Does the City of Chicago have a new approach to snow removal?

Has there been some sort of decision that secondary and residential streets will no longer be cleared of snow?

This winter is off to a very bad start for Chicago cyclists.

Would be interested to hear what you're seeing in your part of town.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on December 14, 2013 at 4:10am

Has it been that bad in your neighborhood this week? We've seen some plowing on side streets in and near Beverly, but not as good as in recent years.

Permalink Reply by mike w. on December 14, 2013 at 4:25am

Money is tight, and snow removal costs a lot.

Hated hated hated using the CTA this week, but my usual route in is too dicey right now. Sheridan rd is supposed to have a snow-route parking ban, but has yet to be ploughed to the gutters, especially northbound.

Back when i lived in Rogers Park, the side streets were never properly cleared. The N/S streets eventually became passable after the sun shone on them for a week or two, but the E/W streets were always shaded by buildings and never really cleared until spring thaw. i imagine it's the same city-wide.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on December 14, 2013 at 8:32am

What's funny this year is the only company not pushing snow into the Dearborn bike lane is the Goodman...

Permalink Reply by Reba 4.0 mi on December 14, 2013 at 9:22am

Don't think there have been plows on the side streets in the Ukrainian Village. There certainly have not been any yet today/last night. I've given up trying to ride in the Augusta Blvd bike lane and take less traveled streets where I can ride in the middle of the road, pulling over for the occasional car. Augusta never gets fully plowed and all the ice and snow sits in the bike lane. 

Permalink Reply by S on December 15, 2013 at 6:15am

I disagree about the  LFP removal, it's been pretty good.  There are places that have snow drifts but that's more due to wind blowing the snow.  As in, I've ridden past a spot that's been clear and salted in the morning but in afternoon, that section has been covered with snow.  There is a glaring exception at the bridge over the chicago river just south of navy pier.  There's been no snow removal their even though everything up to it has been cleared.  There's literally been a cleared and salted path that just stops in a stretch with that's covered in snow.  Not sure why this is though, possibly some sort of issue where Streets and Sans is supposed to do the work but doesn't?

 
kiltedcelt said:

Snow removal on the LFP seems to be pretty lacking as well. There are some areas left over from the LAST snowfall that still haven't been plowed away. Can't wait to see what the path looks like today. I drove into work yesterday because I knew the path wouldn't be totally cleared and that side streets would probably be dicey as well. At 7:15 AM I could tell the LFP hadn't been plowed at all from 57th as far as 35th.

Permalink Reply by Bobby's Bike Hike- Chicago Tours on December 15, 2013 at 6:51am

Commuting from the Lincoln Park area, our route down state st and wabash towards Navy Pier has been in good condition. We agree with "S" that the LFP for the most part has been in good condition!

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on December 16, 2013 at 3:35am

And the 55 West Wacker building is the absolute worst!  It is obvious that the Dearborn lanes were cleared, but that the building people shoveled what looks like all of the snow from the sidewalk back into the PBL.

In my neighborhood, Paulina is not too bad, but the rest of the side streets--meh!  I am not sure if thecity is doing worse than usual or that we were just so spoiled by last winter.
 
Tricolor said:

What's funny this year is the only company not pushing snow into the Dearborn bike lane is the Goodman...

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on December 16, 2013 at 4:06am

The southbound Dearborn lane was full of snow from the sidewalk of the Monadnock Building this morning. 

Friday was ok, but this morning was a pretty terrible commute. Blocks and blocks of Archer between Ashland and Western had lots of crusty chunky snow in the rush hour no-parking lane. Loomis from Cermak to Eleanor (~2600 South) has a bike lane of sorts - I think it is a bit of a grey area in that it is no longer marked as a bike lane but it is also clearly not a lane for motor vehicles - that lane was not plowed at all this morning - but the snow it it was very chunky and deep and semi-frozen/rutted - in other words, not ridable - at least not on my touring bike - so again I had to take a lane that motorists are not accustomed to sharing with bikes. 

The residential streets in McKinley park do appear to have gotten one pass of plowing last week - they are sort of ridable if one is ok with taking the lane for entire blocks at a time. (That does not go over so well with motorists.)

h' 1.0 said:

If there are specific buildings dumping snow in the PBL we need to get some collective action going.

Again, I only see a small snapshot, so I'm relying on others to find out what's happening city wide, but last year secondary and residential streets got plow attention, this year they're not, plain and simple.

Lisa Curcio 4.1 mi said:

And the 55 West Wacker building is the absolute worst!  It is obvious that the Dearborn lanes were cleared, but that the building people shoveled what looks like all of the snow from the sidewalk back into the PBL.

In my neighborhood, Paulina is not too bad, but the rest of the side streets--meh!  I am not sure if thecity is doing worse than usual or that we were just so spoiled by last winter.
 
Tricolor said:

What's funny this year is the only company not pushing snow into the Dearborn bike lane is the Goodman...

Permalink Reply by Eli on December 16, 2013 at 4:28am

It definitely seems worse this year in Edgewater. There are big ridges of snow in between the lanes on side streets, and even the main streets, while they have been nominally plowed and salted, are not great either. In contrast to earlier years I have seen zero proactive salting anywhere before storms, even though every snowfall this year has been well-predicted.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on December 16, 2013 at 4:43am

Side streets in Lake View have been pretty abysmal. It's frustrating because the side streets are generally better for biking, and the city is taking that convenience away. Another relic of auto-centric culture. That, coupled with the shoddy plowing of the protected and painted bike lanes is making this winter more difficult than last year. The Lake Front Trail has been well-plowed and salted, though. So there's that.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on December 16, 2013 at 4:52am

You must be living in a different Edgewater than I do.

In my Edgewater, street plowing is on par with previous years: Streets are generally rideable with a few areas with some slush.

Eli said:

It definitely seems worse this year in Edgewater. There are big ridges of snow in between the lanes on side streets, and even the main streets, while they have been nominally plowed and salted, are not great either. In contrast to earlier years I have seen zero proactive salting anywhere before storms, even though every snowfall this year has been well-predicted.

Permalink Reply by Eli on December 16, 2013 at 4:57am

They're plenty rideable now after days of car traffic. Last Sunday night after a full day's snowfall with no salting or plowing, and into last Monday, they were covered with several inches of irregularly-compacted snow and were not rideable.

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