The Chainlink

Chicago will soon decide whether to install protected bike lanes on Milwaukee Avenue this spring between Elston and Kinzie, as the first stretch of safety improvements that will eventually extend all the way to Devon. By creating more order on an often chaotic and hazardous street, protected bike lanes would make Milwaukee Avenue safer for everyone, whether you are walking, biking or driving.

Consolidating some parking may be required to create a safer street, and that's worth it. However, barrier protected bike lanes could be left out of improvement plans as the city assesses how to use limited street space. Please sign the petition telling Chicago city officials to install barrier protected bike lanes on Milwaukee Avenue.

TAKE ACTION TODAY!
Sign the petition supporting protected bike lanes on Milwaukee Ave.

- Lee Crandell, Active Trans

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The 56 Milwaukee bus has always existed and will exist long after any of us breathes our last breath.

How would a curbside/ parking protected lane work on a major bus route?

(^@Cameron)

Um.... oh yeah, I guess Jackson is the same...

I don't support it.  PBL's hide bikes until we get to the intersections, and then pow.  I like to ride with traffic and be seen by them.

Milwaukee is a very congested street with pedestrian traffic, car traffic and bike traffic.  Since the city is not responding to cars parking or idling in a PBL on other streets, I don't trust the concept at all.

Last year Rahm said this was going to be 3 full miles of buffered bike lane.  Now it's 0.8 miles of protected lane?

What happened?

The narrow, shared lanes north of this stretch need addressed first (in my opinion).

Elston runs parallel to Milwaukee almost for it's own stretch.  It's less congested and better suited to a PBL.  Milwaukee has its own hazards.  Personally, I don't think the city can do a good job of it on this street.

Daniel G said:

You like to ride with traffic along Milwaukee in WP or LS? Anything is better than what it is now. At the moment, it's the best way to lose your life short of merging onto the Kennedy.

Juan Primo said:

I don't support it.  PBL's hide bikes until we get to the intersections, and then pow.  I like to ride with traffic and be seen by them.

Approximately 2% of my child's school bikes. Most of us minimally cross or use Milwaukee for a stretch since the school lies right off of it in Logan Square. While I am not the biggest fan of the current protected bike lane setup, I would certainly like to see something to encourage more students and families bike to school. Right now, we are mostly relegated to using the sidewalk (which we know fully well is not allowed) in order to get our children safely to school. Protected bike lanes should be safe enough for everyone to use, not just the seasoned bikers.

This issue of safety on Milwaukee is important enough that even my child writes and draws about it in her school exercises.

The protected lanes on elston make that stretch less bike friendly.  It removes sight line and the changing lane pattern makes predicting traffic difficult.  I think buffered lanes work really well here, but the seperated lanes just make it more dangerous.  

Juan Primo said:

Elston runs parallel to Milwaukee almost for it's own stretch.  It's less congested and better suited to a PBL.  Milwaukee has its own hazards.  Personally, I don't think the city can do a good job of it on this street.

Daniel G said:

You like to ride with traffic along Milwaukee in WP or LS? Anything is better than what it is now. At the moment, it's the best way to lose your life short of merging onto the Kennedy.

Juan Primo said:

I don't support it.  PBL's hide bikes until we get to the intersections, and then pow.  I like to ride with traffic and be seen by them.

What I can't wrap my brain around... if barrier-separated bike lanes are less safe..... why do I feel about 10x safer when riding in them? Am I just 10x dumber than the folks who find them less safe?

No not 10X dumber but 10X more innocent, 10X more naive and guilty of driving with tunnel vision.

A method of converting Milwaukee to a dual system with NO PARKING at all would be safer...One set of lanes for cars and one set of lanes for bikes, no parking, no stopping, no standing.

But the store owners would revolt, drivers would ignore the no parking regs and there still would be right and left hook issues.

In my opinion Milwaukee is too narrow for safe auto/truck traffic with the parking system it has. Take half the parking out, alternate which side is no parking to 'calm traffic speeds, give full bike lanes with clear sight lines and 'dog bone the sidewalks at EVERY intersection with the speed limit at 25MPH, then ENFORCE all traffic laws for autos and bikes and if we are all lucky in five to 20 years you might have a safe thurofare. As it stands now that street ain't safe to walk on much less drive and biking it shows you don't really analyze your route, tho I have done it I never felt safe and quickly took an alternative route that offered less traffic better sight lines and clearer traffic flow control.

Jeff

But of course this is my opinion and YMMV

Milwaukee and Elston "Conflict" Zone from ETR on Vimeo.

A daily occurrence on the stretch of Milwaukee between Chicago and Elston going north.  I look forward to any design that alleviates stress for drivers and cyclists. (Video is sped up.)

http://vimeo.com/65865138

Sign this COMPETING petition!

A petition against a road diet on Milwaukee Avenue in 45th Ward is making the rounds, with over 300 signatures.  Certainly we can do better than that.

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/make-milwaukee-avenue?source=c.em....

Even if you don't live in the 45th Ward you can still sign this petition.

I couldn't care less about a protected lane for two reasons in addition to the 'right hook' phenomenon: there hasn't been a period in recent history where Milwaukee has been clear of construction since, well, who knows how long and it will likely be rendered moot for the sake of traffic flow.  Plus I generally end up riding in the vehicle lane after snowy days because the lanes never seem to get plowed (thus rendering them pointless).

I give a hearty 'meh' to the concept of protected lanes in general.

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