The Chainlink

Reconfigured bike lanes by Riverfront Plaza on Elston are a nightmare!

The northwest side of Elston by Riverfront Plaza has turned into a nightmare with the recently re-striped and reconfigured bike lanes and center turning lane. Going southeast toward downtown isn't bad, especially since they moved the bike lane away from the curb, but headed northwest is insane with one lane of auto traffic, cars in the bike lane trying to merge into the now single lane of car traffic, cars pulling out of the Plaza, cars turning into the Plaza - they made a bad situation even worse. IMO.

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Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on June 14, 2011 at 7:36pm

I was driving North on that stretch Saturday or Sunday.  Couldn't figure out what the clusterf**k was until I saw the striping truck and saw all cars were pushed into one lane.  Agreed, it was a bad situation; agreed, it is worse (for all kinds of traffic)!

 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 14, 2011 at 8:35pm

When did this happen?  I was there the other day and didn't see the new striping.  

 

What that bike lane needed going NorthWest is to make Struck der Van Til Whatever-the-name grocery store take down those stupid signs at the edge of the parking lot that causes cars to pull way out into the bike lane when turning onto Elston so they can see the road.  The signs are a danger area and cause the cars to pull out into the bike lane to get any visibility to safely pull out but once they are there are in the way until they can find a clear spot to turn.

Permalink Reply by milesperhour on June 14, 2011 at 11:53pm
Those Strack and Van Til signs annoy me as a driver. I always forget to talk with management about it though when I'm there.

James Baum said:

When did this happen?  I was there the other day and didn't see the new striping.  

 

What that bike lane needed going NorthWest is to make Struck der Van Til Whatever-the-name grocery store take down those stupid signs at the edge of the parking lot that causes cars to pull way out into the bike lane when turning onto Elston so they can see the road.  The signs are a danger area and cause the cars to pull out into the bike lane to get any visibility to safely pull out but once they are there are in the way until they can find a clear spot to turn.

Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on June 15, 2011 at 5:02am
I first noticed the change on Monday morning - it definitely wasn't like that last Wednesday (the last time I rode through there). Going NW, there really is no where to bail if you need to since the cagers are forced to be extremely close to the bike lane due to the center turn lane. It might be safer to ride through the Riverfront Plaza parking lot!
Permalink Reply by Chris B on June 15, 2011 at 9:45am

If the signs so close they are dangerous they might be a code violation, looking here I am not sure what to pick maybe "building violation" ? At least someone might go out to look and maybe the city will tell them to move it back.

 

https://servicerequest.cityofchicago.org/web_intake_chic/Controller

 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 15, 2011 at 10:31am

I took Elston home a few minutes ago and scoped out the changes.    I think the middle turning lane will help in the end but it is a messed up area.  Now the bike lane going NW is really crammed in there next to the single lane of traffic but at least it isn't going to back up like it used to at the Target driveway.  I think that driveway on Elston should just be removed and only have access on Logan IMHO which would make the situation much better as well as taking out the last driveway going into PetSmart.  It's just not safe the way it is there.  There are already a ton of entrances and exits in that area.  The one main blvd-type entrance to the mall on the East side of the street should be good enough combined with the other one at the stop light at the other end across from Menards and Plop Boys.  

 

The A-frame Sidewalk sign for Van til Whatever  REALLY has to go.  It is even more of a hazard now as the bike lane is so narrow and the traffic lane is so close to it on the left that a biker has NOWHERE to go if a car pulls it's bumper up into the bike lane so it can SEE to safely pull out.    Maybe with the new fresh paint and the fact that the NW-bound traffic is that much closer cars will realize they will be blocking the bike lane and not creep out so far but I have my doubts as they NEED to see and that sign just blocks their vision pretty thoroughly.  

 

The situation will only get worse as the paint stripeage fades into nothingness as we all know the city will never keep it up.  90% of all the bike lane lines, markings/lettering, & sharrows are faded beyond recognition in all but the best of lighting conditions and so many new concrete cuts have been made where there hasn't been any effort in  years to patch them smoothly, much less re-line those spots. 

Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on June 15, 2011 at 10:45am

I agree 100% on the cars-pulling-out-of-the-parking-lot issue.  I've been riding on that stretch of Elston for over 20 years, and as often as not there is the front end of a car blocking our very narrow bike lane. 

 

That said, I find Elston overall to be very safe, as at least there is really only one lane of traffic in each direction.  I see the occasional car using the bike lane as a lane to pass other cars on the right, but it's infrequent.

Permalink Reply by milesperhour on June 15, 2011 at 2:21pm

I just called Strack and spoke with the manager, Sean. He seemed receptive to moving it.  He says he only turns right out of there himself, so he's never noticed this as a problem.  But even turning right, I think it would still restrict views.  He thinks there is room to move it back "a foot" which I said probably wasn't enough.  He assured me he'd look and if need be, move it back several feet. 

Can someone check and let me know. I won't be going there this week.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 15, 2011 at 7:24pm
Thanks MPH, I cruise by there every once in a while.  I've got to go to Menards tomorrow for plumbing fittings so I might take the long way around the triangle and go over the Damon bridge and check it out on the way back.
Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on June 15, 2011 at 11:52pm

We're talking about this, right? (Photo taken March 1, 2011)

Constant and consistent bike lane blocking 

I'm gonna try to check it out tomorrow, take some new pics. 

Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on June 16, 2011 at 4:03am
Yup, that's area and a pretty typical sight with cars sticking their noses out.
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 16, 2011 at 7:00am
That's exactly the problem.  Now add in the fact that after the re-lining of this street the bike lane is now confined to the  busted up gutter jammed  against the curb and the car traffic is  right up against that and we have a massive safety issue here.

Steven Vance said:

We're talking about this, right? (Photo taken March 1, 2011)

Constant and consistent bike lane blocking 

I'm gonna try to check it out tomorrow, take some new pics. 

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