Damen Avenue bridge history
Does anyone remember when the Damen Avenue bridge was rebuilt/replaced in 1999-2000? This is the bridge over the North Branch Chicago River between Fullerton and Diversey.
My questions:
1. When it was opened, did it have 4 lanes?
2. When was it reconfigured to have 2 lanes and 2 bike lanes?
3. Why?
Views: 1896
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on
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I would love to see some documentation from the U.S. DOT about their stance against widening urban roads. Can anyone help?
Duppie said:Steven,
I enjoy reading your blog and you seem well-versed in urban planning.
Not sure if this explains the why, but I do remember going to a meeting about the Lawrence Ave streetscape redesign where the project manager from CDOT mentioned that USDOT no longer recommends 4 lane roads in an urban setting.
They plan to make Lawrence avenue into a two lane (plus turn lane) from the current four lanes. Part of the explanation was that lawrence west of Western and East of Ashland(?) already is a 2 lane street. The same can be said for Damen, which is a largely a 2-lane street
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Permalink Reply by Gin on
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I have dim memories of advocacy around this bridge. . . .come on brain! TC might remember.
What I want to know is why the North ave bridge over the river, built later, has no bike lanes. Why are arterials important to cyclists?? They are often the only access across key barriers like rivers and highways and to major commercial destinations.
The street network *is* the bikeways network.
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Weird--when I saw this this morning, none of the other replies were visible. OK--my memory has been jogged ;-)
Gin said:I have dim memories of advocacy around this bridge. . . .come on brain! TC might remember.
What I want to know is why the North ave bridge over the river, built later, has no bike lanes. Why are arterials important to cyclists?? They are often the only access across key barriers like rivers and highways and to major commercial destinations.
The street network *is* the bikeways network.
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Permalink Reply by Davo on
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There is all that space on the Vienna Beef plant side.
Steven Vance said:
Davo said:My pipe dream is for the Damen Elston Fullerton intersection to be a round about. Carns always blosk up the lanes there and have no where to go when the light changes. I cant count the number of times that I have had to weave through that bs
CDOT has a plan for this intersection. The plan is to remove Elston from the intersection and have Elston go around it at a right angle hundreds of feet away. It's a difficult plan because the City will have to buy others' property.
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Permalink Reply by Duppie on
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Here is a rendering of what ithis reconfiguration would look like
Steven Vance said:
Davo said:My pipe dream is for the Damen Elston Fullerton intersection to be a round about. Carns always blosk up the lanes there and have no where to go when the light changes. I cant count the number of times that I have had to weave through that bs
CDOT has a plan for this intersection. The plan is to remove Elston from the intersection and have Elston go around it at a right angle hundreds of feet away. It's a difficult plan because the City will have to buy others' property.
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Permalink Reply by J M on
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It looks like the re-route goes directly through the current location of the Vienna Beef factory. However it is hard to tell from that rendering if that particular section is street level or raised.
Has anyone ever noticed how on the Damen Ave bridge over there, most of the metal is painted Hot Dog red? ;-)
Duppie said:Here is a rendering of what ithis reconfiguration would look like
Steven Vance said:
Davo said:My pipe dream is for the Damen Elston Fullerton intersection to be a round about. Carns always blosk up the lanes there and have no where to go when the light changes. I cant count the number of times that I have had to weave through that bs
CDOT has a plan for this intersection. The plan is to remove Elston from the intersection and have Elston go around it at a right angle hundreds of feet away. It's a difficult plan because the City will have to buy others' property.
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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on
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I have mixed feelings about this idea. On the positive side, it appears that is should make the intersection much safer. On the negative side, the bridge won't be nearly as nice to ride. *sigh*
J M said:It looks like the re-route goes directly through the current location of the Vienna Beef factory. However it is hard to tell from that rendering if that particular section is street level or raised.
Has anyone ever noticed how on the Damen Ave bridge over there, most of the metal is painted Hot Dog red? ;-)
Duppie said:Here is a rendering of what ithis reconfiguration would look like
Steven Vance said:
Davo said:My pipe dream is for the Damen Elston Fullerton intersection to be a round about. Carns always blosk up the lanes there and have no where to go when the light changes. I cant count the number of times that I have had to weave through that bs
CDOT has a plan for this intersection. The plan is to remove Elston from the intersection and have Elston go around it at a right angle hundreds of feet away. It's a difficult plan because the City will have to buy others' property.
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Permalink Reply by djm on
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Yes, the new bridge was originally marked with four lanes and no shoulders. If traffic was heavy, taking the sidewalk across was a better bet although there was often a fair amount of broken glass to be found there.
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Permalink Reply by John Greenfield on
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Here's an outtake paragraph, from my story on road diets, about the Damen bridge.
I got the date from CDOT.
"Chicago has successfully implemented road diets before, like the 2004 conversion of the Damen Avenue bridge between Fullerton and Diversey. The Chicago Department of Transportation removed two of the four travel lanes and striped a median and bike lanes on the bridge, which reduced speeding and made the bridge much more bike-friendly."
The bridge originally opened in 1999.
- John Greenfield
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This is great information.
John Greenfield said:Here's an outtake paragraph, from my story on road diets, about the Damen bridge.
I got the date from CDOT.
"Chicago has successfully implemented road diets before, like the 2004 conversion of the Damen Avenue bridge between Fullerton and Diversey. The Chicago Department of Transportation removed two of the four travel lanes and striped a median and bike lanes on the bridge, which reduced speeding and made the bridge much more bike-friendly."
The bridge originally opened in 1999.
- John Greenfield
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Permalink Reply by Missy Hixon on
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Actually the intersection re-configuration goes through Midtown Tennis Club not Vienna. No start date is set yet. Intersection is really a traffic maker. I don't think the bridge will change.
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Thank you guys for all of your help.
I am trying to build a history of bikeway expansion (and contraction) in Chicago. Your contributions about the Damen Avenue bridge helped.
You can contribute by emailing me personally or by leaving a comment here or on the Bikeway History page.
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