The Chainlink

CDOT announces plans for protected lanes on King, 31st and 55th‏

Taking advantage of a sweet tailwind, on Monday I pedaled south on the lakefront
to Kenwood Academy for a 4th Ward community meeting where CDOT's Mike Amsden
outlined the city's proposal for new protected bike lanes on several miles of King Drive,
31st Street and 55th Street:
http://gridchicago.com/2012/cdot-proposes-road-diets-protected-bike...

Keep moving forward,

John Greenfield


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I don't have much of a personal relationship with 55th or King Drive, but "protecting" that particular stretch of 31st would 'fix' the nasty aggressive part that makes me not want to use it to get to the lakefront.

I grew up right off 55th street. This is great news! I used to walk it to the lake front, but never biked it due to the high speeds and not being confident/knowledgeable enough to take a lane. And oh how we hated Monoxide Towers (maybe that was the towny name?) for the barrier it made for north/south travel. That said, I think traffic in the 70's was much lighter. So many people in HP walked and biked.

Me too! In the meantime, I've been taking 33rd from Halsted to MLK, and then cutting through the highrises there to Rhodes which I take north to 31st, by which time there is only a block or so left, which, given that it is usually bereft of peds, I sometimes ride on the sidewalk. Protected bike lanes will be awesome on 31st!

h' said:

I don't have much of a personal relationship with 55th or King Drive, but "protecting" that particular stretch of 31st would 'fix' the nasty aggressive part that makes me not want to use it to get to the lakefront.

The great thing about these three proposed routes is that while so far the city has been installing short snippets of protected lanes scattered around town, this would be a coherent network that would provide access to the lakefront.

They're still called the monoxide towers or the toasters and yes they do disrupt north-south routes through hyde park.  Depending on the time and day, traffic on 55th can be fairly light.  I see people regularly run the a red to get across 55th on their bikes while cycling.  

Gin said:

And oh how we hated Monoxide Towers (maybe that was the towny name?) for the barrier it made for north/south travel. That said, I think traffic in the 70's was much lighter. So many people in HP walked and biked.

Studies show most people are on their bikes while cycling.  :)

What about while peddling?

Mark said:

Studies show most people are on their bikes while cycling.  :)

+1

John Greenfield said:

The great thing about these three proposed routes is that while so far the city has been installing short snippets of protected lanes scattered around town, this would be a coherent network that would provide access to the lakefront.

33rd Rocks! But the lazy-ass in me would prefer to skip the extra 4 blocks of travel . . .

Wish there was a way to "fix" the 31st street corridor between Western and Archer.  A ped/bike bridge at 33rd and the south branch would do wonders (I heard it was planned at one point-- what happened?)

Tony Adams said:

Me too! In the meantime, I've been taking 33rd from Halsted to MLK, and then cutting through the highrises there to Rhodes which I take north to 31st, by which time there is only a block or so left, which, given that it is usually bereft of peds, I sometimes ride on the sidewalk. Protected bike lanes will be awesome on 31st!

h' said:

I don't have much of a personal relationship with 55th or King Drive, but "protecting" that particular stretch of 31st would 'fix' the nasty aggressive part that makes me not want to use it to get to the lakefront.

I'm all for the bike lanes but after this very mild winter and the terrible condition Kinzie was in I'd rather just have a painted lane.

How was Kinzie in a terrible condition? Please describe.

3 measurable snows this season. Either uncleared, lightly salted or so salt covered skidding and tire slippage. The area by the park was uncleared the part by the apts. was clean, assuming by the bldg. maint. company. Throwing salt on the path from a bucket?

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