Raised bike lane on Roosevelt

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Permalink Reply by JeffB on September 27, 2013 at 2:05pm

"As part of the streetscape, existing bike lanes on Roosevelt between State and Wabash, uncomfortably situated between bus lanes and travel lanes, will basically stay in the same configuration but will be painted green to increase visibility. At Wabash, eastbound cyclists will need to make a two-stage crossing to get to the bike lanes on the north sidewalk."

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Permalink Reply by JeffB on September 27, 2013 at 2:06pm

"

Riding east in the sidewalk lane, cyclists will cross Michigan Avenue, then continue half a block on the north sidewalk to Indiana. At that point, they will turn left and head a block north through Grant Park to the existing 11th Street bike-and-pedestrian bridge. From there they’ll continue southeast to the lakefront via a series of paths and tunnels under Columbus and Lake Shore Drive.

The entire route from Wabash to the lake, while bike-friendly, will be fairly circuitous. Attarian said continuing the sidewalk lanes east of Indiana on Roosevelt, which would have been more direct, would have required widening the sidewalk, which wasn’t considered an option due to IDOT’s car capacity requirements and structural issues with a bridge over Metra tracks west of Columbus. Rather than take the meandering new offstreet route, experienced cyclists may prefer to simply continue pedaling east in the street on Roosevelt to Columbus, where they can pick up a short path to the lakefront at the northeast corner of the intersection"

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Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on September 27, 2013 at 2:48pm

It's great to see this kind of cycle track going in. I wish it was a bit longer, but hopefully that will come soon enough.

I am concerned about how intersections will be handled, though. Without separate bike traffic lights, this could be problematic

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Permalink Reply by JeffB on September 27, 2013 at 3:20pm

i agree.  i guess i'll be one of those "experienced cyclists" who continue up Roosevelt (or the north sidewalk) to Columbus.

Now if they'd just repaint the lanes west of State...

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Permalink Reply by KayCee on September 27, 2013 at 8:33pm

I'm glad something is being done, but really wish it extended west to Halsted, at least.  Roosevelt is easily the most intimidating street I ride.  The speed of the cars and buses makes me nervous.  Being the rule follower I am, I ride in the bike lane, but always bail either North on Wabash and then over to 11th, or South to 18th depending on the destination.  I often go blocks out of our way to avoid Roosevelt altogether.

I was at a red light at Roosevelt and State with both kids on the bike the other day and my son (3) struck up a conversation with CPD idling next to us...  They said "Good job, mom- we're loving the helmets!  Ride safe!" I hate that I feel like I'm the only one in the bike lane and the majority are riding the wrong way on the sidewalk!  But as a pedestrian on the sidewalk, bikes are a serious hazard.  

Hope the changes at least encourage more bike traffic, (and positive peer pressure) that would help.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Dworzanski on September 27, 2013 at 8:59pm

Every time I read about IDOT they're doing something to screw over cyclists. In the few months I've followed cycling issues they've managed to block protected lanes where a kid got killed, ran an f'n truck into a pregnant woman on a Divvy, and now this. What a bunch of morons!

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Permalink Reply by Davo on September 28, 2013 at 12:20am

Cars turning right from Roosevelt To Michigan looks to be a pretty dangerous situation. Ideally there would be no right turns where the two way protected lanes are. Especially if there are trees and such blocking the cars view of cyclists. Or bike traffic signals would work too.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

It's great to see this kind of cycle track going in. I wish it was a bit longer, but hopefully that will come soon enough.

I am concerned about how intersections will be handled, though. Without separate bike traffic lights, this could be problematic

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Permalink Reply by S on September 28, 2013 at 9:19am

IDOT's stated reason for it's moratorium on bike infrastructure is so that it can complete a study on various types of bike lanes and determine the best one(s) to use.  It's not as the city's plans to build 20 miles of bike lanes each year but it has the potential to give us much better bike infrastructure going forward.  You may disagree but I would prefer to wait a year or two and then get consistent safe lanes that cyclists and motorists use with minimal conflicts instead of a hodge-podge of designs some of which may make things more difficult.

Tom Dworzanski said:

Every time I read about IDOT they're doing something to screw over cyclists. In the few months I've followed cycling issues they've managed to block protected lanes where a kid got killed, ran an f'n truck into a pregnant woman on a Divvy, and now this. What a bunch of morons!

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