route at the Irving Park station (3931 N Avondale Avenue) on Friday, November 23. The three tracks are on an embankment and viaduct, and there is no pedestrian crossing. Assuming the train was on time, this happened at approximately 18:17.

To augment the Fatality Tracker posts, I am develop an online spreadsheet so that key research data can be accessed. View it here; keep in mind that not all persons are yet included.

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