Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about San Francisco

The Looming Transit Breakdown That Threatens America’s Economy

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 16, 2015 | No Comments

While federal transit funding stagnates, the nation’s largest rail and bus systems have been delaying critical maintenance projects. Without sustained efforts to fix infrastructure and vehicles, the effects of deteriorating service in big American cities could ripple across the national economy, according to a new report from the Regional Plan Association [PDF]. RPA focuses on ten of the nation’s largest transit agencies […]

Great Bay Area Bike Infrastructure I’d Love to See in Chicago

By John Greenfield | Apr 22, 2015 | 4 Comments

[This piece also ran in Checkerboard City, John’s transportation column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.] When I first visited the Bay Area nearly two decades ago for the 1996 Cycle Messenger World Championships, San Francisco’s vibrant bike culture struck me as a vision of what I wanted cycling in Chicago […]

Talking Headways Podcast: Helmet Hair

By Tanya Snyder | Jun 24, 2014 | No Comments

Did you wear your helmet when you biked to work this morning? Whether you did or you didn’t, it’s up to you. So why are there so many people shrieking about it? On one side, the 85-percenters, overstating the protection helmets offer against head injuries. On the other side, the 3-footers, claiming that it’s actually […]

The Street Ballet of a Bike Lane Behind a Transit Stop

By Michael Andersen | Jun 12, 2014 | No Comments

Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets. Why don’t more cities escape the curse of bus-bike leap-frogging by putting bike lanes between transit platforms and sidewalks? Though “floating bus stops” and similar designs are being used in many cities, […]

“Closing” Lombard Street: The Language of Taking Cars For Granted

By Aaron Bialick | May 29, 2014 | No Comments

A peculiar thing tends to happen when we talk about streets and transportation: We don’t talk about cars. Seriously — listen to conversations, read news headlines, and you’ll start to notice that even when cars are the main subject, people will, consciously or unconsciously, fail to explicitly mention them. This phenomenon was particularly apparent to […]

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 […]

Talking Headways Podcast: Hug This Streetcar

By Tanya Snyder | Feb 20, 2014 | No Comments

Jeff Wood of the Overhead Wire (now working with NRDC’s crack transportation team) and I talk to Randy Simes in this week’s podcast about the streetcar movement in Cincinnati — and how they finally grabbed the long-elusive gold ring. Then Randy stayed with us to discuss the false choice between transit that’s useful and transit […]

Four Reasons Cities Can’t Afford Not to Invest in Bike Infrastructure

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 16, 2014 | No Comments

It isn’t window dressing. Or a “hip cities” thing. Bike infrastructure — not the watered-down stuff, but high-quality bikeways that get more people on bikes — is becoming a must-have for cities around the U.S. That’s according to a new report from Bikes Belong and the Alliance for Biking and Walking. Researchers at these groups […]

Report: Chicago Falling Behind Peer Cities on Transit-Oriented Growth

By Steven Vance | Jul 9, 2013 | 20 Comments

Transit-oriented development in the Chicago region is falling behind cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, according to a report released in May by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a local “think and do tank.” In “Transit-Oriented Development in the Chicago Region” [PDF], CNT warns that Chicago’s failure to focus housing and jobs near transit is […]

Why Chicago Is Lagging Behind Other Cities on Bike Parking Corrals

By John Greenfield | Mar 8, 2013 | 38 Comments

Not surprisingly, Portland, Oregon, leads the nation in on-street bike parking corrals, with 97 installed since 2004 and about 20 more going in each year. San Francisco, which installed its first corrals on Valencia Street in May 2010, now has 32 of them. New York City, which began installing corrals in August 2011, currently has […]