Fullerton Parkway bridge project disappointing for walking and biking

The south sidewalk/mixed use trail along Fullerton from Cannon Drive to the Lake Front Trail will be permanently eliminated in order to increase the number of car traffic lanes from four to five, and specifically to replace the south sidewalk/mixed use trail with a new, second, right turn lane for cars headed onto southbound Lake Shore Drive. My post on the topic on the blog Bike Walk Lincoln Park here. Your thoughts?

"Fewer points of conflict with pedestrians" will be achieved by simply eliminating the presence of pedestrians on this side of Fullerton Parkway over the lagoon and under Lake Shore Drive. (Photo: Bike Walk Lincoln Park)

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Permalink Reply by Tim S on March 17, 2012 at 5:10am

"3/ Lack of accommodation on the street for people riding a bicycle to and from the Lake Front Trail

Currently, there is no bike lane of any type on Fullerton Parkway on this stretch, currently or planned with this design. Fullerton car traffic is already too fast-moving for all but the most fearless bicycle rider to reach the Lake Front Trail. The proposed design, with its additional turn lane and synchronized traffic lights, will only make car traffic faster, more aggressive, and more treacherous for a person riding a bicycle on Fullerton."

From the Bike Walk Lincoln Park page. I enjoy riding Fullerton, even right there, and its never been a big deal to me. 

Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on March 19, 2012 at 4:12am

From the Tribune online:

Second, there will no longer be any pedestrian access along the south side of the bridge. Instead, all pedestrian and bike traffic will be confined to a 20-foot-wide span on the north side. Some residents objected to the change because attractions like the Lincoln Park Zoo and Conservatory are on the south side of Fullerton. People coming from them tend naturally to move eastward along that side of Fullerton toward the lake. Forcing them to cross a busy stretch of road is inconvenient. Others lamented the loss of an amazing vantage point of the skyline which draws casual onlookers and photographers alike.

For the full article, go here: http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2012/03/16/construction-to-begin...

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on October 4, 2012 at 10:30am

Many of you were interested in this project last time around, so just FYI that I published a new post today on Bike Walk Lincoln Park, with drawings of the Fullerton Parkway bridge plan and my further comments.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 4, 2012 at 10:56am

Michelle - Thanks for the update.  This is even worse than I was afraid it would be. It's a recipe for significant higher traffic speeds from Cannon to LSD, for potentially worse crashes between peds/cyclists and motor vehicles at the Fullerton/Cannon and NB LSD crosswalks, as well as a violation of Complete Streets.  This has been one of the most heavily used lakefront access points on the north side, and they're treating it like we don't matter.

These changes also have great potential to increase ped-cyclist crashes, since so many more users will be competing for that north sidewalk.  This is just so bass-ackwards and wrong.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on October 4, 2012 at 11:35am

Yet another FAIL for the so-called bicycle infrastructure that is safe for 8-80 transportation.   

But as long as the cars can speed by at high speed that is all that counts -right?

Permalink Reply by Michael J Blane on October 5, 2012 at 12:04am

So, when there's lots of traffic getting on LSD at Fullerton, the Drive itself is probably already crowded with lots of traffic too; and feeding more cars, more quickly onto LSD is a good idea. What?

Permalink Reply by Justin B Newman on October 5, 2012 at 12:28am

So, it's pretty clear that Complete Streets failed here. As did citizen organizing. What happened here? Is this an Alderman who just didn't care? Pressure from the State? CDOT hurrying too much? What went wrong that we can learn from, and is there anything that can really be done to change -this- project - or any future projects?

-jbn

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on October 5, 2012 at 1:38am

The first I heard of the project was a few days before the ground was supposed to break on it, in March 2012; however, I understand it was 5+ years in the making. We had a different alderman then, who had a website that was periodically but sporadically updated, and I don't recall getting notice of public hearings. (This was prior to the current standard of weekly aldermanic newsletters, and prior to my co-founding BWLP in 2011.) However, I understand at least one hearing was held, and the biggest concerns were from park advocacy people who wanted to make sure that trees cut down during construction were replaced, and some citizens also lamented the loss of a picture-taking spot of the skyline over the lagoon from the southern sidewalk.

 

Five years ago was a different ball game in terms of thinking of Complete Streets in our city agencies. I'm hopeful that this design wouldn't even be considered.

 

In terms of avoiding similar situations, it would be great if CDOT posted notices of all projects on their web pages so that concerned citizens could give timely input. Right now only the really huge ones are featured, like the Bloomingdale Trail. We shouldn't rely on individual aldermen to manage the input process because 1/ some are better at communicating than others, and 2/ many projects have implications that go well beyond narrow ward boundaries, and the general citizenry should have a voice in the process as well.

Justin B Newman said:

So, it's pretty clear that Complete Streets failed here. As did citizen organizing. What happened here? Is this an Alderman who just didn't care? Pressure from the State? CDOT hurrying too much? What went wrong that we can learn from, and is there anything that can really be done to change -this- project - or any future projects?

-jbn

Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on October 5, 2012 at 2:38am

Yeah, this is the part I don't get.  They've screwed pedestrians and cyclists and the "solution" isn't even going to improve traffic flow, due to the fact LSD is already crowded as you pointed out, plus the fact the on-ramp has stayed exactly the same. 

The lack of understanding of basic physics in this design is just painful to try and digest...  I know there are highly skilled engineers who participate in these designs, and I can't believe none of them understand the concept of a bottleneck.

Michael J Blane said:

So, when there's lots of traffic getting on LSD at Fullerton, the Drive itself is probably already crowded with lots of traffic too; and feeding more cars, more quickly onto LSD is a good idea. What?

Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on October 5, 2012 at 2:39am

...but thanks a ton for the update, Michelle.  And remember, anything that can be done can also be undone.

Michelle Stenzel said:

Many of you were interested in this project last time around, so just FYI that I published a new post today on Bike Walk Lincoln Park, with drawings of the Fullerton Parkway bridge plan and my further comments.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 5, 2012 at 3:06am

I suspect that the big goal was to somewhat reduce the amount of backup extending west on Fullerton, although I question how well that might work for the basic reason spelled out here - traffic on LSD.

Carter O'Brien said:

Yeah, this is the part I don't get.  They've screwed pedestrians and cyclists and the "solution" isn't even going to improve traffic flow, due to the fact LSD is already crowded as you pointed out, plus the fact the on-ramp has stayed exactly the same. 

The lack of understanding of basic physics in this design is just painful to try and digest...  I know there are highly skilled engineers who participate in these designs, and I can't believe none of them understand the concept of a bottleneck.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 5, 2012 at 3:07am

But at great co$t and after years of waiting.

Carter O'Brien said:

...but thanks a ton for the update, Michelle.  And remember, anything that can be done can also be undone.

Michelle Stenzel said:

Many of you were interested in this project last time around, so just FYI that I published a new post today on Bike Walk Lincoln Park, with drawings of the Fullerton Parkway bridge plan and my further comments.

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