Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Juan Primo on March 4, 2013 at 10:43am

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.

Permalink Reply by blair on March 4, 2013 at 11:16am

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).

Permalink Reply by Juan Primo on March 4, 2013 at 3:29pm

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.

Permalink Reply by Anika on March 4, 2013 at 4:19pm

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.

Permalink Reply by Liz on March 4, 2013 at 4:29pm

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.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Markus on March 4, 2013 at 7:20pm

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

Permalink Reply by Eric R on May 10, 2013 at 5:14am

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

Permalink Reply by Bob Kastigar on January 27, 2014 at 9:17am

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.

Permalink Reply by Tyler Long on January 27, 2014 at 10:51am

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.

Permalink Reply by Tom Dworzanski on January 27, 2014 at 1:04pm

That part of Milwaukee Ave. is unlike the rest of Milwaukee Ave. It has 5 wide lanes (4 traffic + 1 turn). It is much less impacted by construction, stop signs, and pedestrian traffic that would otherwise make people drive carefully. It is a dangerous road for cyclists with unnecessarily redundant capacity for motorists. It's an obvious place to build cycling infrastructure which will help invite more cyclists to safer roads in a part of the city where cycling is less common.

Tyler Long said:

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.

Permalink Reply by Alice on January 27, 2014 at 2:52pm

This stretch of Milwaukee Avenue desperately needs improvement.  I live in this area and lead rides all the time.  Most of my riders don't like to ride on Milwaukee Avenue because they do not feel safe.  Traffic moves way too fast through this area.  Pedestrians are risking their lives every time they want to cross the street.  If we want the 'Spoke Routes' to be more than just a dream on paper, we're going to have to fight to get it.  There is a lot of ignorance and hatred being spewed at the public meetings.  People who support the road diet are too afraid to speak out in front of an unruly mob.  Seriously, I was at the public meeting last week and it was ridiculous!  Please sign the petition and spread the word!

Permalink Reply by Tom Z on January 27, 2014 at 4:09pm

Bob,

You should start a new thread about the NW side issues with the address to the petition. Some people affected by this may not look at this older thread.

Thank you...

Bob Kastigar said:

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.

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