Trucks on the Lake Front Trail

Nearly every morning, I witness 40-foot trucks driving on the Lake Front Trail. The trucks take up the entire width of the path, and knock over tree branches onto unsuspecting joggers and bikers. They are creating a dangerous situation by funneling two way running/biking traffic into the narrow shoulder, while blocking view of the oncoming lane. I should also note that the trucks are moving, and not just parked on the trail. How are they even getting access to the trail, and who is continuing to allow this to happen?

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 17, 2013 at 10:15am

An absolute classic!

Mike Schwab said:

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on July 17, 2013 at 10:18am

I am sure you mean "bad" in a good sense.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Holy crap, that was bad.

Mike Schwab said:

Permalink Reply by David P. on July 17, 2013 at 10:34am

Of course - it's not like Adam likes to complain or anything... :)

Lisa Curcio 6.5 mi said:

I am sure you mean "bad" in a good sense.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Holy crap, that was bad.

Mike Schwab said:

Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on July 17, 2013 at 10:39am
Police,Chicago park district, sanitation,fire trucks,and various bar oswners private vehicles...stay safe.
Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 17, 2013 at 10:39am

That is a common problem for craft beer sellers. How to describe it in novices terms (not sure if you are a novice). See it regularly at Hopleaf: Guy orders a Bud and the bartender points out some alternatives, mumbling something to the extent of "It's light, like a Bud".

That Blue Paddle was a pretty good pilsner, btw. Nothing like a Bud-Light.



h' 1.0 said:

One of the New Belgium guys at Saturday's TdF described one of their beers as a "Bud-Light Style Pilsener" and I almost took off running in the other direction...

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

The fact that it's piss-water Bud Light being delivered is just salt on the wounds.

in it to win it 8.0 mi said:

Probably wouldn't be such an issue if it were a Fat Tire truck delivering some nice Ranger IPA!

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on July 17, 2013 at 8:44pm

I wanna do a little math. You say you encounter 3 trucks (each weekday, I presume, as you said commute) from Wilson to the Loop. Let's say you exit LFT at Monroe. This is 6.8 miles according to Google Maps, so 13.6 miles roundtrip. 

In a 2011 report on Lakefront Trail counts [PDF], Active Transportation Alliance noted that 1,435 cyclists were counted passing between Oak Street and North Avenue beach on a weekday between 6-9 AM. 

Let's assume that 3 trucks are seen every 13.6 miles (your round trip) and that half of the people who cycled past this count location in the morning make a trip that long. The other half, making a trip of 6.8 miles, see 1.5 trucks. 

718 x 3 trucks = 2,154 truck encounters each weekday, plus

718 x 1.5 trucks = 1,077 truck encounters each weekday, equals

3,231 truck encounters each weekday. 

That blows. 


Cameron 7.5 mi said:

The trucks are few enough and far enough between that they don't really bother me. Having to pass a couple of delivery trucks during my morning commute barely registers on my list of daily annoyances. As for the park district trucks, lawn mowers, and other landscaping trucks, that work really needs to be done during daylight. The disruption to morning commuters isn't a big enough problem to be worth investing in the sort of light systems it would take for grounds crews to work at night. In my Wilson to Loop commute I see maybe 3 service trucks on busy day, I don't see that few trucks as a major concern.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on July 18, 2013 at 12:27am

I ride every day from Addison to Monroe starting at about 7:30 a.m.  I have seen one truck this week. Last week I saw zero.  I don't remember the week before.  Nice math.  Unless other people are seeing the trucks I should be seeing, though, it does not work.  

Steven Vance said:

I wanna do a little math. You say you encounter 3 trucks (each weekday, I presume, as you said commute) from Wilson to the Loop. Let's say you exit LFT at Monroe. This is 6.8 miles according to Google Maps, so 13.6 miles roundtrip. 

In a 2011 report on Lakefront Trail counts [PDF], Active Transportation Alliance noted that 1,435 cyclists were counted passing between Oak Street and North Avenue beach on a weekday between 6-9 AM. 

Let's assume that 3 trucks are seen every 13.6 miles (your round trip) and that half of the people who cycled past this count location in the morning make a trip that long. The other half, making a trip of 6.8 miles, see 1.5 trucks. 

718 x 3 trucks = 2,154 truck encounters each weekday, plus

718 x 1.5 trucks = 1,077 truck encounters each weekday, equals

3,231 truck encounters each weekday. 

That blows. 


Cameron 7.5 mi said:

The trucks are few enough and far enough between that they don't really bother me. Having to pass a couple of delivery trucks during my morning commute barely registers on my list of daily annoyances. As for the park district trucks, lawn mowers, and other landscaping trucks, that work really needs to be done during daylight. The disruption to morning commuters isn't a big enough problem to be worth investing in the sort of light systems it would take for grounds crews to work at night. In my Wilson to Loop commute I see maybe 3 service trucks on busy day, I don't see that few trucks as a major concern.

Permalink Reply by Bez on July 18, 2013 at 1:26am
The math is bad because it makes the assumption that every rider sees every truck every day. There is no evidence for this just as there is no measurable way to quantify how many riders actually see the trucks. Short of interviewing each rider as they exit the path, I can't think of a way to quantify that percentage.

Lisa Curcio 6.5 mi said:

I ride every day from Addison to Monroe starting at about 7:30 a.m.  I have seen one truck this week. Last week I saw zero.  I don't remember the week before.  Nice math.  Unless other people are seeing the trucks I should be seeing, though, it does not work.  

Steven Vance said:

I wanna do a little math. You say you encounter 3 trucks (each weekday, I presume, as you said commute) from Wilson to the Loop. Let's say you exit LFT at Monroe. This is 6.8 miles according to Google Maps, so 13.6 miles roundtrip. 

In a 2011 report on Lakefront Trail counts [PDF], Active Transportation Alliance noted that 1,435 cyclists were counted passing between Oak Street and North Avenue beach on a weekday between 6-9 AM. 

Let's assume that 3 trucks are seen every 13.6 miles (your round trip) and that half of the people who cycled past this count location in the morning make a trip that long. The other half, making a trip of 6.8 miles, see 1.5 trucks. 

718 x 3 trucks = 2,154 truck encounters each weekday, plus

718 x 1.5 trucks = 1,077 truck encounters each weekday, equals

3,231 truck encounters each weekday. 

That blows. 


Cameron 7.5 mi said:

The trucks are few enough and far enough between that they don't really bother me. Having to pass a couple of delivery trucks during my morning commute barely registers on my list of daily annoyances. As for the park district trucks, lawn mowers, and other landscaping trucks, that work really needs to be done during daylight. The disruption to morning commuters isn't a big enough problem to be worth investing in the sort of light systems it would take for grounds crews to work at night. In my Wilson to Loop commute I see maybe 3 service trucks on busy day, I don't see that few trucks as a major concern.

Permalink Reply by David P. on July 18, 2013 at 3:19am

Who goes to Hopleaf and orders Bud Light?!?

Duppie 13.5185km said:

That is a common problem for craft beer sellers. How to describe it in novices terms (not sure if you are a novice). See it regularly at Hopleaf: Guy orders a Bud and the bartender points out some alternatives, mumbling something to the extent of "It's light, like a Bud".

That Blue Paddle was a pretty good pilsner, btw. Nothing like a Bud-Light.



h' 1.0 said:

One of the New Belgium guys at Saturday's TdF described one of their beers as a "Bud-Light Style Pilsener" and I almost took off running in the other direction...

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

The fact that it's piss-water Bud Light being delivered is just salt on the wounds.

in it to win it 8.0 mi said:

Probably wouldn't be such an issue if it were a Fat Tire truck delivering some nice Ranger IPA!

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on July 18, 2013 at 3:36am

Someone whose beer-snob friend dragged him there.

David P. said:

Who goes to Hopleaf and orders Bud Light?!?

Permalink Reply by Jeremy on July 18, 2013 at 4:17am

Trucks don't bother me.  They're slow and it's not like I'm sprinting on the trail.  What bothers me is people who salmon to pass them and then freeze like a deer in headlights when they realize there are people going in the opposite direction who want to get around just as bad. 

Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on July 18, 2013 at 5:23am

I'll take 'No' for $200, Michael.

Michael B said:

More numbers. In all the probably thousands of posts about the LFP that were ever made on this forum since it's inception has this ever been mentioned as a problem? 

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