New protected bike lanes announced - Elston, 18th

Our team at the MBAC meeting just let us know that Elston (Division to North) and 18th (Clinton to Clark) will be the next protected bike lanes by the end of this year!

Thanks, CDOT!

Ethan Spotts, Active Trans

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Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on June 28, 2012 at 6:24pm

There were about 12 cars in the bike lanes between Cortez and Augusta however several had tickets when I went through around 4:45! There was one car parked in the bike lane between a car parked legally and the curb (no ticket on that one though) on the east side of the street close to that new bar/restaurant.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on June 28, 2012 at 6:31pm

All the buffered bike lanes this year were installed on crap pavement: Roscoe, Campbell, Division. Lake Street has some bad pavement on its protected bike lane parts (west of Western).

Jurisdiction is another reason bike lanes may be delayed. I was going to check on IDOT's jurisdiction map, but it's having errors right now.

Kelvin Mulcky said:

They're inserting the protected bike lanes as the road surfaces are refinished. That's why it hasn't been extended to Mke or Cortland yet. At least, that how I understand it.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on June 28, 2012 at 7:06pm

That may be true, but if resurfacing is scheduled, it makes sense to hold off until the work is finished. That way the city isn't doing all the work twice in a short period of time.

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Permalink Reply by David P. on June 28, 2012 at 8:56pm

I went down Elston early this afternoon and counted ~10 cars parked in the bike lane on the west side of Elston; all had tickets on them.

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 28, 2012 at 8:57pm

Excellent! A new revenue source for the city!

David P. said:

I went down Elston early this afternoon and counted ~10 cars parked in the bike lane on the west side of Elston; all had tickets on them.

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Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on June 29, 2012 at 7:07am

5:25am Elston and Cortez

Attachments:

photo 1.JPG, 86 KB
photo 2.JPG, 87 KB
photo 3.JPG, 87 KB

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on June 29, 2012 at 7:49am

Well, to be honest, looking at the pictures you attached, they look like parking spaces to me :))

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 29, 2012 at 8:16am

Agreed.

To an uniformed motorist I can almost understand how they might think that the hashed-area is the bike lane and the open area to the edge is a parking lane. In many parts of the city the parking lane is denoted by just a solid white line.

On the other side it isn't quite as unclear but I could see where someone not familiar with the protected lane might be confused as to how the system worked. Parking in "the middle of the road" where they are supposed to seems alien at first.

Green bike lane surface would go a LONG way towards really communicating the intent -it is too bad it is so expensive because it is so rarely used. I'm only assuming it is expensive though. I'm sure it costs more than nothing, and probably a lot of folks think it is "an eyesore."

I just wish they would use it more.

Julie Hochstadter said:

Well, to be honest, looking at the pictures you attached, they look like parking spaces to me :))

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Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on June 29, 2012 at 9:29am

Caught a motorcycle driving in the Elston bike lane yesterday. All kinds of illegal.

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 29, 2012 at 10:14am

As a life-long motorcyclist (was car-free for many years with only a motorcycle and bicycles,) and life-member of the American Motorcyclist Association, I would like to apologize for all the people riding motorcycles who infringe on bicycle infrastructure such as this guy in the picture.

While I'm at it I will apologize for the jerks with the loud mufflers and/or just drive around revving their engines to insane levels in a puerile attempt at self-aggrandizement. And also the jerks who think the streets are a racetrack or some sort of stunting exhibition.

I can't say if these folks are a minority or not but there are some of us who feel that automobiles are extremely wasteful and environmentally-unfriendly modes of transportation and that a motorcycle is a much better and earth-friendly alternative to single-rider transportation such as a car with only one occupant. They can form a longer-ranged alternative to bicycles when time and distance do not make them as feasible and when the correct motorcycle is chosen and driven in a sane and safe manner they get extremely good fuel economy and save a lot of greenhouse gasses. In the city I ride my bike, but when I head out of the city a motorcycle is a great way to save on the environmental impact of driving a car when Metra or other public transportation infrastructure is not available.

But it only takes a few bad apples like the selfish guy in this picture to ruin the image for the rest of us. And for him I feel the need to apologize.

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Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on June 29, 2012 at 10:22am

I seem to recall an episode of MythBusters where they indicated motorcycles actually do not emit less greenhouse gases. I seem to see more scooters than motorcycles zipping down the bike lanes, but there is the occasional motorcycle.