Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Loop

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 […]

Will Blackline Buses Be a Threat or a Complement to the CTA?

By John Greenfield | May 12, 2014 | 107 Comments

A new bus company called Blackline will offer upscale, express commuter service that will compete with the CTA. It remains to be seen whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing for local transit. As reported in Crain’s Friday, Blackline will be running “luxury buses” between Belmont/Sheridan in Lakeview and three stops in the […]

City Council Takes a Step Backwards, Bans Pedicabs in Loop

By John Greenfield | Apr 30, 2014 | 44 Comments

At today’s City Council meeting, an ordinance regulating pedicabbers – and banning them from downtown streets – passed with almost no opposition. Operators say that the new rules will put them out of business, since they’ll be prohibited from operating in the Loop during rush hours, as well as Michigan and State, between Oak and […]

Summertime Means Seating, Parties in Loop’s Public Spaces

By John Greenfield | Apr 17, 2014 | 6 Comments

The Chicago Loop Alliance, one of downtown’s chambers of commerce, has announced details about its ambitious slate of summer placemaking campaigns. These include monthly “Activate” arts events held in alleys, the Gateway People Plaza on State Street, new amenities for Pritzker Park, and pop-up lunchtime seating throughout downtown. CLA expects to spend $135,000 on placemaking […]

Eyes on the Street: Windy City Limousine Blocks Downtown Bike Lanes

By Steven Vance | Apr 3, 2014 | 15 Comments

As if bicycling downtown, where there is little space to safely pedal, wasn’t hard enough, private limo bus company Windy City Limousine frequently blocks bike lanes on Franklin Street outside Walgreens and Orleans next to the Merchandise Mart. Brian Elmore bicycle commutes from Madison Street and Wacker Drive to Ukrainian Village by taking the bike […]

Loop Station Consolidation Will Offer Quicker Ride for Straphangers

By John Greenfield | Mar 26, 2014 | 50 Comments

Currently, the Green Line’s Morgan station, with its sleek green glass canopies, has my vote for the most attractive CTA stop. That’s about to change, as the Chicago Department of Transportation gets ready to build a new superstation at Washington and Wabash featuring dramatic undulating awnings, designed by Teng + Associates. The city says the […]

An Ex-Pedestrian Scramble: Jackson/State Markings Are Nearly Gone

By John Greenfield | Mar 11, 2014 | 16 Comments

Yesterday I looked at crosswalks that were installed in November at the Logan Square traffic circle and are already vanishing. This afternoon I dropped by the city’s only pedestrian scramble intersection, downtown at State and Jackson, where X-shaped crosswalks were striped last May and are now almost completely gone. While the Logan crosswalks were marked […]

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 […]

How Can Chicago Fix the “Weak Links” That Mar Bike Access Downtown?

By Steven Vance | Sep 18, 2013 | 41 Comments

Biking downtown has improved substantially with the addition of protected bike lanes on Kinzie Street and Dearborn Street, but much work remains to be done to create a safe, cohesive bike network linking people to Chicago’s biggest employment center. At last week’s meeting of the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Council, Michelle Stenzel, a community representative for the […]

Three Miles of Milwaukee Will Be Open for Car-Free Play This September

By John Greenfield | Jul 26, 2013 | 8 Comments

Although Chicago was one of the first U.S. cities to consider staging a ciclovía, a Latin-American-style event that creates temporary car-free street space in order to encourage healthy recreation, community interaction and commerce, we’re currently way behind peer cities. New York, Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco are each hosting several ciclovía events this […]

Checking in With Potential Divvy Member Mike Berman

By John Greenfield | Jun 28, 2013 | 11 Comments

I visited several Divvy bike-share docking stations on my way downtown from the Northwest Side this safternoon, but didn’t see much activity, save for Divvy staffers standing by to assist customers. At the State and Kinzie station, downstairs from the IBM Building, I saw a couple of men with bikes who had unsuccessfully tried to […]

Downtown Median Becomes Chicago’s First People Plaza

By Steven Vance | Jun 25, 2013 | 9 Comments

The Gateway, Chicago’s first “People Plaza” seating area, recently opened at what Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein described as an “under-acknowledged public space” in the median of State Street between Wacker Drive and Lake Street. The installation is funded by the Chicago Loop Alliance, one of the downtown chambers of commerce, via a Special Service Area, […]

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