The Chainlink

ATA asks: Where would you like a bike blvd?

Copy and Pasted from my inbox: 

 

So where YOU put a bike blvd?

 

Where would you put a bike boulevard?

City looking for suggestions in your community
 

Dear Joseph,

The City of Chicago is interested in piloting a bike boulevard and the Chicago Department of Transportation is asking for your input and suggestions on locations.

Bike boulevards are roads that are made comfortable for all bicyclists by slowing car traffic and reducing the amount of car traffic on the street. That might be through speed bumps, traffic diverters or signs. Local traffic can still maneuver, but high-speed cut-through traffic is discouraged.

Bike boulevards are usually parallel to arterial roads and oftentimes become major thoroughfares for bicyclists and havens for families to walk and play.

Here is an example of one in Portland.

We’ve been asked to reach out to our members and collect feedback.  So we want to hear your suggestions for specific street locations that would be a good fit for a bike boulevard in Chicago. Keep these criteria in mind:

  • Minimum one-mile stretch
  • Controlled crossing at all intersections – stop sign or traffic light
  • Residential roadway
  • Low motor vehicle traffic
  • High number of cyclists using the route and in the neighborhood
  • Aldermanic support

Send us your ideas to adolfo@activetrans.org by Friday, April 9.

Your voice strengthens the movement around active transportation. Thank you!
 

Active Transportation Alliance
9 W Hubbard St. Suite 402 • Chicago, IL 60654
312.427.3325 www.activetrans.org

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by heather s on April 6, 2010 at 7:57pm
Yes, with the cavet that the number of speed bumps is a bit off-putting. If this was a BB, I'd prefer some other traffic-calming measure, although I didn't get the sense from ATA's email that there was tons of funding available for this project.

Anne Alt said:
Oakley from Fullerton to Roosevelt would make an awesome bike boulevard, but parts of it are currently one-way. West Town people - do you like this idea?
Permalink Reply by heather s on April 6, 2010 at 8:02pm
cmon... the presence of a bike boulevard won't adversely affect your ability to crank down Clark or Halsted, but it might make life a lot better for those wobbly kids and their parents, or other riders in the area who aren't in such a hurry. It might even keep some of those slower cyclists off your preferred routes! Not everyone has time or desire to head over to the LFP every time they want to go on a leisurely bike ride.

Clark said:
Gee Anne...thanks for all the ideas on the Northside...and I thought you were a dyed-in-the-wool Southsider. :-)

But I don't get the concept...who needs "bike boulevards?" I watched the Portland video in the link provided by ATA, and all I can say is keep them away from my neighborhood! That street didn't look safe for cyclists at all!

Too many weird curbs and unexpected mid-street obstructions, too many wobbling kids on bikes, too many cross streets. I prefer cranking at 20+ mph down Clark, Halsted, Fullerton, etc. The average speed in the video looked to be about 10mph. Cars may be big and ugly, but at least they usually follow traffic laws. So I guess I'd rather bike alongside cars than packs of unpredictable cyclists on a "bike boulevard."
Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on April 6, 2010 at 8:15pm
Its not called the hipster highway for nothing. Oakley parallels Western, which we all know is a mess.

Anne Alt said:
Oakley from Fullerton to Roosevelt would make an awesome bike boulevard, but parts of it are currently one-way. West Town people - do you like this idea?
Permalink Reply by Duppie on April 6, 2010 at 8:17pm
Leavitt (2200 W) from Barry Ave (3100 N) to Balmoral (5400 N). Almost 3 miles of low traffic, some of it one way, and existing traffic lights at all the major intersections.
Its by favorite North-South route a-little-further-away-from-the-lake

Barring that, I'd follow Anne Alt's suggestion: N Glenwood from Argyle to Ridge, about a mile.
Permalink Reply by payton on April 7, 2010 at 12:52am
Heather has it exactly right: these are facilities for the other 90%. Not many people feel safe riding at 20+ MPH in heavy traffic (although a few do!), and encouraging people to bike* means providing spaces where more people feel safe riding -- like bike boulevards. Heck, I don't feel safe on Michigan Avenue, and I'm an experienced, fast guy on a nice bike.

As for routes, I've always been a fan of Oakley (and also told Adolfo that!), and making the one-way parts into two-way since they're not really any narrower or anything. As Cezar says, it's a good parallel to nasty but necessary Western Avenue -- and many of the most successful bike boulevards run parallel to similar arterials, like Shattuck in Berkeley or Broadway in Vancouver. (The Vancouver route along 7th/8th is called "Off Broadway.") For an east-west on the west side, Ohio has always made a lot of sense to me.

* And yes, although I'm sure those people will get in your way at some point, they'll be in your way whether they're in a car, in a bus, on a bike, on foot, or on pogo sticks. Getting people on bikes is good for everyone, and I feel very strange having to write that here.
Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on April 7, 2010 at 6:54am
These are all great, thanks everyone. Joe, thanks for posting this, I was out on Monday (go, white sox) and didn't get a chance.

Please keep in mind:

1. We need the final suggestions emailed to us by this Friday, April 9 (see original post)
2. Suggestions need to fit the criteria (primarily the length and controlled intersections)

Thanks,
Ethan, with Active Trans

PS: Clark, I'll see you on Clark (my preferred route). Heather and Payton are right about the purpose of this street treatment and the folks that would use these.
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on April 7, 2010 at 4:05pm
That section of Leavitt could be a nice bike boulevard.

While Howard is right that we will tend to favor routes that are most useful to ourselves, I ride in many different areas of the city, to boulevards in almost any area could be useful to me at various times.

Duppie said:
Leavitt (2200 W) from Barry Ave (3100 N) to Balmoral (5400 N). Almost 3 miles of low traffic, some of it one way, and existing traffic lights at all the major intersections.
Its by favorite North-South route a-little-further-away-from-the-lake

Barring that, I'd follow Anne Alt's suggestion: N Glenwood from Argyle to Ridge, about a mile.
Permalink Reply by Joe TV on April 7, 2010 at 4:16pm
Re: N Leavitt:

I agree - I use this stretch daily northbound - Pros: light vehicular traffic, lights at crossings of major streets, seems like a good candidate. Cons: Much (all?) of the street is one way (NB), so would two way bike traffic work? (I'd really like to ride it SB too) It's only 2 blocks from a very bike friendly (relatively speaking) stretch of Damen.
Permalink Reply by payton on April 22, 2010 at 11:05pm
I like to use Leavitt, too, both south and north of the river. Something about one-ways: in many cities, streets that are one-way for cars are made into two-way bike boulevards. In Vancouver, they have a pretty ingenious solution: keep the street two-way, but just block off entering car traffic with a curb and bike "sleeve."
Permalink Reply by alex on April 23, 2010 at 12:53am
Oakley please
Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on April 23, 2010 at 2:49am
That looks like a wonderful treatment I would like to see installed in Chicago.

payton said:
I like to use Leavitt, too, both south and north of the river. Something about one-ways: in many cities, streets that are one-way for cars are made into two-way bike boulevards. In Vancouver, they have a pretty ingenious solution: keep the street two-way, but just block off entering car traffic with a curb and bike "sleeve."
Permalink Reply by payton on April 23, 2010 at 4:29pm
To underscore an earlier point, an excerpt from a study of bicyclists in Portland:

"The 'Strong and the Fearless' comprise perhaps 2,000 or fewer cyclists in Portland, representing fewer than 0.5% of the population. These are the people who will ride in Portland regardless of roadway conditions... A much larger demographic, representing the vast majority of Portland’s citizens, are the 'interested but concerned...' Very few of these people regularly ride bicycles—perhaps 2,000 who will ride through their neighborhoods to the local park or coffee shop, but who will not venture out onto the arterials to the major commercial and employment destinations they frequent. There are probably 300,000 in this group, representing 60% of the city’s population. They would ride if they felt safer on the roadways—if cars were slower and less frequent, and if there were more quiet streets with few cars and paths without any cars at all."

Bike boulevards are not for the first group, which isn't many people even in "America's cycling capital." They primarily address the vastly larger second group, which will not ride on arterial streets.

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