West Town’s women’s programs take the machismo out of mechanics

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Fixing brakes at Women and Trans’ Night – all WATN photos courtesy of West Town Bikes

[This piece also appears in Newcity magazine.]

This city’s blessed with five nonprofit bike shops where locals can learn to ride safely and/or turn a wrench, spread across the city from Lakeside Velo Works in South Chicago to the Recyclery in Rogers Park. These centers strive to be inclusive, but when most of the other participants are guys, a female who’s new to cycling or mechanics might feel out of her element. Fortunately, West Town Bikes in Humboldt Park offers a couple of cool programs just for the ladies.

Continue reading West Town’s women’s programs take the machismo out of mechanics

Good news in the update about the Damen-Elston-Fullerton intersection design

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A close zoom on the newly created west intersections from the plan drawing. Renderings are courtesy of CDOT. 

Update April 10, 2013: Construction will begin in fall 2014 after the acquisition of several parcels, covered in an ordinance introduced to city council on April 10, 2013. 

Update January 25, 2012: Based on some comments, and on some emails from readers, neither the original and revised designs are very good. One reader said that the project designers are applying a set of standards to a problem instead of applying a solution. Part of the problem at this intersection is the traffic coming from a highway where the ramps are spaced too closely together, but is not within the project limits. I will be looking into these and other questions, like, How much will this project cost (including property acquisition)? and Who will pay for it?

The much despised Damen-Elston-Fullerton intersection is being redesigned by the Chicago Department of Transportation. They hosted an open house in April 2011 at the Bucktown Wicker Park library which I wrote about extensively on Steven Can Plan. I and others who attended were not satisfied with how the new design affected people who will bike through here. I published my comments in my article, left a brief comment with the stenographer at the open house, and emailed the project manager my extended comments. I asked Steven Can Plan readers to do the same. A few of them did!

CDOT received 41 comments, and is responding to all of them; 20 included comments about bike lanes and 3 people requested protected bike lanes.

What’s changing? Continue reading Good news in the update about the Damen-Elston-Fullerton intersection design

New CTA rail stations planned

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Rendering of the new LaSalle Mezzanine at Clark/Division. PDF with additional renderings.

Editor’s note: This post was written by Grid Chicago contributor and Network member Kevin Zolkiewicz. 

Rahm Emanuel joined top brass from the CTA and CDOT this morning to announce the completion of the Grand station on the Red Line (City of Chicago press release). That project had been ongoing for nearly five years and it’s nice to see it finally completed. But the big news today wasn’t Grand, but rather announcements of upcoming station work.

On the renovation front, Clark/Division will be the next Red Line subway stop to see a massive overhaul. That station opened in 1943 and hasn’t changed much since. The rehab of the station will involve the construction of a completely new mezzanine at LaSalle. Construction on that station will begin in March with completion scheduled by March 2015. Continue reading New CTA rail stations planned

Grounds for celebration: Chicago’s first bike & coffee shop is almost open

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Heritage Bicycles staff

It was a nice surprise when I checked e-mail Monday morning and saw an announcement for the grand opening party for Heritage Bicycles General Store, Chicago’s first bike shop café, on Saturday, January 28, 6-11 pm at 2959 N. Lincoln. I immediately called up owner Michael Salvatore to ask for a sneak peek at the nearly completed space.

When I checked out the storefront back in October, Salvatore told me he hoped to open the shop in November but, unsurprisingly, it’s taken a little longer than expected for this unique business to navigate the city’s permitting process. “The City of Chicago was quite the hurdle,” he said when I visited on Tuesday. “This has been a learning process for me, the architect and the entire crew, but it’s been a fun experience. And if we’d opened in November the Christmas rush would have killed us, so the timing turned out for the best.”

When I dropped by, city workers were poking around with flashlights inspecting the shop’s electrical work, and the space was still a work in progress. But it’s clear this will soon be one of the most attractive coffee shops, let alone bike stores, in town.

Continue reading Grounds for celebration: Chicago’s first bike & coffee shop is almost open

Insight into how CTA built Train Tracker by Text

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CTA passengers wait for trains in the Loop. Photo by Jim Watkins. 

Last week I excitedly announced the launch of the Chicago Transit Authority’s new system to get predicted arrival times for trains by text messaging (also known as SMS). I thought that the messaging syntax and the station codes were amusing but clever.

I emailed Tony Coppoletta, the CTA’s manager of external electronic communications manager, to ask about how the codes came to be, as well as upcoming Train Tracker features and the capabilities of SMS communications. Coppoletta directs how they reach their customers and partners with information about CTA services through digital means.  Continue reading Insight into how CTA built Train Tracker by Text

First of three Streets for Cycling Plan 2020 meetings is Wednesday

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Streets should be made safe for everyone. 

Come to the first meeting for the Streets for Cycling Plan 2020 at Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N Central Park Avenue, on Wednesday, January 18, at 6 PM (see it on Google Calendar).

I asked the plan leaders Mark de la Vergne of Sam Schwartz Engineering and Mike Amsden of the Chicago Department of Transportation what people can expect here, and how it will be different from the December 1, 2011, open house. Amsden replied:

The three public meetings will provide interested citizens an opportunity to learn more about the Streets for Cycling Plan 2020. The meetings will begin with a half-hour presentation describing the project steps, timeline and outcomes, as well as educational information on the different types of bikeways being considered for the 2020 bicycle network. After the presentation, there will be a brief Q & A session followed by a mapping activity similar to what was done at the Open House. Those in attendance will be able to share with CDOT what they like about bicycling in their neighborhoods and most importantly – what they’d like to see improved.

Continue reading First of three Streets for Cycling Plan 2020 meetings is Wednesday