Judging traffic congestion on Kinzie Street

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I created this video in response to comments I was reading on various blogs, newspaper websites, and EveryBlock, where people (claiming to be commuters who drive on or near Kinzie Street, or live near Kinzie Street) alleged that the protected bike lane was causing an increase in congestion or traffic backups. Read why these arguments are illogical and why considering it is obsolete.  Continue reading Judging traffic congestion on Kinzie Street

It’s official: Kinzie is ready to ride

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Silversmith and fur trader John Kinzie was one of Chicago’s first settlers, so it’s appropriate that a pioneering bicycle facility was built on his namesake street. Yesterday was the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Kinzie Street protected bike lane, the city’s first, which runs a half mile between Milwaukee Avenue and Wells Street.

Staffers from the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), downtown alderman Brendan Reilly’s office, the Active Transportation Alliance and SRAM, a local bike parts company, were there to celebrate. There were only a handful of civilian cyclists present, partly due to the 11 am start time. The city’s Bicycling Ambassadors and Junior Ambassadors were out in force and the freaky marching band Environmental Encroachment provided a spirited soundtrack.

With the fragrant Blommer Chocolate factory as a backdrop, CDOT Commissioner Gabe Klein, nattily dressed in a white suit, gave opening remarks. He stressed the importance of the new bike lane, which protects cyclists from moving traffic via flexible bollards and a line of parked cars, in encouraging more people to try urban cycling. “If you want to change people’s behavior and make if feel like it’s safe to walk and bike, you’ve got to make it safer,” he said.

Continue reading It’s official: Kinzie is ready to ride

Postal service making a mockery of Kinzie protected bike lane

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Photo by Seth Anderson.

This is an embarrassment. This protected bike lane was developed to provide people bicycling to and from downtown a safe passage, in which no vehicle should ever enter. The physical separation is apparently of no concern to postal workers, who don’t believe that the public will mind them putting cyclists in danger by forcing them to unnecessarily merge in and out of moving vehicular traffic. Continue reading Postal service making a mockery of Kinzie protected bike lane

Recap on the Kinzie Street protected bike lane

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Cyclists ride eastbound in the Kinzie Street protected bike lane. Photo by Joshua Koonce.

It’s been two weeks since the Bike To Work Week Rally symbolically marked the opening of the Kinzie Street protected bike lane. Construction continued into this week.

I contacted Brian Steele, public information officer at the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), to answer some outstanding questions. Continue reading Recap on the Kinzie Street protected bike lane