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TELL GOV. QUINN: Don't put the brakes on protected bike lanes and safer streets!

Whether you're an 8-year-old child or 80-year-old grandmother, you should be able to ride a bike on your community's streets without fearing for your safety. Barrier protected bike lanes are designed with all kinds of people in mind to make biking a safe and easy option for everyone.

But Streetsblog Chicago and the Chicago Tribune have revealed that the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has put the brakes on barrier protected bike lanes and safer streets. This will impact plans for safer streets in both the City of Chicago and the suburbs. Please sign this petition telling Gov. Quinn that IDOT must cooperate with local communities to create safer streets for biking!

TAKE ACTION TODAY! 
Tell Gov. Quinn: Don't put the brakes on protected bike lanes and s...

- Lee Crandell, Active Trans

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Richard on February 11, 2013 at 1:28pm

Done! And have forwarded to a few other folks.

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on February 11, 2013 at 1:33pm

Thank you Lee and Active Trans for providing this easy way for everyone to speak up and protest this situation. I've been stewing over it since Streetsblog Chicago first broke the news last week. 

 

Clybourn Avenue was scheduled to have a 3.5 mile stretch from Division to Belmont upgrade this coming spring 2013, and this move will delay that for years. As Steve Vance pointed out in the Streetsblog coverage, portions of other important streets like Diversey, Archer, Washington and Adams were scheduled for upgrades in the coming year 2013-2014, and those will also be delayed. I encourage everyone to sign this petition, preferably with a personal note saying why this will affect you and why it matters, and pass it along for others to do so as well.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on February 11, 2013 at 1:42pm

Done.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on February 11, 2013 at 1:44pm

Thank you for creating this petition.  There's more than enough data from other states regarding protected bike lanes.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on February 11, 2013 at 1:48pm

Shouldn't the form letter to Gov. Quinn contain at least some language to the effect that the Chicago Department of Transportation and Active Trans reserve the right to continue to recommend and install poorly designed, hastily constructed bike lanes over broken and irregular pavement, and maintain and/or plow it sporadically, secure in the knowledge that the Chicago cycling sheep community will uniformly embrace it as "progress?" 

Permalink Reply by Duppie on February 11, 2013 at 1:51pm

Damn it! Now I have soda all over my keyboard. Thanks Kevin! :)

Kevin C 4.1 mi said:

Shouldn't the form letter to Gov. Quinn contain at least some language to the effect that the Chicago Department of Transportation and Active Trans reserve the right to continue to recommend and install poorly designed, hastily constructed bike lanes over broken and irregular pavement, and maintain and/or plow it sporadically, secure in the knowledge that the Chicago cycling sheep community will uniformly embrace it as "progress?" 

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on February 11, 2013 at 1:53pm

Done. Now Kevin, don't let the desire for perfection prevent any progress at all.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on February 11, 2013 at 2:04pm

My benchmark for progress is, on balance, "no less safe than it was before." In my subjective assessment, this has only been achieved once-with the Kinzie bike lane, and I still believe there are aspects of that project which have resulted in "less safe than it was before." If I were a proponent of protected bike lanes (and I most certainly am not), I would be more concerned with the powers that be getting them right. They are very high profile infrastructure projects which have polarized transportation factions. If these projects don't get used because they are poorly designed, constructed or maintained, they are going to be very public failures, and that will result in greater difficulty in constructing better ones in the future.

Thunder Snow said:

Done. Now Kevin, don't let the desire for perfection prevent any progress at all.

Permalink Reply by blair on February 11, 2013 at 2:23pm

I agree that we need more PBLs so people feel comfortable with biking in the city, but these things really need to be planned/executed better.

Overall, I enjoy the Kinzie PBL, but parts of it definitely could have been designed better.  Allowing parking all the way to the bottom of that first hill is super dangerous.  Nonstop right hooks.  Plowing here is always hit-or-miss, too.

Permalink Reply by globalguy on February 11, 2013 at 2:26pm

Yes Kevin, stop being a poop!  Don't you know that the ATA and it's employer, the City of Chicago, always know what's best and where. Geez, you're just too damn cynical. Perhaps we need to secretly convene the Pollyanna Council of 7 3/8s to isolate your bad vibes from the innocent and pure of heart.

Kevin C 4.1 mi said:

My benchmark for progress is, on balance, "no less safe than it was before." ...

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on February 11, 2013 at 2:36pm

Being a commuter that does not have protected bike lanes, I am disappointed in learning this is not a priority for iDOT and I hope they change their minds quickly. I signed the petition and posted it on FB. Cyclists need safer streets and this has been a much needed improvement. I hope this continues and our Mayor continues his commitment to making the streets safer for cyclists.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on February 11, 2013 at 2:53pm

Done.

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