Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Broadway Goes Bikeway


A reader says, "Yowza, It's finally happening. Bike Lanes on Broadway from Montrose to at least Leland (maybe farther)."  This is the project that was due to start last November, but was delayed because of the early onset of cold weather.  (Plasticized paint doesn't stick well to pavement when it's under 50 degrees.  Oh, if only we'd known then the kind of winter we'd be having!)

You can read more about this project, with layouts of what it should look like, here.  It was voted on by residents as one of the participatory budgeting projects.

17 comments:

  1. This is going to be horrible when there are two concerts going on at the same time. I really don't like the design either. There's a ton of wasted space. They should have put in angled parking to soak up the wasted space. That would have actually allowed for more people to visit our local businesses. Another side effect, about half of traffic is simply ignoring the new lines. I truly don't feel like this is good for the neighborhood.

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  2. Good news
    Rather odd and certainly poor planning, however, to think that it wouldn't be below 50 degrees in December when historical averages show mid 30s

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  3. I love the idea of a buffered lane for bikers near the sidewalk. I have a condo in uptown but now live in Paris France. In the last decade they turned the majority of large streets into this configuration and it works well. I like that Chicago is making a more inviting climate for bikes and I hope DIVY helps create more ridership. Those bikes are great for bridging transit gaps, especially if you have a long walk from your home to a train station.

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  4. So this means the bikes will start following the rules like stopping at intersections now??

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  5. Interested to see how this all works during snow plow season. How is that bike lane going to be cleared of snow if cars are parked away from the curb? This whole plan might be a little short sighted since its nearly impossible to bike for 4-5 months out of the year.

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  6. This just proves that regardless of the input from the neighborhood, the city/alderman is going to do whatever they want. This was not something that was supported by the majority of the residents.

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    1. What in the hell are you talking about? This was the neighborhood's idea during participatory budgeting. Want to blame someone? Blame the neighborhood. Or blame yourself for not being involved.
      http://www.uptownupdate.com/2013/05/46th-ward-pb-voting-results.html

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    2. Bike lanes came in 5th place out of 6 options- I wouldn't say that is a majority vote. Don't blame me, I was involved! If I recall correctly, prior to the voting there was no mention of reducing the driving lanes on Broadway in order to facilitate biking? Was the community given a chance to vote on how to restructure Broadway to include the bike lanes? No. There are other ways to have bikers and cars share the streets, this solution just wasn't a good one. This was not a good way to integrate a bike lane on this street. But why are we even discussing this because the most of the bikers I encounter don't follow the rules anyway.

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  7. This is a terrible plan. Reducing major streets down from two lanes each direction to one is going to cause major gridlock. Broadway reduced to 1 lane each direction, Lawrence being reduced to one lane each direction, the proposal to reduce Ashland to one lane each direction and have dedicated bus lanes and stops in the middle of the road. Basically, the city is saying "no" to drivers and yes to alternate forms of transportation ("L", buses, bikes). If the city wants bicyclist to be safer, how about the police start enforcing the laws of the road on the bicyclists. Bicyclists think that they don't need to stop and stop signs or red lights. The bicyclists turn in front of you cutting you off then flip you off acting like you are in the wrong. When I ride my bike I follow the rules of the road so that I don't end up splattered on the road.

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  8. I don't have a bike, and need to drive to my job in the burbs every day, but this is wonderful news! The loss of some lane capacity will be more than made up for by having a more livable city.

    The bike lanes on the outside is the way to go. It's dramatically safer for bikers, reducing the threat of being doored and crushed to merely being doored. It's a shame this isn't a protected bike lane, which would keep cars in their lanes and prevent the idiotic parking pictured above.

    I was starting to wonder if the ward voting was going to yield results, so kudos to the aldermen for forging ahead!

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  9. I can't tell if I'm excited for this or just happy that it's the first time I recall being able to visibly discern any lines on the pavement! In any case it's clear people have no idea what this configuration is - the repainted Broadway corridor yesterday was full of cars parked in the street lanes and bike lanes. I'm sure the city will waste no time in sharing a learning curve with parkers with the assistance of orange envelopes and revenue collection!

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  10. The no left turn onto Leland going north from Broadway now forces locals into the often congested and dangerous Lawrence or Wilson.

    If this is really going to be no left turn, then the diagonal traffic diverter proposed for Beacon and Leland is no an even worse idea...


    I drove south on Broadway during the AM rush and waited three light cycles to get through Broadway and Montrose. Might be a result of the road resurfacing, but I never waited more than one in my 6 years living in Uptown.

    I will get used to it like everyone else...and no, I did not vote in participatory budgeting. I voted in the election, and while I appreciate very much Alderman Cappleman's attempts to get community input, the low numbers from participatory budgeting should have been a good indication that the results do not necessarily reflect the desires of the community at large.

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  11. Biking on Broadway is bad right now. But putting a bike lane between cars and the curb is a BAD IDEA anywhere, making what amounts to wider sidewalks. So this won't make a difference but will cost money? Sounds about right!

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  12. On the north bus ride home tonight, I saw a few cars actually parked in the bike lanes and cars ignoring the turn lanes at the intersection of Broadway/Leland. This is gonna be interesting.

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    1. Yeah, because for a block it's done one way, then if flips the next block. It's entirely inconsistent.

      You can't turn left on Leland anymore heading northbound. The cars are stacked back all the way to the Riv so you gotta wait for the light. That now means you stack cars all the way back to wilson if you try.

      Couple that with the fact that drivers STILL are completely ignoring the lines in many cases means this is a disaster for bicyclists safety. I've actually yet to see a single bicyclist though so maybe this stupid idea will not have any effect on the completely absent bicyclist population.

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  13. This is the dumbest thing ever, but oh Wait the alderman only carries about his ideas and what is good for himself. He rides a bike, so this sounded like a great idea so lets reduce traffic.

    Oh wait now it is one lane for all of broadway in Uptown, can we say this is retail suicide? I for one will now head to LSD and travel north past any store on Broadway. Is he trying to make Uptown another Wicker Park? It isn't going to happen, Wicker Park is Wicker Park for a reason.

    But then again Capelman hasn't brought any real business to Uptown, who has only helped bring What? Oh yeah nothing?

    This is on him and from what I understand people said this was by far the least of our priorities, but then again he always takes the path of least resistance

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