The Chainlink

9/20/12 Damen from Division to Jackson is "Rough Grooved Surface." Plan accordingly.

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Cortland Bridge now open!

It's nice to have actual marked lanes on the Cortland bridge now but the rest of Cortland was much better before and during the construction. Throwing speeding drivers swerving around road damage back into the mix in a heavily biked area, proceed with caution.

To quote the Wallflowers, "The only difference that I see is you are exactly the same as you used to be".  We have the same cratered road surface, fast drivers (who make it hard for bikers to avoid the craters) and glass in the bike lane near the bridge (are drivers trying to throw their empties into the river and missing the target?).

During the summer, when the bridge was closed to car traffic, I saw parents biking with kids down Cortland.  That won't happen anymore.

Looks like Loomis between Cermak and the canal is getting resurfaced. As it is the only N/S route between Ashland and Halsted, those who ride it might want to make other plans, or plan on riding the mostly vacant sidewalk on the east side of the street.

As we discussed previously, this section is listed on current City bike maps as including a bike lane, but it has been seriously neglected as such: no bike markings at all on the pavement, and very little signage, and as a result, the bike lane often gets used as a passing lane by frustrated, impatient motorists. Additionally, in both directions there are lots of sections of very bad pavement. This resurfacing is long over-due. Lets hope/insist that when the stripes get re-painted, it includes bike lane markings.

I don't suppose it looks like they are going to do anything about the awful bridge?

That is the same bridge which Anne Alt reported was scheduled to get plates, so yes. But I don't know if that work is going to happen at the same time.  Personally, I've never found steel grate bridges to be a problem unless i was riding on very narrow tires or there was a lot of ice.

From what I was told, my understanding is that plates are to be added next year. I haven't head anything further to indicate that the timeline has been changed, so I don't have any additional info at this moment.

If you're considering alternate routes, be advised that the southbound bike lane over the river at Halsted has been obstructed by construction equipment for quite some time.

As of this morning, the bike lane on the west side of Halsted over the Ship and Sanitary Canal is still closed. The sidewalk appears to be closed on that side of the street as well. 

Also just to follow up on my report from yesterday, Loomis is now definitely torn up for re-surfacing between the Ship and Sanitary Canal and Cermak. There is no sidewalk for most of that stretch on the east side of the street and the big vague mostly paved space on the west side of street is interrupted by a couple of curb extensions and, especially toward the south end, quite filled with broken glass. 

Loomis is now torn up north of Cermak also. No parking signs are marked as expiring on uh, sorry I forget exactly... I'm pretty sure it was November 9. I'll take a peek again early next week.

The Halsted bridge bike lane closure (southbound side) that Maurice mentions above is still happening, but the work itself seems to be not at street level. The lane is definitely blocked with some kind of equipment, but the motor traffic lane is wide enough there to allow careful bike passage. YMMV of course.

Loomis now has one layer of asphalt, except just south of the bridge where the surface is extremely rough. Expect lane closures and stuff until the end of the project, but for now it is passable - and some of the long standing surface problems are fixed, which is great.

While it is under construction - either use an alternate, or be super careful as there are obstacles (man hole covers sticking up etc) that are sending drivers all over the place.

The no parking restriction runs through 11/25.

Halsted bridge work seems mostly to have changed over to the northbound side of the street.

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