Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about public meeting

North Branch Trail Extension Inches Forward, Including Edgebrook Sidepath

By Steven Vance | Aug 26, 2014 | 10 Comments

The Forest Preserve District of Cook County is proceeding with plans to extend its popular North Branch Trail three miles further into the city limits, via a sidepath along Central Avenue. The extension has been planned since 1995, and has been shown as a dotted line on the Chicago bike map for several years. Some neighbors, […]

Local Architects Envision “Meeting Place” At Empty Logan Square Plaza

By Steven Vance | Aug 19, 2014 | 7 Comments

This past Sunday, the usually forlorn bus transfer plaza above the Logan Square Blue Line station suddenly looked very different. Architects Krista Petkovsek and Kara Boyd had scrounged nearby alleys, rounded up a couple dozen used chairs, painted them orange, and scattered them around the plaza to spark a conversation about how to enliven the empty space, […]

Pedestrian Fatality Tracker: More Deaths This Year Than Last

By Steven Vance | Aug 15, 2014 | 24 Comments

More people were killed while walking in Chicago in the first seven months of this year, compared to the same time period last year. Chicago transportation commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld pointed out to the Mayor’s Pedestrian Advisory Council last week that “this is the first increase since 2009.” 21 people on foot died in car crashes […]

Transit-Oriented Development Around Metra Isn’t Always About “Density”

By Steven Vance | Mar 21, 2014 | 24 Comments

The Chicago Department of Planning and Development wants to dispel the notion that “transit-oriented development” only means high-rises. The agency will host two public meetings to gather ideas from residents who live near the city’s 77 Metra stations on the kinds of development and station changes they’d like to see in their neighborhoods. The meetings are part […]

Mayor’s Pedestrian Advisory Council Should Be More Than an Info Session

By Daniel Ronan | Feb 11, 2014 | 7 Comments

I recently moved to the Windy City from Portland, Oregon, where I had served as a member of the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee at the state level for bike and pedestrian issues. So I came into last Wednesday’s meeting of the Mayor’s Pedestrian Advisory Council excited to hear the breadth and depth of pedestrian advocacy […]

Sprawl Continues With Illiana’s Inclusion In The Regional Plan

By Steven Vance | Oct 17, 2013 | 12 Comments

The Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Committee, part of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s governance, poked a billion dollars worth of holes – the estimated amount of public subsidy ranges between $400 million to over $1 billion – in the GO TO 2040 regional plan today by voting to list the Illiana Tollway as a […]

CMAP Board, Voting Down Illiana, Tells How IDOT Is Witholding Funds

By Steven Vance | Oct 10, 2013 | 12 Comments

After discussion that was heated at times, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning board voted ten to four yesterday against including the Illiana Tollway as a fiscally constrained project in the GO TO 2040 regional plan. This advisory vote precedes the MPO policy committee’s deciding vote, which was supposed to take place yesterday, but was pushed […]

CDOT Developing Divvy Relocation Procedures

By Steven Vance | Sep 13, 2013 | 11 Comments

Divvy bike-share continues to expand, Assistant Transportation Commissioner Sean Wiedel said at the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Council on Wednesday, and should reach 300 stations by the end of September. As of today there are 222 stations. Wiedel reported that over 7,700 annual members and numerous 24-hour pass users have made almost 325,000 trips and pedaled […]

Mix of Protected and Buffered Bike Lanes Slated for Busy Broadway

By Steven Vance | Aug 1, 2013 | 48 Comments

The Chicago Department of Transportation will redesign Broadway between Montrose and Foster, a mile-long stretch that’s currently a very car-centric four- to five-lane road. The street is so inhospitable that one resident at a public meeting Wednesday night said she doesn’t drive, walk, or bike on it. The agency failed to make a “complete street” […]

North Lake Shore Drive Will Get Rebuilt, But Will It Be a Great Street?

By Steven Vance | Jul 25, 2013 | 114 Comments

The north portion of Lake Shore Drive, from Grand Avenue to its northern terminus at Hollywood Avenue, will be rebuilt in the next five years. It’s a major transportation project and a huge opportunity for Chicago, but will we make the most of it? A coalition of 15 national and regional organizations presented their vision […]

Tuesday: Can’t-Miss Public Meeting on First-Ever State Bike Plan

By Steven Vance | Jul 5, 2013 | No Comments

Next Tuesday, July 9, the Illinois Department of Transportation and its consultant, Alta Planning + Design, will host the first two public meetings to start crafting the first-ever state bike transportation plan. This is not a “bikes as recreation” plan. Judging by the Illinois Bike Transportation Plan website, it looks like the plan is going to be […]

IDOT Presents Final Plans for Circle Interchange

By Steven Vance | Jul 2, 2013 | 41 Comments

The Illinois Department of Transportation showed final plans for the Circle Interchange expansion last Thursday at the last public meeting about the project. You now have a week and a half to tell IDOT your thoughts on the record before the public comment period ends July 12 (see how below). Since the last public meeting, IDOT has […]

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