Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about CDOT

CDOT Will Create a Multi-Modal Transportation Plan for Altgeld Gardens Area

By Steven Vance | Oct 23, 2015 | 2 Comments

Residents in the Riverdale community area, which includes the Altgeld Gardens, Eden Green, Golden Gate, and Riverdale neighborhoods, are surrounded by barriers that make it hard to travel within and beyond the area. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning recently awarded the Chicago Department of Transportation a Local Technical Assistance grant to create a multi-modal transportation plan for […]

Eyes on the Street: Roosevelt Bike Lane and Bus Shelters Nearly Complete

By Steven Vance | Oct 5, 2015 | 9 Comments

The Chicago Department of Transportation may soon be cutting the ribbon on the Roosevelt Road streetscape and raised bikeway project. The initiative involved widening the sidewalk along Roosevelt between State Street and Michigan Avenue to make room for the two-way bike lane, which replaced conventional bike lanes on the same block of Roosevelt. The new […]

“Divvy for Everyone” Aims to Boost Ridership in Low-Income Areas

By John Greenfield | Jun 10, 2015 | 16 Comments

Divvy bike-share has been a resounding success on many fronts, with 476 docking stations installed and more than four million trips taken since the system launched two years ago. However, like most bike-share networks across the country, there’s plenty of room for improvement when it comes to access and ridership in low-income communities. Thanks to […]

Ex-Chicago Bike Czar Ben Gomberg Is Taking Off to the Great White North

By John Greenfield | Apr 30, 2015 | 9 Comments

Tomorrow, former Chicago bicycle program coordinator Ben Gomberg will cross the border and return to his homeland of Canada for good. On Monday, he starts a new job as active transportation manager for the Toronto suburb of Mississauga. Perhaps you’ve never heard of the town, but with 713,443 residents, it’s Canada’s sixth-largest municipality by population, […]

What’s Going on With Alderman Reilly and the Kinzie Protected Bike Lanes

By Steven Vance | Apr 17, 2015 | 14 Comments

Alderman Brendan Reilly submitted an order to city council on Wednesday that would compel Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld to remove the Kinzie Street protected bike lane between Dearborn and the Chicago River because he says it conflicts with Wolf Point construction truck traffic. @LisaC1203 @activetrans That is correct, it’s a temporary relocation during construction […]

CDOT Puts Belmont on a Confusing, Dangerous “Binge Diet” At Western

By Steven Vance | Jan 5, 2015 | 30 Comments

Bicycling up and over the Chicago River on Belmont, from Avondale to Roscoe Village, will soon be more comfortable once the Chicago Department of Transportation gives the street a “road diet” and replaces car travel lanes with new buffered bike lanes. Bicyclists shouldn’t get too comfortable, though: Once they’ve crested the bridge eastbound, they’ll be […]

Yellow Journalism: Tribune Panics Over “Risky” Stoplight Timing

By Steven Vance and Payton Chung | Dec 23, 2014 | 35 Comments

Day in and day out for at least 30 years (and perhaps for almost a century), over 3,000 stoplights all across Chicago have whirred through tens of millions of cycles the exact same way: green, then yellow for three seconds, then red. Yet today, this three second cycle was suddenly declared a public safety emergency, […]

Why the Tribune’s Red Light Camera Story Is Garbage Journalism

By Steven Vance and Payton Chung | Dec 22, 2014 | 48 Comments

In a huge front-page story Friday, the Chicago Tribune published yet another installment in its long-running vendetta against the city’s photographic traffic enforcement program. Because the Trib chose to obscure key information about the severity of crashes, the story is worthless as an evaluation of the city’s red light camera program. The article lavishes attention […]

Eyes on the Street: A Cycle Track Rises Along Roosevelt In South Loop

By Justin Haugens | Nov 3, 2014 | 13 Comments

Next month, bicyclists of all ages will have a safe new way to get to the Museum Campus, Lakefront Trail, and Soldier Field from the South Loop once construction crews complete the city’s first raised cycle track. A two-way bike path along Roosevelt Road, between Wabash and Indiana avenues, is being built on the same […]

Road Diet Curbs Lawrence Avenue’s Dangerous Mile

By Steven Vance | Oct 27, 2014 | 20 Comments

The one mile of Lawrence Avenue between Ashland and Western avenues, through the Ravenswood neighborhood, went on a road diet this year. The diet slimmed Lawrence from four to two travel lanes, and used the extra space to create room for bike lanes, wider sidewalks, and extensive landscaping. The streetscape project right-sized this stretch of […]

Inspector General Issues a Reality Check on Trib’s Red Light Cam Spin

By John Greenfield | Oct 17, 2014 | 41 Comments

Last summer, the Chicago Tribune reported on the mysterious spikes in red light ticketing at dozens of cameras around the city. Recently, the paper discovered the city had started enforcing violations that took place after slightly shorter yellow phases. This resulted in tens of thousands of additional tickets. Given the track record of corruption in the […]

Eyes on the Street: Construction Pushes Walkers Into Fullerton Ave.

By Steven Vance | Sep 26, 2014 | 14 Comments

Pedestrians walking along Fullerton Avenue in Logan Square have been forced off the sidewalks, and into the street, by Bigane Paving’s curb ramp construction. Bigane has failed to provide the required detour for pedestrians, so pedestrians have to walk in the street amidst busy traffic. Worse yet, people who use wheelchairs aren’t able to use […]

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