Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about CDOT

CDOT Will Add Bike Lanes to Harrison, Improve Jog at State

By Steven Vance | Jun 20, 2014 | 5 Comments

Harrison Street is often used by many bicyclists as a stealth route, particularly since it has one of the rare bridges without open metal grates, sees surprisingly light car traffic, and is the only east-west route that connects the South Loop and UIC. Harrison is marked as a “crosstown bike route” from Loomis Avenue (1400 […]

Central Loop Busway Will Reorganize, Expand Downtown Bike Lanes

By Steven Vance | Jun 12, 2014 | 24 Comments

Bicycle routes through the Loop suffer from “poor connectivity,” admits Mike Amsden, assistant director of transportation planning at the Chicago Department of Transportation. At yesterday’s Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Council meeting, Amsden revealed details about how the Central Loop BRT project will improve the situation by spring of 2015. The Central Loop BRT project, Amsden said, will “move people […]

Construction Cycle: CDOT Has a Lot on Its Plate This Summer

By John Greenfield | Jun 11, 2014 | 2 Comments

[This piece also ran in Checkerboard City, John’s column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.] If 2013 was Chicago’s Long, Hot Summer of Transportation, then 2014 is the Summer of the Big Projects. Last year featured well-publicized game changers like the South Red Line rehab and the Divvy bike-share launch, but […]

Eyes on the Street: Cut Off Green St. To Cut Milwaukee Ave. Bike Conflicts

By Steven Vance | Jun 9, 2014 | 10 Comments

Chicago has long blocked cut-through car traffic on lightly traveled residential streets with hundreds of cul-de-sacs sprinkled throughout the city. The same traffic diversion tactics could also improve safety for bicyclists at dangerous intersections by simplifying movements and removing potential conflict points. One example is Green Street, where it intersects Milwaukee Avenue’s buffered bike lane. A traffic […]

Want to Measure Bike Ridership? Count People, Not Miles of Bike Lanes

By Steven Vance | Jun 2, 2014 | 10 Comments

National Bike Month in May results in an inevitable flurry of national press articles trumpeting bike commuting. The headlines can get pretty repetitive: “Top 10 Cities for Bicycling,” “Bike To Work Rate Grows,” “City Adds 10 More Miles of Bike Lanes.” Yet even though these articles might seem promising, there’s precious little understanding about what […]

Eyes on the Street: CDOT Restores Removed Crosswalk to Millennium Park

By Steven Vance | May 13, 2014 | 16 Comments

During the Daley administration, many marked crosswalks at busy downtown intersections disappeared in an attempt to speed up auto traffic. These missing crosswalks confused pedestrians, led to overcrowding at remaining crossings, and often doubled the time it took to get from one corner to the other. Previous transportation commissioner Gabe Klein restored the most high-profile […]

Tell IDOT to Rehab LSD as a Complete Street, Not a Speedway

By Jessica Papanek | Apr 14, 2014 | 72 Comments

On Thursday, the Illinois Department of Transportation kicked off the feedback process for the the North Lake Shore Drive rehabilitation’s future alternatives analysis, at the third meeting of the project’s task forces. During the previous two meetings, it seemed like IDOT would insist upon just another highway project, with minimal benefits for pedestrians, transit users […]

Elston Has a Speeding Problem — A Safe Bike Lane Can Help

By Steven Vance | Apr 8, 2014 | 43 Comments

To reach Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s goal of having five percent of trips under five miles made by bike, bicycling will have to appeal to a much broader base of people than it does today. CDOT’s bikeway projects will only succeed at that goal if new cyclists feel safe and comfortable while riding in these lanes — which, […]

Chicago Building Four Miles of Protected Bike Lanes This Year

By Steven Vance | Apr 7, 2014 | 13 Comments

The City of Chicago announced a new slate of bikeway projects today, outlining about 15 miles of new buffered bike lanes and a little more than four miles of protected lanes to be built in 2014. Under the plan for this year, protected bikeway construction in Chicago would continue to outpace every other American city except […]

CDOT Forgets to Accommodate Cyclists During Bloomingdale Construction

By Steven Vance | Mar 14, 2014 | 22 Comments

Bloomingdale Trail construction charges ahead, with bridge work that involves closing Milwaukee at the viaduct, tonight at 8 p.m. through early Monday morning. Cars, trucks and buses will detour around the construction via North and Western, and pedestrians are advised to take a shorter detour via Oakley, Wilmot, and Leavitt Street to reach Wilmot. Winnebago, which […]

To Smooth Out the Blue Line Rehab, Divert Cars From Milwaukee

By Steven Vance | Feb 24, 2014 | 14 Comments

As the Chicago Transit Authority prepares to fix up Blue Line tracks, the agency is warning riders that they’ll face significant delays during the weekends when work is underway. But tens of thousands of transit riders would face less inconvenience if the city cleared some room on Milwaukee Avenue by diverting motor vehicle traffic. The […]

City Focuses on Communication, Not Citations, to Remove Snow

By Steven Vance | Feb 18, 2014 | 24 Comments

A huge complaint during this #Chiberia season has been the lack of snow removal from sidewalks. The problem is nothing new, but complaints are rising along with the frequency of the snowfall — it is the fifth snowiest winter, after all. The issue was discussed at February’s Mayor’s Pedestrian Advisory Council, and last week CDOT […]

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