Wells Street bridge closing for one year

It starts in December:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/13758202-418/wells-street-bridge-resto...

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Barish on November 6, 2012 at 8:59am

Having now ridden and driven the detour it is MUCH easier to take the detour on a bike. I had to use a motorized vehicle today. The garage I use at is located on Wells and Washington. I wanted to travel from the Kennedy to Ohio/LaSalle/Wacker/Wells and it must have taken 30 minutes. It was a source of frustration to the drivers behind me as I refused to venture into the intersection until I knew I would be able to pass. I saw plenty of cyclists moving much quicker. I wistfully watched as they passed me by. I am looking forward to riding in tomorrow. The cycling detour will be a minor annoyance that may add a minute or two to my commute. The glass is half full view...Greener behavior is being encouraged.

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Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on November 6, 2012 at 9:06am

It was my understanding that Kinzie to Clark street was the preferred detour for bikes, but when I rode Wells this morning there was absolutely no indication on where cyclists were supposed to detour. The only sign indicated that Illinois was the detour, but many motorists were ignoring the sign and driving to Kinzie anyway. This made the left turn onto Kinzie tricky, since people were driving though the bike lane. There were people directing traffic at Kinzie and a few blocks before, but no one directing cyclists.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on November 6, 2012 at 9:17am

David, very un-Chicagoan of you not to block the intersections. Aren't you the most important person on the road?

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Schubert 'n Suzy Schnauzer on November 6, 2012 at 9:58am

I took my metal tape measure to 4 different bridges. Harrison, N. Halsted and Cortland Bridges all have 5 foot wide plates. Only Clark St. has 4 foot wide plates.

Is this some kind of bike lane diet?

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on November 6, 2012 at 10:22am

I'm betting that the city installed what they had on hand. If they have 4-foot wide plates that's what they install.

This is probably a factor of what is readily available in the newer lightweight materials they are trying out. It might be an issue that the newer plates are not strong enough to handle the loads when they are 5-feet wide when heavier vehicles inevitably ride onto them. Or it might be an engineering issue with regards to drainage and how much of the grating they can cover up before it becomes an issue. Freezing may be a factor as well.

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Permalink Reply by blair on November 6, 2012 at 11:28am

4' plates are better than no plates.

Were the Wells plates 5' wide? It didn't feel like they were any narrower this AM.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on November 6, 2012 at 1:53pm

No tape measure, but I think the plates on Wells were the same as those on Clark. Also, "eyeballing" the plates on the bridge on Kinzie tonight, I think they are 4 feet. I still say that the difficulty on Clark is that the plates are not part of a separate bike lane, but are part of a shared bike lane. That being said, I agree that 4' plates are better than no plates.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on November 7, 2012 at 3:45am

Traffic this morning was unusually heavy on Hubbard from Ogden to Green. It seemed better organized on Kinzie from Wells to Clark. Clark was much heavier than yesterday, and the cabs lined up in the right lane were driving on the plates on the bridge.

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Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on November 7, 2012 at 9:14am

I rode the detour this morning via Kinzie and Clark and I have multiple complaints about it.

First of all, there is still no signage on Wells indicating cyclists should use Clark to get into the Loop. The only sign is at Kinzie and La Salle – after you have already detoured from Wells.

Second, the possibility for right-hook at Clark and Wacker is very high. I almost got hit this morning by an clueless SUV driver. The "bike lane" on the bridge abruptly ends at a slashed marking on the pavement to the right of the travel lane. Continuing straight on Clack means having to interact with right-turning vehicles.

Thirdly, the rightmost lane in a 1-2 block stretch on Clark south of the river is covered with slick metal plates, and loose asphalt around the edges of the plates. If Clark is supposed to be the biking alternative to Wells, why put these bike-unfriendly plates all over?

Maybe CDOT should have taken a travel lane away from 4-6 lane La Salle and made it into a temporary protected bike lane. I'm still hoping the Dearborn St cycle track will be completed by year's end, but I'm not very hopeful at this point, since construction hasn't even begun yet.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on November 8, 2012 at 3:37am

I rode on State this morning at about 7:55 a.m. Wider than Clark, less traffic, and easier for me to manage at Wacker. Since I only ride to Randolph and Dearborn, it looks like that is going to be my detour.

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Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on November 8, 2012 at 4:20am

Rode on Clark this morning – still not convinced that it's a good detour. Tomorrow I am going to try Wells-Kinzie-Canal-Lake-Wells and see how that goes. That two block stretch of Canal looks pretty tame – two way traffic, narrow lanes, and an at-grade train crossing make it seem like car drivers would avoid that area. The only area of concern is the five-way intersection at Lake/Canal/Milwaukee.

If that route still sucks, I might consider taking the Lake Front Trail.