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. 

Big intersection

The new beginning. Looking southeast at the intersection of Kinzie/Milwaukee/Desplaines. 

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Permalink Reply by Joel on June 21, 2011 at 10:02am
First, the city will plow snow onto the parked cars.  Over the next week the owners of the cars will shovel the snow into the bike lane.  Finally the process is complete in April when the snow melts and reveals a layer of broken glass and garbage.

Matt Grosspietsch said:

Hi Steven, do you have any intel on how snow will be cleared from the new Kinzie protected bike lane? It is obviously too narrow for a standard Streets and Sanitation snowplow to fit through.

 

As I pedalled through the lane last Friday for the first time, this was the first thought that came to me.

 

thanks,

 

Matt 

Permalink Reply by igz on June 21, 2011 at 10:04am

I'd imagine that there would be an investment of 'bobcats' to the streets & san dept. 

 



Matt Grosspietsch said:

Hi Steven, do you have any intel on how snow will be cleared from the new Kinzie protected bike lane? It is obviously too narrow for a standard Streets and Sanitation snowplow to fit through.

 

As I pedalled through the lane last Friday for the first time, this was the first thought that came to me.

 

thanks,

 

Matt 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 21, 2011 at 10:30am

I talked to the people from the bike lane project at the BTW ralley on Friday and asked this very question about snow removal and what will become of the bollards once the snow falls.  The answer is they are going to try and keep them in year round and are planning to play it by ear as far as snow removal is concerned.   They didn't have a plan so far that was integrated into the overall project at this point. 

 

They've got a few months to think about that solution but I would have hoped that at least a little planning would have been put into the shapes and orientation of the lanes and safety protection zones with respect to snow removal apparatus and where they intend to pile snow -even temporarily.  Snow piles are visibility hazards as well as physical barriors and a sources of meltwater that becomes freezewater once the sun goes down.  

 

I think the answer lies in the fact that these lanes are modeled after those in other cities such as DC where they get a bunch of snow from time to time as well although the lanes there are so new they don't have more than a year or so of winters to have gathered data.  As a bicyclist I can only hope they will do something smart and not just ignore the problem like the previous administration did to just about everything.  

 

Snow removal is and has been an issue in regular unprotected bike lanes and sharrows here in Chicago.  I'm sure it will be even more of an issue in these protected lanes.  When the protected lanes become snow dumps for the plows I guess we'll just have to ride in the narrow singular traffic lane...

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 21, 2011 at 10:42am
I think this is a legitimate concern, and I hope they come up with more of a plan before winter.

James Baum said:

I talked to the people from the bike lane project at the BTW ralley on Friday and asked this very question about snow removal and what will become of the bollards once the snow falls.  The answer is they are going to try and keep them in year round and are planning to play it by ear as far as snow removal is concerned.   They didn't have a plan so far that was integrated into the overall project at this point. 

 

They've got a few months to think about that solution but I would have hoped that at least a little planning would have been put into the shapes and orientation of the lanes and safety protection zones with respect to snow removal apparatus and where they intend to pile snow -even temporarily.  Snow piles are visibility hazards as well as physical barriors and a sources of meltwater that becomes freezewater once the sun goes down.  

 

I think the answer lies in the fact that these lanes are modeled after those in other cities such as DC where they get a bunch of snow from time to time as well although the lanes there are so new they don't have more than a year or so of winters to have gathered data.  As a bicyclist I can only hope they will do something smart and not just ignore the problem like the previous administration did to just about everything.  

 

Snow removal is and has been an issue in regular unprotected bike lanes and sharrows here in Chicago.  I'm sure it will be even more of an issue in these protected lanes.  When the protected lanes become snow dumps for the plows I guess we'll just have to ride in the narrow singular traffic lane...

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 21, 2011 at 11:24am

I have a feeling that the first snowfall will be a clusterfrak and hopefully they will improve from there with each subsequent storm layer.   But that isn't too far off from what happens anyway with the regular snow removal as it always seems everyone forgets how to drive in the snow and the city forgets how to plow.  The city has a short memory.   The new bike lanes will be no different and since they will be new they will present more of a challenge.  I only hope they will try and prioritize it when the time comes -and not just blow it off as a bottom-tier issue for days/weeks.   

 

 

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on June 21, 2011 at 12:02pm

I've always been pretty impressed by how quickly the LBF is plowed after a snowfall, as well as the walking paths through Lincoln Park. I'm assuming they could use similar machinery to plow the protected bike lanes, and hopefully make the protected bike lanes as much a priority.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 21, 2011 at 12:18pm
In Madison the UW campus has these brush-like contraptions that they attach to the front of the Bobcattm skid-steers instead of a plow or bucket that counter-rotates and spits the snow away and off the sidewalks and paths. It seems to work really well although you don't want to be anywhere NEAR one of them in operations as it is a mobile white-out storm within a 50-feet radius and i don't see how the operator can see what they are doing much less keep from running people/things over while moving snow with it. With MILES of new bike paths along with the existing crumbling bike path infrastructure it's going to take specialized and dedicated equipment to do snow removal on them if the city is serious about it and us using them year-round.

The BikeWinter folk are going to need to keep on the city and keep them informed that we DO RIDE in the winter and don't want to be relegated to the bottom tier of snow-removal. We don't want the new bike lanes to be 3-season or get 3-season maintenance.
Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on June 23, 2011 at 3:50pm
I was gonna head straight South on Halsted today to try it out but I guess the bridge just South of Clybourn is out?
Circled back and diaged on Clybourn.
Oh well, another day.
Permalink Reply by Michelle S on June 24, 2011 at 1:30am

There's a Sun-Times article today on initial reactions to the Kinzie lanes. I like the reference to Milwaukee Ave being a "hipster highway". But this may be my favorite quote:

 

“I’ve talked with some friends with cars and they’re not too happy about it. One said it just doesn’t seem like Kinzie is a street for cars anymore.”

 

Um, yeah, now it’s a street for EVERYONE.

 

http://www.suntimes.com/6142837-417/bikers-drivers-at-odds-over-ben...

 

Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 24, 2011 at 2:18am

I've been riding it the last few days (with all the bollards installed) and so far I'm impressed. Fewer car interactions, and even the left turns onto Clinton and Franklin aren't too hard to navigate.

One of the things I didn't expect is that the roadway for cars is not only single lane, but also narrow. It forces cars to slow down, and pay more attention to their driving

 

Now if bicyclists only could stop for stop signs when cars are present: This morning I saw 6 bicyclists in a row blow the eastbound stop sign at Clinton, while a westbound truck is trying to make a left turn onto Clinton and gets stuck halfway into his turn.

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on June 24, 2011 at 2:39am
I'd like to also plead all bicyclists stop at stop signs when cars are present, always, but especially on Kinzie, which will be closely watched as Chicago's experimental protected bike lane. Motorists are understandably pissed off when they see a stream of cyclists blow through as if they have an invisible green light that only they can see. There's going to be so much public backlash against protected lanes as it is; let's not give them more fuel for the fire.
Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on June 24, 2011 at 3:00am

I was in a line of bikes, got to the stop after people on bikes stopped then watched as cars just kept turning left and right sometimes with the rear hanging in the lane so I rode in between a cab where he proclaimed he was turning or something like that I thought, "yeah just like all the other cars", you stop and follow the rules on a bike they just muscle in anyway then had to continue forward swing out into traffic to get around a vehicle parked in the lane.

 

 

 

Whew!

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