Utility company street patching destroying bike routes
Has anyone else noticed the new style of rough, hard, concrete patching that is being done and apparently accepted by the City of Chicago, often obliterating existing bike routes.
Clark St. between Howard and Devon used to be a prime commuting route for me. In spite of many lights, they were well synchronized and you could make really good time on that part of the commute. Not so good in the evening but a great morning route.
That was until last year when some utilty tore up the street right in the bike lane and replaced it not with asphalt, but with this hard concrete. The crew that did the patch made not the slightest attempt to smooth their work out and now Clark is basically unrideable.
Now another bike lane that was part of my commute, Pratt Blvd., has gotten the same treatment.
So while the city, to great fanfare, introduces new protected bike lanes in some part of the city, they fail to enforce basic street-paving standards and lose bike lanes that have served us well for years.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on
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Yes!
Do anyone here know why the concrete that's laid down is rippled? Does that happen naturally if it's not smoothed out, or is it intentional?
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Permalink Reply by Michael A on
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The city dictates what the contractors must put down, they are actually liable for it for several years. The reason it is lower and rough is for when the street finally does get resurfaced those large grinders dig down to the level of the concrete and then an entire level smooth top layer is put on. if they leveled and made it smooth now there would be nothing for the top layer of asphalt to "bite" to.
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Permalink Reply by Tricolor on
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This is what pretty much ruined Wells. There's a long trench along Sheridan just before Loyola I avoid when I'm driving, too.
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Permalink Reply by MagMileMarauder on
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add Lawrence from Ashland to Damen to that list
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Permalink Reply by Duppie on
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A. These extended stretches are not done by utility companies, but by the city or it's subcontractors. They are typically water main replacements. Typically the sign "Building a New Chicago" will give it away.
B. It's understood that these concrete patches are not the permanent pavement, right? I agree that it often takes longer than one would think is necessary, but ultimately they are all getting repaved with fresh asphalt.
Just sayin'
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Permalink Reply by Steve Cohen on
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That's originally what I thought, but Clark has been that way for close to a year now. I don't know about the longevity of all these stretches that others have mentioned. And as h' correctly stated, this concrete is at the top layer. I imagine it would be hard on the asphalt-scraping machines that they use when repaving a street. It doesn't appear obvious to me that over-coating with an asphalt layer is in the plans.
Duppie 13.5185km said:B. It's understood that these concrete patches are not the permanent pavement, right? I agree that it often takes longer than one would think is necessary, but ultimately they are all getting repaved with fresh asphalt.
Just sayin'
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Permalink Reply by WillG on
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I've actually reached out in writing to CDOT on 3 separate occasions about this, specifically Southport going north between Addison and Irving Park. They have completely blown me off.
ATA? Help? You guys and gals seem to be good at getting people's attention.
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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on
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Clark in Rogers Park and Wells north of Chicago are both "finished" in this manner. As others noted, the concrete is rough, basically unfinished, and level with the surrounding asphalt. I have been operating under the assumption that these were temporary patches until the city gets around to properly resurfacing these streets. With all the extra joints between asphalt and concrete, this stuff isn't going to last more than a couple years because of freeze/thaw cycles during the winter.
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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on
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Hey guys - the reason Lawrence is rough is because they don't want to resurface the street twice. The sewer work had to be done a few months back. They will finish up the resurfacing this summer and next summer when they do the larger project of the road diet;hence saving some tax money by not resurfacing twice.
I am on my ward's transportation committee and will mention tomorrow night that we put some signs up explaining that reason. The question gets raised all the time and they get calls about it a lot.
Maybe that is the reason in other areas mentioned....
MagMileMarauder said:add Lawrence from Ashland to Damen to that list
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Forgot to add there's also a rough concrete trench on State Street between Washington and Madison, right in the center of the southbound lanes.
This winter parts of Kenmore north of the Lakefront Trail also had trenches filled with gravel where the bike lanes used to be. Very fun at night, especially with cars trying to get by. It's all scraped and nicely paved over, now, though, but with some very annoying speed bumps.
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Permalink Reply by Eli on
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They will finish up the resurfacing this summer and next summer when they do the larger project of the road diet;hence saving some tax money by not resurfacing twice.
Frankly it seems like waiting over a year while the street surface is in a basically unusable state, simply to prevent having to do it twice, should not be acceptable. If it was a matter of a month, I could understand waiting. But if it's not going to be done until next summer? Surely there is some way that a less expensive, temporary, less resilient, but usable surface could be installed to tide us over until then.
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