Update! Support the North Branch Trail Extension

With the new Cook County Commissioner redistricting, the Old Edgebrook neighborhood now falls into Commissioner Bridget Gainer's district. She has received letters from the Edgebrook Community Association and the neighbors of Old Edgebrook to put pressure to stop the trail extension. Construction is scheduled to begin November 30, 2015 and we need Commissioner Gainer to hear from supporters of the trail. Please consider calling or writing Commissioner Gainer an email stating your support, what the trail means to you and if you live in her district. It’s okay if you don’t live in her district, but it’s important to hear from the district constituents if they are supporters, find the district map here. Email her at Info@BridgetGainer.com or call her office at (312) 603-4210 to share your support of the trail extension. Please forward this email to fellow trail supporters.

 

Thank you for your help and support! Hopefully this time next year I will be seeing you at the trail ribbon cutting. 

Not familiar with the project? Check it out here. 

Thank you!!!!

Views: 3571

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by The Korn on November 7, 2015 at 10:52am
I agree!

...and I do too!
Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on November 7, 2015 at 12:26pm

Am I the only one that find's the comments confusing? Am I hearing correctly the concerns expressed are mainly for the safety of drivers? 

I've seen many paths intersect with roads e.g. North Branch, Prairie Path and I believe with proper signage this extension will work very well. Is it mainly being seen as an inconvenience by Petra and Lainie but being presented as a "safety issue"? I hope I am misunderstanding what is being said. I have no plans to remove Kindy's request for our support because I believe in paths like this one and the North Branch Trail is so important to Chicago and the community. Bike paths have proven to be great for communities, great for local businesses.

Permalink Reply by Harry Lee on November 7, 2015 at 12:53pm

Her post says that '[Bridget Gainer] has received letters from the Edgebrook Community Association and the neighbors of Old Edgebrook to put pressure to stop the trail extension.' Given the fact the the residents of Old Edgebrook proposed an alternative that amounted to using existing on street bike lanes, I don't think it's dishonest to say that there are residents of Old Edgebrook that are against the trail. If you think proposing that the large portions of the trail not be built in lieu of existing, on street, non-trails, I don't know that I can take your claims that the FPD is misrepresenting your point of view seriously.

Permalink Reply by Harry Lee on November 7, 2015 at 12:45pm

Am I hearing correctly the concerns expressed are mainly for the safety of drivers? 

I try not to judge people's intent, which is why I do my best to words things in an ambiguous manner (e.g. 'it doesn't seem like you're being completely straightforward' instead of 'you are dishonest'), but I've been following this for some time, and almost all of the feedback from the community of 55 households (I say almost because some residents have voiced support) seems to revolve on a perceived inconvenience to motorists. Here's a quote from another resident from the same meeting that Petra appears to have attended, published by a different source:

"Not enough consideration has been given to the motorists who use Central Avenue," Klocek said, echoing concerns voiced by many residents of Edgebrook and Old Edgebrook at a standing-room-only community meeting held by the forest preserve to address concerns about the trail's path. "It will make it a nightmare trying to get out of Edgebrook," he added.

Again, I try not to judge intent, but it seems like safety is being used as a shield, especially considering that the safety concerns have been addressed by the FDC and the traffic concerns have as well (the stop light will provide breaks in traffic for residents entering/"trying to get out of" Edgebrook).

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on November 7, 2015 at 1:22pm

Lainie, Most of the "high traffic" for North Branch (via bike) is 10 am on a Saturday, not a weekday rush hour so their study makes a lot of sense given the traffic patterns for the trail. Most of us use the North Branch Trail to ride up to Botanical Gardens on the weekends and not as a way to get to work. If there are people that use it to get to work, it is likely to be a very small number of cyclists. I used to commute on the North Channel trail and would only see 2-3 cyclists in the morning during rush hour. 

Permalink Reply by Andrew Ripecky on November 7, 2015 at 12:55pm

I'm also an Old Edgebrook resident and a regular bike rider. It is important to verify that, to my knowledge, there is no opposition to the bike trail but what I would describe as reasonable concern about the route does exist.Getting in and out of Old Edgebrook is often difficult now and whether this will be worsened by the presence of a bike path is impossible to know with certainty. The bike path extension is a great idea that deserves our most careful consideration and planning. It's good to see such interest in this project.

Permalink Reply by Mark on November 7, 2015 at 7:59pm
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. There currently is no safe route to access the trail head at Devon and Caldwell. The circuitous, not-so-well-marked bike route is a joke. I am a constituent and sent an email to Commissioner Gainer today.
Permalink Reply by Bob Kastigar on November 8, 2015 at 6:16am

One thing that's new to me which I haven't heard before is this 'adjustment' to move the path further west away from Central Avenue:

http://fpdcc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/FPCC-NBTSE-louise_presc...

I'm not sure how this change makes things better for anybody.  One of the concerns was about the need to remove a lot of trees.  Won't this adjustment require removing more trees than the original proposal which was to go south, more closely located to Central? 

How does this proposed adjustment make the path safer?

I'm a strong supporter of this extension and I'll go along with anyone who has an idea for improvements or suggestions who has more experience and expertise than me.

Permalink Reply by Harry Lee on November 8, 2015 at 6:46am
That doc is dated July of 2014- I could be wrong, but I believe that was just used to demonstrate the move from the east side of Central to the west side of Central. I don't believe the trail location has been moved further after it was moved to the west side of Central, based on the dates everything was made public.
Permalink Reply by Petra Blix on November 8, 2015 at 7:32am
The setback is 70 feet from the west side of Central. The change from the east to the west side of Central and the 70 ft setback were done without a public meeting to discuss options or safety concerns.
Permalink Reply by Harry Lee on November 8, 2015 at 7:49am
There was public meeting that you appear to have attended in August of 2014, in which the change was discussed. The 70 foot setback was part of the plan from the point that they moved it to the west side of Central, which they had little choice but to do. There have been no reported changes to the design since that meeting, and further reports note that the CDOT, IDOT AND FPD took public feedback and saftey into consideration when settling on the finalized design.
Permalink Reply by Harry Lee on November 8, 2015 at 9:21am
So apparently, despite the previous claims that people were kept in the dark, there appears to have been plenty of notice that the trail moved to the west side of Central, and from there, modifications were made to move the trail based on safety concerns brought up- I mean, it seems like most of the stuff posted here has been misleading in that there wasn't a dialog or that nothing was done in response to that dialog.
From your link:
"Has there been any change in the plans to address concerns about conflicts between future trail users and motorists turning from Central Avenue onto Old Edgebrook streets (Louise and Prescott Streets)?"
"The trail will run north-south along Central Avenue, but will angle west as users near intersections with Louise and Prescott streets. This alignment will create mid-block trail crossings at Louise and Prescott streets, rather than trail crossings at the intersections of Louise/Central and Prescott/Central."

With a mid block crossing and a stop sign for cyclists (I would have preferred one for motorists but oh well), it seems like there will be minimal conflict for space there. I'm going to take into account that the agencies involved in the decision are probably using their collective expertise for the betterment of the project for all involved, especially considering the transparency this project has seen.

RSS

Groups

© 2008-2016   The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.   Powered by

Disclaimer  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service