Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Uptown

The Union Station Transit Center and Wilson Station Rehab Are Rolling Along

By John Greenfield | Mar 4, 2016 | 10 Comments

Steven Vance and I took advantage of today’s sunshine to check out the progress of two major transit projects that are slated to wrap up this spring. The $43 million Union Station Transit Center will be a key enhancement to the Loop Link bus rapid transit corridor. Located on Jackson between Canal and Clinton, the […]

Orange Dots and Balloons Jazz Up the Sunnyside Pedestrian Mall

By John Greenfield | Aug 28, 2015 | 3 Comments

First built in 1975, the Sunnyside Pedestrian Mall is a leafy, car-free walkway that runs for two blocks between Beacon Street and Magnolia Avenue in Uptown’s Sheridan Park section. With its benches, plantings, and mosaic-covered pillars, it should be a popular place for all kinds of positive activity, along the lines of Lincoln Square’s Kempf Plaza. […]

New Uptown Buildings Would Have 240 Units, Only 72 Parking Spots

By Steven Vance | Jul 22, 2015 | 5 Comments

Cedar Street Cos., the company behind the FLATS Chicago developments, which typically involve converting single-room occupancy buildings to more upscale rental units, has proposed two new apartment buildings near the Wilson ‘L’ station in Uptown. One of the buildings would be virtually across the street from the station, at 1050 W. Wilson Ave., and the other […]

What Kind of Art Is Coming to the Wilson Station?

By John Greenfield | Jun 9, 2015 | 1 Comment

[This piece also ran in Checkerboard City, John’s transportation column in Newcity Magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.] “The essence of public sculpture is that, for a moment, it belongs to you,” says renowned Sri Lankan-British artist Cecil Balmond, speaking at a recent packed community meeting in the basement of an Uptown nursing […]

Parking-Lite Residences Sprouting All Across Chicago

By Steven Vance | Dec 29, 2014 | 27 Comments

The resurgent downtown economy and the growing demand for car-lite living, both in Chicago and nationally, have spurred an apartment-building boom that’s transforming neighborhoods citywide. Many of these apartments are rising along the Chicago Transit Authority’s rail lines, partially thanks to a recent change to the city’s zoning ordinance that has made it easier to […]

City Writing New Rules of the Road to Allow Shared Space on Argyle Street

By John Greenfield and Steven Vance | Dec 1, 2014 | 16 Comments

The Chicago Department of Transportation is currently hashing out an ordinance to regulate how motorists will behave on the Argyle “shared street” [PDF], a pedestrian-priority zone slated for construction next year. The streetscape project — the first of its kind in Chicago — will create a plaza-like feel along Argyle from Broadway to Sheridan, by […]

Eyes on the Street: The Case of the Missing Bike Lane Bollards

By John Greenfield | Nov 25, 2014 | 10 Comments

Uptown’s Broadway protected bike lanes, installed earlier this year, are a great example of the power of a road diet with PBLs. By converting a former four-lane speedway to two travel lanes, a turn lane, and protected lanes, the city transformed a hectic, dangerous stretch of Broadway into one that’s calmer and safer for pedestrians […]

The Real Reason There Are Speed Cams by Challenger Park

By John Greenfield | Nov 7, 2014 | 32 Comments

Uptown’s Challenger Playlot Park is the poster child for the anti-traffic camera crowd. Along with Mulberry Playlot Park, in the McKinley Park neighborhood, Challenger is frequently cited as a small, little-used park that’s not even visible from the locations of speed cameras that are supposedly there to protect park users. This is proof, according to […]

Car-Free Cappleman Touts Wilson Station Rehab as a Catalyst for TOD

By John Greenfield | Sep 18, 2014 | 49 Comments

At a community meeting Wednesday on the upcoming reconstruction of the Red Line’s Wilson stop, 46th Ward Alderman James Cappleman argued that one of the best things about the new station is that it will encourage walkable, transit-friendly development. “One of the things I’ve pushed for as alderman is transit-oriented development, [which is a] good, […]

State Shouldn’t Pay for Employee Parking at an Office 2 Minutes From the ‘L’

By John Greenfield | Aug 1, 2014 | 23 Comments

Yesterday DNAinfo reported that a block club is pushing to expand permit parking in Uptown and Andersonville, in response to complaints that workers at a nearby office building are taking up too many parking spaces on side streets. The Illinois Department of Human Services recently took over three floors of a ten-story building at 5050 […]

Woonerf in the West Suburbs Offers a Sneak Peek at Uptown Streetscapes

By John Greenfield | Jun 30, 2014 | 25 Comments

On a recent bicycle trip, I came across a Dutch-style woonerf or “living street,” in the western suburb of Batavia, where Streetsblog Chicago reporter Steven Vance attended high school. The street layout blurs the line between pedestrian and vehicle space, encouraging drivers to proceed with caution, creating a more pleasant environment for walking, biking, shopping, […]

Eyes on the Street: Checking Out New Bikeways Across the City

By John Greenfield | Jun 23, 2014 | 8 Comments

[This piece also runs in Checkerboard City, John’s column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.] For a bike-infrastructure geek like myself, this is the most exciting time of the year, when the city is in the thick of rolling out the season’s new lanes. Most of the twenty miles of new bikeways […]

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