Interesting article in Law & Order magazine

Saw the attached article from Law & Order magazine referenced in the internet BOB mailing list. Good, short read about bike placement within the stream of traffic from a police expert.

Skip

cycling.pdf

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth M. on July 31, 2013 at 3:03pm

Thanks for sharing. It's reassuring to know I'm doing it right. 

Permalink Reply by SlowCoachOnTheRoad on July 31, 2013 at 4:25pm

I liked the article a lot, especially its emphasis on our right to the full lane when we need it for safety purposes.  It also highlighted how frequently cars are tempted to turn right right in front of us if we fail to get into that lane as we approach corners.  I'll have to remember that more frequently as I approach corners on busy car days.

My hairiest location, the one I dread the most, and the one where I have had the most near misses, has been turning left off Clark onto Kinzie (when heading south on Clark).  I turn into Kinzie as it is the street that allows one to hit the very beginning of the two-way bike lane on Dearborn heading into the Loop.  The first challenge is getting from the right bike lane into the left side of Clark - when there is a lot of traffic that is quite a challenge!   The other challenge is that between those two streets (Clark and Dearborn) Kinzie has a bike lane drawn in the middle of the road.  Cars often don't see it and think you are hogging the road so try to slice close by in anger.  Driving aggressively in that area is important but also may invite trouble, so it is hard to figure out the safest way to do it.

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on July 31, 2013 at 4:43pm

Clark Street within blocks of Kinzie has no bike lane. 

Kinzie neither has a bike lane, but an "enhanced marked shared lane", AKA "sharrows with lines on the sides". These aren't bike lanes and offer no privileges over a street without the sharrows. 

I'm not a fan of CDOT's treatment of these few blocks of Kinzie with the "sharrows with lines on the sides" as they are invisible most of the time because there are vehicles atop them. They also don't provide what bicyclists need on this part of the road: room. 

Anyone else sick and tired of these baby steps?

Remove on-street parking from Kinzie. There are like three publicly-accessible parking garages with space available. 

SlowCoachOnTheRoad said:

My hairiest location, the one I dread the most, and the one where I have had the most near misses, has been turning left off Clark onto Kinzie (when heading south on Clark).  I turn into Kinzie as it is the street that allows one to hit the very beginning of the two-way bike lane on Dearborn heading into the Loop.  The first challenge is getting from the right bike lane into the left side of Clark - when there is a lot of traffic that is quite a challenge!   The other challenge is that between those two streets (Clark and Dearborn) Kinzie has a bike lane drawn in the middle of the road.  Cars often don't see it and think you are hogging the road so try to slice close by in anger.  

Permalink Reply by SlowCoachOnTheRoad on August 1, 2013 at 1:13am

Steven, you are right - no dedicated bike lane on Clark, I just meant moving from the right we typically bike on Clark to the left side - but of course the answer is one must try to get to the left side earlier, some blocks before Kinzie, whenever the opportunity arises - I'll try that today as see how that works out.  You are right also that I should not refer to that middle strip on Kinzie as a "lane."  And yet it does have the image of a bike on it, thus implying it is safe for us to go on it without suffering verbal or honking abuses.  I have twice encountered really angry drivers while doing just the one block on that strip.  Also, about three times nearly got killed trying to go from the right side of Clark to the left before Kinzie, despite my left hand signal and traffic reduced to a few cars - those few refused to give way and I had to coast leftward with my head craned backward as much as I can to make sure I knew what drivers were intending.    But most bikers in the morning on Clark I noticed just keep on going south into the Loop and not trying to hit the Dearborn bike 2-laner - maybe they've been through what I've been through and just gave up!

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on August 1, 2013 at 1:30am

SlowCoach, you might consider staying in the righthand lane on Clark, crossing Kinzie, stopping, and then proceeding east on Kinzie when Kinzie gets the green light.

 

I know a lot of people don't like to do that style of turn, but since you describe your struggles to make a lefthand turn off of Clark, I propose it as one solution. It's what I would do, at least.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on August 1, 2013 at 4:32am

I was under the impression that CDOT would be connecting the Kinzie and Dearborn PBLs with a PBL, not a BS "enhanced sharrow". Also, the Kinzie/Dearborn intersection is a clusterfuck and needs to be fixed. Turning left into Dearborn is a nightmare, as is turning right onto Kinzie.

I agree that the street parking should be removed. It is literally right in front of a parking garage. Can the city buy out one of the garages and lease it to Chicago Parking Meters LLC in exchange for street paring removal?

Permalink Reply by S on August 1, 2013 at 4:51am



Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

I agree that the street parking should be removed. It is literally right in front of a parking garage. Can the city buy out one of the garages and lease it to Chicago Parking Meters LLC in exchange for street paring removal?

That's exactly what we need right now, the city spending more money to give a sweetheart deal to the company that is making a fortune over street parking due to a crazy sweetheart deal from Daley.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on August 1, 2013 at 5:14am

Ideally, the contract with CPM would be cancelled, but that's clearly not going to happen. If this move gives the city the ability to remove on-street parking in the central business district, then it's certainly beneficial to others besides CPM.

S said:



Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

I agree that the street parking should be removed. It is literally right in front of a parking garage. Can the city buy out one of the garages and lease it to Chicago Parking Meters LLC in exchange for street paring removal?

That's exactly what we need right now, the city spending more money to give a sweetheart deal to the company that is making a fortune over street parking due to a crazy sweetheart deal from Daley.

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on August 1, 2013 at 5:19am

Is there no clause in the city's contract with CPM that would allow parking spaces to be removed for safety reasons?

Permalink Reply by Michael J Blane on August 1, 2013 at 6:26am

I believe that LAZ has a specific amount of parking space. If some are blocked, for whatever reason, I'm pretty sure the city has to pay LAZ for the use.

Permalink Reply by S on August 1, 2013 at 6:38am



Skip Montanaro 12mi said:

Is there no clause in the city's contract with CPM that would allow parking spaces to be removed for safety reasons?

The city can temporarily or permanently remove parking spaces but needs to pay LAZ as if the parking space is occupied all the time.  That's even if the parking space is normally only used half the time so it's a fairly substantial deal to permanently remove spots.

Permalink Reply by Sarah D. on August 1, 2013 at 7:31am

YES. and yes again. 

P.S. Nice article - thank you Skip for sharing. I briefly considered copying it off and dropping at the police HQs...

Steven Vance said:

Anyone else sick and tired of these baby steps?

Remove on-street parking from Kinzie. There are like three publicly-accessible parking garages with space available. 


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