Kinzie. It's what's next.
Hopefully you've heard by now that CDOT will begin construction this week on the city's first protected bike lane: Kinzie Street from Milwaukee Avenue/Desplaines Street to Wells Street.
Full story on Steven Can Plan.
I want to know what you think about this.
- What do you feel will need special attention?
- Is this the right or wrong location for such a facility? Why?
- Are you going to thank/congratulate Rahm, Gabe, and the CDOT Bicycle Program?
- Will you use it?
Cycle track and protected bike lane naysayers, this isn't the post for you. But if you've ridden in protected bike lanes before, then I welcome your constructive comments and criticism based on your actual experiences.
The new beginning. Looking southeast at the intersection of Kinzie/Milwaukee/Desplaines.
Views: 4015
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on
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Which difficult spots further east?
The "dimensions" of the protected bike lane are only from Desplaines/Milwaukee to Wells Street.
James Baum said:It seems to me, having ridden it this morning, that the part of Kinzie that they have tackled so far was merely the extreme low-hanging fruit -the wide and easy bits where fitting a bike lane in was just a matter of laying down some paint. The difficult spots further East haven't been tackled. The parts that have been done weren't the pinch points or the bad spot to ride.
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Permalink Reply by Gin on
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Our voices will be critical (I hope!) to informing the plan. The first generations of bicycle facilities focused on the lower hanging fruit, delineating space for cycling where space pretty much was already there. This is not a criticism--it made a lot of sense to get things rolling. But I am looking forward to tackling harder but still very important corridors. Look at the crash data, look at the barriers, and lack of nearby alternatives. . . .
One thing said at the last MBAC meeting that was very encouraging: Ben Gomberg stated clearly that protected lanes are not the only tool. They are looking at bicycle boulevards and other strategies for accommodating cycling. I look forward to the day when we do not talk so much about the "bicycle network" but rather how well all Chicago streets work together to facilitate all types of travel. Cyclists and pedestrians will be on all roadways (minus the expressways, usually :). . . so let's plan and design for them.
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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on
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I rode it from LaSalle to Milwaukee. I saw the protected lanes starting at Wells. They went for about 2 blocks and then just crapped out. The bridge had nothing -nada, nill, zippo!
The protected lanes picked up again at around Clinton and went the last 2 blocks on nto Milwaukee, up the slight incline to the 5-way intersection which hooked in quite well to "Hipster Highway" and points NorthWest from there.
The worst spot is the bridge and the area a couple blocks either way which were completely devoid of any new paint or markings whatsoever. Maybe they are going to get around to doing the part that really needed the "protection" later -or maybe they are going to call that "good" until they get an actual plan.
Steven Vance said:Which difficult spots further east?
The "dimensions" of the protected bike lane are only from Desplaines/Milwaukee to Wells Street.
James Baum said:It seems to me, having ridden it this morning, that the part of Kinzie that they have tackled so far was merely the extreme low-hanging fruit -the wide and easy bits where fitting a bike lane in was just a matter of laying down some paint. The difficult spots further East haven't been tackled. The parts that have been done weren't the pinch points or the bad spot to ride.
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Permalink Reply by Duppie on
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I am pretty sure they will complete the blocks in between. Had you paid closer attention, you would have noticed that they already removed the old lane markings near the bridge.
Also, the lanes aren't even scheduled to be complete until this Friday.
James Baum said:
I rode it from LaSalle to Milwaukee. I saw the protected lanes starting at Wells. They went for about 2 blocks and then just crapped out. The bridge had nothing -nada, nill, zippo!
The protected lanes picked up again at around Clinton and went the last 2 blocks on nto Milwaukee, up the slight incline to the 5-way intersection which hooked in quite well to "Hipster Highway" and points NorthWest from there.
The worst spot is the bridge and the area a couple blocks either way which were completely devoid of any new paint or markings whatsoever. Maybe they are going to get around to doing the part that really needed the "protection" later -or maybe they are going to call that "good" until they get an actual plan.
Steven Vance said:Which difficult spots further east?
The "dimensions" of the protected bike lane are only from Desplaines/Milwaukee to Wells Street.
James Baum said:It seems to me, having ridden it this morning, that the part of Kinzie that they have tackled so far was merely the extreme low-hanging fruit -the wide and easy bits where fitting a bike lane in was just a matter of laying down some paint. The difficult spots further East haven't been tackled. The parts that have been done weren't the pinch points or the bad spot to ride.
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I already noticed a significant change, both this morning and this afternoon. The eastbound traffic near Merchandise Mart backed up a block and a half while moving in a single lane towards the traffic signal. This used to be 2-lane traffic.
It will be interesting to see how drivers will adjust to this new narrower road. Will they change their route?
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I wouldn't notice because I try to stay out of kill zones and have avoided Kinzie in the past.
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Permalink Reply by Joel on
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There are a couple places where I think traffic would improve if it remained only one lane, or a making one of the lanes a left-turn-only lane. People slam on the gas, spread out, and then fight to merge back together which is unsafe and slow.
Cameron Puetz said:
The turbulence of the merging traffic is a major contributor to the backup, and may actually get better when Kinzie is consistently one lane.
Duppie said:I already noticed a significant change, both this morning and this afternoon. The eastbound traffic near Merchandise Mart backed up a block and a half while moving in a single lane towards the traffic signal. This used to be 2-lane traffic.
It will be interesting to see how drivers will adjust to this new narrower road. Will they change their route?
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Good points, Cameron
Cameron Puetz said:
A fair amount of the traffic on Kinzie is drivers who have already changed their route due to Wacker Drive construction. Once Wacker reopens I’d say it’s safe to assume that they’ll change their route back.
Also, a lot of the backup this morning was where motorized traffic went to two lanes for a block or less and then back to one lane. The turbulence of the merging traffic is a major contributor to the backup, and may actually get better when Kinzie is consistently one lane.
Duppie said:I already noticed a significant change, both this morning and this afternoon. The eastbound traffic near Merchandise Mart backed up a block and a half while moving in a single lane towards the traffic signal. This used to be 2-lane traffic.
It will be interesting to see how drivers will adjust to this new narrower road. Will they change their route?
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+1 to what both Cameron and Joel have said above.
To me, this is where the "road diet" effort should be aimed. This is where the "belly bulge" is that needs to be slimmed down. When a road goes from one lane to two and then right back to one again this almost always causes problems where the traffic needs to merge back down and a danger spot for bikes caught in the middle of the automotive melee.
The aggressive drivers will always take this opportunity to put the hammer down and move right into the new lane and try and pass a car or two to "get ahead." They will do this even in a bus stop or turning lane where parking stops momentarily and then just blow through the next intersection past this short opening and proceed to jam back left, cutting off traffic in this lane and causing brake lights to flash and sometimes even accidents to happen further back on the slinky effect caused by this inappropriate driving behavior.
These belly bulges need to be removed in many places where they exist. One example of this is very near my place where Milwaukee crosses Kezie and the end of Logan Blvd in the cluster-faux traffic circle. The marked sharrows just end in this spot and it's open season on us bikes here. The issue is even worse due to the pavement 2-3 feet from the curb being as cratered as the surface of the moon and auto traffic takes the lane from us for 150-200 meters before jamming back to a single lane a block or so later.
This area should be put on a road diet. Make it 1-lane all the way through. Many other areas of the city need a road diet to battle the belly bulge of the vestigial extra lane that needs to be slimmed down.
And more paint and sign markings need to be put at turning lanes so that drivers understand that this is a Sharrow/Bikelane/Right turn ONLY and not the line-up for a drag race for pole-position through the intersection before the lanes pinch back down at the far side of the intersection.
In my opinion these belly bulges are some of the the most dangerous areas to ride a bike in this city right behind the pinch-points like bridges and under/overpasses where there isn't enough room even for the existing traffic lanes and no extra space (protected or not) for us who chose to ride human-powered two wheeled transportation and don't want to end up as a ghost bike.
Cameron Puetz said:
Also, a lot of the backup this morning was where motorized traffic went to two lanes for a block or less and then back to one lane. The turbulence of the merging traffic is a major contributor to the backup, and may actually get better when Kinzie is consistently one lane.
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CDOT created a "belly bulge" (I call them road binges) at the new Halsted Street bridge over the North Branch Canal, that's under construction.
Halsted north and south of the bridge is and will remain 1 main lane in each direction, and 1 bike lane in each direction. ON THE BRIDGE, though, there will be 2 main lanes in each direction, and 1 bike lane each direction. Thanks for that, right?
James Baum said:[parts of comment removed]
The aggressive drivers will always take this opportunity to put the hammer down and move right into the new lane and try and pass a car or two to "get ahead." They will do this even in a bus stop or turning lane where parking stops momentarily and then just blow through the next intersection past this short opening and proceed to jam back left, cutting off traffic in this lane and causing brake lights to flash and sometimes even accidents to happen further back on the slinky effect caused by this inappropriate driving behavior.
These belly bulges need to be removed in many places where they exist. Many other areas of the city need a road diet to battle the belly bulge of the vestigial extra lane that needs to be slimmed down.
In my opinion these belly bulges are some of the the most dangerous areas to ride a bike in this city right behind the pinch-points like bridges and under/overpasses where there isn't enough room even for the existing traffic lanes and no extra space (protected or not) for us who chose to ride human-powered two wheeled transportation and don't want to end up as a ghost bike.
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These types of moves really irritate and baffle me as to who exactly thought this type of thing is a good idea.
There are all types of engineers out there. Rocket science, structural, electrical... But road engineers are pretty much the bottom of the barrel. Roads hardly ever fall down (except for bridges but a different class of engineer actually designs those when the Roadway engineer just specs how many lanes they want.)
Then there are the guys who design and make the traffic signs. Those people are often barely literate. I wonder if it is done by some sort of special halfway house work program...
Steven Vance said:CDOT created a "belly bulge" (I call them road binges) at the new Halsted Street bridge over the North Branch Canal, that's under construction.
Halsted north and south of the bridge is and will remain 1 main lane in each direction, and 1 bike lane in each direction. ON THE BRIDGE, though, there will be 2 main lanes in each direction, and 1 bike lane each direction. Thanks for that, right?
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I'm sure the engineers had no say in the specifications. They design whatever the politicians demand. Sure, they can suggest something, but in the end it is the politicians who get their way.
James Baum said:
These types of moves really irritate and baffle me as to who exactly thought this type of thing is a good idea.
There are all types of engineers out there. Rocket science, structural, electrical... But road engineers are pretty much the bottom of the barrel. Roads hardly ever fall down (except for bridges but a different class of engineer actually designs those when the Roadway engineer just specs how many lanes they want.)
Then there are the guys who design and make the traffic signs. Those people are often barely literate. I wonder if it is done by some sort of special halfway house work program...
Steven Vance said:CDOT created a "belly bulge" (I call them road binges) at the new Halsted Street bridge over the North Branch Canal, that's under construction.
Halsted north and south of the bridge is and will remain 1 main lane in each direction, and 1 bike lane in each direction. ON THE BRIDGE, though, there will be 2 main lanes in each direction, and 1 bike lane each direction. Thanks for that, right?
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