Northwestern student bicyclist killed this afternoon on Sheridan Road

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Permalink Reply by Bob T on September 26, 2016 at 4:51pm

Did the City of Evanston request a detour of Northwestern construction traffic that put vehicles such as the cement truck last week unnecessarily onto Sheridan Road?  

This Evanston Now article suggests that this truck traffic detour was negotiated by Evanston's community development manager with Northwestern a few months ago.

http://evanstonnow.com/story/public-safety/bill-smith/2016-09-26/75...

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Permalink Reply by mike w. on September 26, 2016 at 5:50pm

IIRC, Commercial traffic, specifically heavy trucks, are barred from Sheridan rd., although i don't know if the city granted a temporary variance for NU's construction frenzy. The stretch of Sheridan along the campus has always been a hazardous road for motor vehicles, bikes, and peds. Perhaps community pressure keeps them from using Orrington or Sherman aves. as a bypass to Sheridan?

As an aside, i drove that section of Sheridan earlier in the last week. The road is a minefield of broken and poorly patched pavement and  speed enforcement is clearly lacking as the average speed of vehicles looked to be 40+ in the 30mph zone. Crowds of students on foot and bike at class change add to the mix.( i also witnessed students with their eyes glued to their 'phones sauntering out against the light and even stopping mid street, totally oblivious to oncoming traffic. But note well that this is NOT to put any onus on the young woman who was killed. i wasn't there and cannot and will not comment on that crash.)

It's a mystery to me that more peds and riders aren't killed along this section of road. Evanston would do well to follow Wilmette's example and re-engineer Sheridan along NU's campus. That section's 4 lanes are an open invitation to drivers to speed through, creating a great danger to the large numbers of NU students who walk and bike along that road.

i would encourage any and all NU students and  local residents to petition the city of Evanston to re-engineer Sheridan rd. It's past time for action.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on September 26, 2016 at 6:55pm

I ride or walk through campus reasonably often. Northwestern has a ton of construction underway right now. I can't imagine they can do all of it without using Sheridan Rd for some/most/all of it.

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