The Chainlink

Utility company street patching destroying bike routes

Has anyone else noticed the new style of rough, hard, concrete patching that is being done and apparently accepted by the City of Chicago, often obliterating existing bike routes.

Clark St. between Howard and Devon used to be a prime commuting route for me.  In spite of many lights, they were well synchronized and you could make really good time on that part of the commute.  Not so good in the evening but a great morning route.

That was until last year when some utilty tore up the street right in the bike lane and replaced it not with asphalt, but with this hard concrete.  The crew that did the patch made not the slightest attempt to smooth their work out and now Clark is basically unrideable.

Now another bike lane that was part of my commute, Pratt Blvd., has gotten the same treatment.

So while the city, to great fanfare, introduces new protected bike lanes in some part of the city, they fail to enforce basic street-paving standards and lose bike lanes that have served us well for years.

Views: 2775

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on May 23, 2013 at 8:42am

I would like ATA to offer a scoop of free mint chocolate chip ice cream at every major intersection to anyone on foot or on a bike.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cohen on May 23, 2013 at 9:58am

What is the point of this snark?  The question is how we move forward.  Individual complaints may help but I still think we should be able to do better than that?



h' 1.0 said:

I would like ATA to offer a scoop of free mint chocolate chip ice cream at every major intersection to anyone on foot or on a bike.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cohen on May 23, 2013 at 9:58am

hear hear!

Cameron 7.5 mi said:

I'd love a scoop of ice cream, but right now I'd settle for some research into CDOT's paving standards and a FOIA request learn what utility contractors are required by to do by their agreements with CDOT.



h' 1.0 said:

I would like ATA to offer a scoop of free mint chocolate chip ice cream at every major intersection to anyone on foot or on a bike.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on May 23, 2013 at 12:24pm

ATA is a tiny and overstrapped organization trying to make change in a huge metropolitan area.

There's a common misperception that they have staff standing by to throw themselves into solving the next problem that the bike community faces, and as someone with a little insight into what goes on behind the scenes there, I can assure you that everyone is being strapped to the max to prepare for Bike the Drive, without which the staff they currently have couldn't be sustained. That anyone had time to read and respond to this thread is fairly noteworthy.

I am right with you on wanting these problems to be addressed, up to the point that you throw it back in Active Trans' lap.

Steve Cohen said:

What is the point of this snark?  The question is how we move forward.  Individual complaints may help but I still think we should be able to do better than that?



h' 1.0 said:

I would like ATA to offer a scoop of free mint chocolate chip ice cream at every major intersection to anyone on foot or on a bike.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on May 23, 2013 at 12:25pm


Um... YOU appear to have free time during the day...?


Cameron 7.5 mi said:

I think the first step is figure out if the problem is with how the standards are written, or how they're enforced. What exactly are the utility crews required to do? If they're just required to fill the hole, then they have fulfilled their duty and we should be lobbying for better restoration standards (ie. exposed concrete shall be broom finished). If they're required to restore the pavement to a smooth surface, then the utility crews are not fulfilling their requirements and we should be lobbying for better enforcement.

If someone has some free time during the day to dig into this, or if we had an advocacy organization willing to question CDOT, a FOIA request to look at the restoration requirements that CDOT puts into permits for digging up a street would answer this.

to anyone on foot or on a bike.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cohen on May 23, 2013 at 12:32pm

Fair enough.

if ATA is not the organization that could do this, maybe something else needs to exist?  My frustration with their inability/unwillingness to do more on this is what caused me to search this place out and post this here.  I'm for whatever works.  How can we be more effective at advancing our concern?


h' 1.0 said:

ATA is a tiny and overstrapped organization trying to make change in a huge metropolitan area.

There's a common misperception that they have staff standing by to throw themselves into solving the next problem that the bike community faces, and as someone with a little insight into what goes on behind the scenes there, I can assure you that everyone is being strapped to the max to prepare for Bike the Drive, without which the staff they currently have couldn't be sustained. That anyone had time to read and respond to this thread is fairly noteworthy.

I am right with you on wanting these problems to be addressed, up to the point that you throw it back in Active Trans' lap.

Steve Cohen said:

What is the point of this snark?  The question is how we move forward.  Individual complaints may help but I still think we should be able to do better than that?



h' 1.0 said:

I would like ATA to offer a scoop of free mint chocolate chip ice cream at every major intersection to anyone on foot or on a bike.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on May 23, 2013 at 12:44pm

I apologize for snarking, and especially for directing it at you. This discussion has been rather heavy on "somebody shoulds" and they tend to be kind of a button pusher for me.

I have also been in the habit of pinning various frustrations on Acitive Trans in the past-- it's really hard to know how busy everyone is without seeing it firsthand, becaues, well, they don't really have all that much time to tell us about it...

From my perspective some good strategies have been identified here, including Active Trans expressing that they'll look into it; the main prong I see missing, as I not 100% jokingly expressed earlier, is that one of our members who seems to have a direct line to Gabe Klein could bring it to him and let us know what the deal is.

Steve Cohen said:

Fair enough.

if ATA is not the organization that could do this, maybe something else needs to exist?  My frustration with their inability/unwillingness to do more on this is what caused me to search this place out and post this here.  I'm for whatever works.  How can we be more effective at advancing our concern?


h' 1.0 said:

ATA is a tiny and overstrapped organization trying to make change in a huge metropolitan area.

There's a common misperception that they have staff standing by to throw themselves into solving the next problem that the bike community faces, and as someone with a little insight into what goes on behind the scenes there, I can assure you that everyone is being strapped to the max to prepare for Bike the Drive, without which the staff they currently have couldn't be sustained. That anyone had time to read and respond to this thread is fairly noteworthy.

I am right with you on wanting these problems to be addressed, up to the point that you throw it back in Active Trans' lap.

Steve Cohen said:

What is the point of this snark?  The question is how we move forward.  Individual complaints may help but I still think we should be able to do better than that?



h' 1.0 said:

I would like ATA to offer a scoop of free mint chocolate chip ice cream at every major intersection to anyone on foot or on a bike.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on May 23, 2013 at 2:09pm

An angry mob, perhaps?

Steve Cohen said:

Fair enough.

if ATA is not the organization that could do this, maybe something else needs to exist?  My frustration with their inability/unwillingness to do more on this is what caused me to search this place out and post this here.  I'm for whatever works.  How can we be more effective at advancing our concern?

Permalink Reply by WillG on May 23, 2013 at 2:38pm

Based on a quick glance through those standard details in Appendix A (http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/cdot/Public%20W...), the concrete that we all love to hate is 'PC Concrete Base Course' laid down after utility or other work is performed (see details A-2-2A through A-2-2C). The expectation is that asphalt will be placed over it.



carfreecommuter said:

Does this help? 

http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/cdot/provdrs/constructio...

http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/cdot/Public%20W...
Steve Cohen said:

Well, I submitted a street cut complaint.  I may call the alderman, but he's not MY alderman, I don't even live in the City so how far will that go?


I have to say, I think we're getting a little bit of the runaround here.  What I still want to know is what is POLICY on this matter?

1) Why are construction crews being paid for construction that fails to meet standards.  Would an asphalt paving job of this level of bumpiness be accepted?  Shouldn't it be POLICY that all road-construction work have a smoothness requirement?

2) If the plans are to eventually cover with asphalt, what is POLICY on lag time between the two coverings?  Is a year acceptable? Two years?  What?

I would like to see ATA make a public issue out of this, something more than telling members to call their alderman, though that is a start.

Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on May 23, 2013 at 3:10pm

Hey folks, we're definitely going to keep looking into this and working on it...it's good to hear that people think it's important (we do too).

We will also keep addressing it with CDOT, of course.

I think it’s important to keep in mind there’s no shortage of potential advocacy issues for all of us to engage in, but as a mission-driven organization with limited capacity we have to make strategic decisions about how to maximize the impact of our time and other resources. 

Like any movement for social change, building a more walking, biking and transit friendly Chicagoland is going to take many different individuals and groups pursuing diverse strategies over a long time, which is why spaces like The Chainlink are so important so we can all connect, discuss and find ways to take action together.

We’ll seek more clarity from CDOT on this so we can all better understand what the expectations should be and where there’s room for improvement.

Thanks again, Chainlink community, we appreciate the input and will continue to listen and stay involved.

Best - Jim Merrell, Active Trans

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on May 23, 2013 at 3:17pm

Are there:

  • Things we can do to improve your effectiveness
  • Things you can pass off to us
  • FAQ of things general bike nerds can do to help ATA

?

Just thinking out loud.

Skip


Active Transportation Alliance said:

I think it’s important to keep in mind there’s no shortage of potential advocacy issues for all of us to engage in, but as a mission-driven organization with limited capacity we have to make strategic decisions about how to maximize the impact of our time and other resources. 

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on May 23, 2013 at 3:26pm

Well said Jim, and nice to meet you virtually.  

Like any movement for social change, building a more walking, biking and transit friendly Chicagoland is going to take many different individuals and groups pursuing diverse strategies over a long time, which is why spaces like The Chainlink are so important so we can all connect, discuss and find ways to take action together.

Active Transportation Alliance said:

Hey folks, we're definitely going to keep looking into this and working on it...it's good to hear that people think it's important (we do too).

We will also keep addressing it with CDOT, of course.

I think it’s important to keep in mind there’s no shortage of potential advocacy issues for all of us to engage in, but as a mission-driven organization with limited capacity we have to make strategic decisions about how to maximize the impact of our time and other resources. 

Like any movement for social change, building a more walking, biking and transit friendly Chicagoland is going to take many different individuals and groups pursuing diverse strategies over a long time, which is why spaces like The Chainlink are so important so we can all connect, discuss and find ways to take action together.

We’ll seek more clarity from CDOT on this so we can all better understand what the expectations should be and where there’s room for improvement.

Best - Jim Merrell, Active Trans

RSS

Groups

© 2008-2016   The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.   Powered by

Disclaimer  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service