The Chainlink

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 Bez on July 18, 2013 at 7:26am
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 9:19am

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 9:36am

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 10:17am

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 11:23am

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? 

Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on July 18, 2013 at 1:20pm

I don't see why it would be terribly unreasonable to restrict the deliveries before 7 am.  But on the other hand, today I had to avoid 2 stonkin' huge delivery trucks on just the 900 block of Belmont at 7:30, but saw none on the LFP. 

I think the bigger root issue is the monopolization of the space itself that the restaurant takes up.  It is a relatively new addition to the lakefront, if anyone is wondering.

We're always told that these revenue-generating things (like my pet peeve, the big 4 person bike-cars) are necessary and make us tons of money, but I'd like to see the numbers.  I'm betting some are, but that most are pretty piddling and are far more of a nuisance than a benefit. 

At the end of the day I'd trade the occasional truck on the LFP in the morning if it meant we could remove the concessions they place literally adjacent to the path along the most congested points between Fullerton and Navy Pier.

Permalink Reply by WillG on July 18, 2013 at 1:57pm

That's because you can't tell a casual beer drinker that the beer is an American Pilsner, they'll have no idea what that equates to.

In the battle to win over the hearts and minds of shitty Lite beer drinkers, sometimes you need to get dirty, and describe a good beer as tasting like a shitty one, even if just to trick someone into trying something new.

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 20, 2013 at 11:17am

Permalink Reply by SlowCoachOnTheRoad on July 20, 2013 at 6:13pm

Stop complaining.  Just grab a beer.

Permalink Reply by GabeW (not the other Gabe) on July 23, 2013 at 10:08am

Twice now there have been Divvy trucks parked in the turn lane at the inner drive and Michigan at 5pm on a weekday.  That intersection is already a poorly designed and signaled bit of road, not to mention the unclear use of the lanes.  During rush hour there is no parking on that stretch of road in front of the Drake and cars use it as two lanes.  Not sure if that's the intent or just what ends up happening, but whenever cars are illegally parked there (and often immediately ticketed) it creates a hazardous situation with cars not able to see that the lane isn't clear and the bottle neck backs up to chicago ave.  Bikes often weave in and out of the cars along that stretch of the inner drive, and the last time it was backed up like that I saw one almost wipe out trying to skip the curb to avoid the traffic and another woman nearly rear end a SUV she was trying to weave around.  Combine that with locals wanting to drive 80 and tourists driving 20 and it's just a mess. 

The first time was when they were installing the Divvy station and it was a large box truck, the last time was last night and it was an oversize van that looked like it was doing maintenance on the bikes.  At least last night it was a few car lengths back, the first time it was right at the stop light parked in the turn lane.

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