The Chainlink

Anyone else notice some weird signs in the Dearborn PBL just south of Washington this morning? They say "Stop for Pedestrians" or something like that. They are sitting on the ground in the bike lane. I didn't stop to investigate closely, but I don't think there's even a curb cut there? It struck me as a bit strange. It was right by the Blue Line entrance/exit (on the west side of Dearborn obviously).

Anyone know if this is a CDOT initiative?

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I talked to the restaurant owner, who seemed sincere about making a mistake the first time around, with the signs in the middle of the bike lane. He's imploring the city and alderman to come up with a solution that's better than his.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

They're baaaack…
There are several businesses along Dearborn, doesn't this have the potential to open a can of worms? I'm not sure why the owner thinks his customers are more special than anyone else's or the bikers who use the lane. A sensible alternative would be to operate the valet on the far right of Dearborn and have customers cross at the correct place. Of course that requires walking half a block.

Just take them and throw them into a dumpster.

Turner, a guest poster on StreetsBlog brings up a good point. Bottom line: it is against the law to place signs in the public way, and the owner of the restaurant has committed a misdemeanor by doing so and continuing to do so, even after being talked to by CDOT.

The fundamental issue is that Dan Rosenthal can’t make stuff up, put it on a sign, and stick it out in the public way in an attempt to get traffic to behave like he thinks it should behave.

(Though it’s a fun thought experiment to imagine a world in which that kind of thing is okay...)

625 ILCS 5/11-310 (“Display of Unauthorized Signs, Signals or Markings”) seems to the point:

"(a) No person shall place, maintain or display upon or in view of any highway any unauthorized sign ... which purports to be or is an imitation of or resembles an official traffic-control device ... or which attempts to direct the movement of traffic."

Remedies would appear to go beyond CDOT asking politely:

"(c) Every such prohibited sign, signal or marking is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and the authority having jurisdiction over the highway is hereby empowered to remove the same or cause it to be removed without notice."

and

"(g) Any person failing to comply with this Section shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor."

Thanks for covering this.

They always say it takes less muscles to smile than to frown. I wonder how many it takes to "seem sincere?"

(sorry bub, suggesting one would have to ride a bike to understand that these signs could be dangerous is just plain silly.)

I talked to the restaurant owner, who seemed sincere about making a mistake the first time around, with the signs in the middle of the bike lane. He's imploring the city and alderman to come up with a solution that's better than his.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

They're baaaack…

I'm gonna get me one of them signs, I will...

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