Are bikes getting squeezed out of the Humboldt Park road diet? on VWYF
http://votewithyourfeetchicago.blogspot.com/2010/10/tale-of-two-roa...
This week Vote With Your Feet looks at two of the city's upcoming "road diet"
projects which aim to beef up safety by slimming down streets. A streetscape project
in Lincoln Square serves up a nice slice of the roadway for bicyclists, but will cyclists
in Humboldt Park get their piece of the pie?
Keep on biking, walking and transit-ing,
John Greenfield
A Tale of Two Road Diets
New “road diets” aim to beef up safety by slimming down streets, but will bicyclists get their piece of the pie?
by John Greenfield
[This article also appears in Time Out Chicago magazine, www.timeoutchicago.com.]
Cities across the country are seeking to improve safety through the so-called road diet—narrowing or removing street lanes to calm traffic and create more space for pedestrians and bicyclists. “A major benefit is reducing vehicle speeds and focusing attention on the other public-way uses,” says Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) spokesman Brian Steele.
Now the city is planning to give Lawrence Avenue in Lincoln Square and Humboldt Drive through Humboldt Park a traffic tummy tuck. “It’s a shift in the way [the city is] thinking about streets,” says Active Transportation Alliance’s Adolfo Hernandez. “The aldermen for both projects have been very supportive. Taking away a lane of traffic is not easy to do—it takes political will.”
The $12 million Lawrence streetscape project, tentatively scheduled to start next year, stretches between Western and Ashland Avenues and will slim the avenue from its current four travel lanes to one lane in each direction with a center turn lane, Steele says. This “four-to-three conversion” will provide space for wider sidewalks, curb bump-outs, pedestrian refuge islands and new bike lanes.
The streetscape also will provide more space for sidewalk cafés and make it easier to pedal to the lake, says Dan Luna, 47th Ward chief of staff. “Lots of people have been contacting our offices requesting safer bike routes,” he says.
Eric Holm, manager of On the Route Bicycles (2338 W Lawrence Ave), applauds the change. “Lawrence is pretty intimidating for beginning riders,” he says. “Adding bike lanes means more people will be riding past our store and shopping here.”
The Humboldt Park road diet is proving to be a bit more controversial. Since August 23, CDOT has been working on Humboldt Drive from North Avenue to Division Street, the high-speed roadway dividing Humboldt Park. It temporarily changes the four-lane street into two travel lanes with a center lane used as a combination left-turn lane and pedestrian refuge area, using orange traffic barrels to keep moving cars out of the center lane. After CDOT analyzes the effects on traffic speed and behavior, Steele says, the changes may become permanent next year.
Roberto Maldonado, 26th Ward alderman, helped push for the project after his office received many complaints about speeding traffic and difficulty crossing the street, says Maldonado’s chief of staff, Kathleen Oskandy. “A lot of them were from young moms with baby strollers,” she says. Although residents proposed adding stoplights, stop signs and speed humps, Oskandy says federal constraints on the historic boulevard limited those options.
Not everyone is enthusiastic about the experimental setup, which, unlike the Lawrence road diet, does not include the addition of bike lanes. Oskandy says there was initial talk of including them, “but the first plan of attack was to slow down the traffic, so bike lanes might have added to the confusion.”
Drivers we talked to felt comfortable with the new configuration, but cyclists didn’t. During a half-hour period on a recent Tuesday afternoon, a handful pedaled on the asphalt paths that run parallel to Humboldt Drive, but no one attempted to ride in the newly slimmed street. “I’m a little afraid to bike in the street now,” said Jim Stablein, 58. “Cars can’t squeeze by you.”
Although the city-issued Chicago Bike Map designated this segment of Humboldt Drive for years as a cycling-friendly street, CDOT removed it from this year’s edition, recommending a stretch of nearby Kedzie Avenue as the safer route. As a result, the two-mile stretch of Humboldt (called Sacramento Boulevard south of the park) between Armitage Avenue and Franklin Boulevard is virtually the only segment of Chicago's 28-mile historic boulevard system that is not recommended as a bike route. Since Humbolt is no longer a recommended route, it's not under consideration for bike lanes, says CDOT bikeways engineer David Gleason.
That’s unfortunate, says Todd Gee, president of the nonprofit alt-transportation org Break the Gridlock. “The new travel lanes aren’t wide enough for cars to safely pass bicyclists. It’s fantastic they’re doing something about speeding and making it more pedestrian friendly, but it’s disappointing that they’re not accommodating bikes.”
Ash Lottes, who takes her son to pre-school by bike via the park, says she met with Maldonado on September 21 to discuss the possibility of adding bike lanes and sidewalks along Humboldt. She provided the alderman with blueprints for alternate street configurations that would include bike lanes.
“He told me that he has no intention of adding a bicycle lane or any other accouterments on that stretch because ‘the road is too dangerous for pedestrians,’” she says. Lottes recently posted on the local bike website thechainlink.org, asking members to lobby Maldonado for bike lanes on Humboldt. “To me the road seems too dangerous for pedestrians because there are no sidewalks, crosswalks or bike lanes.”
This week Vote With Your Feet looks at two of the city's upcoming "road diet"
projects which aim to beef up safety by slimming down streets. A streetscape project
in Lincoln Square serves up a nice slice of the roadway for bicyclists, but will cyclists
in Humboldt Park get their piece of the pie?
Keep on biking, walking and transit-ing,
John Greenfield
A Tale of Two Road Diets
New “road diets” aim to beef up safety by slimming down streets, but will bicyclists get their piece of the pie?
by John Greenfield
[This article also appears in Time Out Chicago magazine, www.timeoutchicago.com.]
Cities across the country are seeking to improve safety through the so-called road diet—narrowing or removing street lanes to calm traffic and create more space for pedestrians and bicyclists. “A major benefit is reducing vehicle speeds and focusing attention on the other public-way uses,” says Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) spokesman Brian Steele.
Now the city is planning to give Lawrence Avenue in Lincoln Square and Humboldt Drive through Humboldt Park a traffic tummy tuck. “It’s a shift in the way [the city is] thinking about streets,” says Active Transportation Alliance’s Adolfo Hernandez. “The aldermen for both projects have been very supportive. Taking away a lane of traffic is not easy to do—it takes political will.”
The $12 million Lawrence streetscape project, tentatively scheduled to start next year, stretches between Western and Ashland Avenues and will slim the avenue from its current four travel lanes to one lane in each direction with a center turn lane, Steele says. This “four-to-three conversion” will provide space for wider sidewalks, curb bump-outs, pedestrian refuge islands and new bike lanes.
The streetscape also will provide more space for sidewalk cafés and make it easier to pedal to the lake, says Dan Luna, 47th Ward chief of staff. “Lots of people have been contacting our offices requesting safer bike routes,” he says.
Eric Holm, manager of On the Route Bicycles (2338 W Lawrence Ave), applauds the change. “Lawrence is pretty intimidating for beginning riders,” he says. “Adding bike lanes means more people will be riding past our store and shopping here.”
The Humboldt Park road diet is proving to be a bit more controversial. Since August 23, CDOT has been working on Humboldt Drive from North Avenue to Division Street, the high-speed roadway dividing Humboldt Park. It temporarily changes the four-lane street into two travel lanes with a center lane used as a combination left-turn lane and pedestrian refuge area, using orange traffic barrels to keep moving cars out of the center lane. After CDOT analyzes the effects on traffic speed and behavior, Steele says, the changes may become permanent next year.
Roberto Maldonado, 26th Ward alderman, helped push for the project after his office received many complaints about speeding traffic and difficulty crossing the street, says Maldonado’s chief of staff, Kathleen Oskandy. “A lot of them were from young moms with baby strollers,” she says. Although residents proposed adding stoplights, stop signs and speed humps, Oskandy says federal constraints on the historic boulevard limited those options.
Not everyone is enthusiastic about the experimental setup, which, unlike the Lawrence road diet, does not include the addition of bike lanes. Oskandy says there was initial talk of including them, “but the first plan of attack was to slow down the traffic, so bike lanes might have added to the confusion.”
Drivers we talked to felt comfortable with the new configuration, but cyclists didn’t. During a half-hour period on a recent Tuesday afternoon, a handful pedaled on the asphalt paths that run parallel to Humboldt Drive, but no one attempted to ride in the newly slimmed street. “I’m a little afraid to bike in the street now,” said Jim Stablein, 58. “Cars can’t squeeze by you.”
Although the city-issued Chicago Bike Map designated this segment of Humboldt Drive for years as a cycling-friendly street, CDOT removed it from this year’s edition, recommending a stretch of nearby Kedzie Avenue as the safer route. As a result, the two-mile stretch of Humboldt (called Sacramento Boulevard south of the park) between Armitage Avenue and Franklin Boulevard is virtually the only segment of Chicago's 28-mile historic boulevard system that is not recommended as a bike route. Since Humbolt is no longer a recommended route, it's not under consideration for bike lanes, says CDOT bikeways engineer David Gleason.
That’s unfortunate, says Todd Gee, president of the nonprofit alt-transportation org Break the Gridlock. “The new travel lanes aren’t wide enough for cars to safely pass bicyclists. It’s fantastic they’re doing something about speeding and making it more pedestrian friendly, but it’s disappointing that they’re not accommodating bikes.”
Ash Lottes, who takes her son to pre-school by bike via the park, says she met with Maldonado on September 21 to discuss the possibility of adding bike lanes and sidewalks along Humboldt. She provided the alderman with blueprints for alternate street configurations that would include bike lanes.
“He told me that he has no intention of adding a bicycle lane or any other accouterments on that stretch because ‘the road is too dangerous for pedestrians,’” she says. Lottes recently posted on the local bike website thechainlink.org, asking members to lobby Maldonado for bike lanes on Humboldt. “To me the road seems too dangerous for pedestrians because there are no sidewalks, crosswalks or bike lanes.”
Views: 158
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gin on
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I am going to ward night today, aiming to get to the office at around 4pm, when it opens. I am going to strive to listen first (ask what the Alderman hopes to accomplish with the traffic calming, learn more about his concerns about biking) and then build from that to explain why we should not give up on cycling through the corridor. I'll also invite him to the Nov 13 Kidical Mass.
Anyone else interested in joining me or want me to share comments?
Alderman Maldonado
26th ward office
2434 West Division
Chicago, Illinois 60622
Phone: 773-395-0143
Fax: 773-395-0146
http://robertomaldonado.com/
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Permalink Reply by John Greenfield on
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Gin, how late are you planning to stay at the office hours?
I may show up to observe, if you think there might be a group discussion of the issue.
Thanks,
John Greenfield
Gin said:I am going to ward night today, aiming to get to the office at around 4pm, when it opens. I am going to strive to listen first (ask what the Alderman hopes to accomplish with the traffic calming, learn more about his concerns about biking) and then build from that to explain why we should not give up on cycling through the corridor. I'll also invite him to the Nov 13 Kidical Mass.
Anyone else interested in joining me or want me to share comments?
Alderman Maldonado
26th ward office
2434 West Division
Chicago, Illinois 60622
Phone: 773-395-0143 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 773-395-0143 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: 773-395-0146
http://robertomaldonado.com/
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Permalink Reply by Ash L. on
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I can't make it this evening. I'm sick as a dog. Please report back any info you gather.
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I went to ward night yesterday. Made the mistake of getting there right around 4pm, when it opens, which meant I ended up being way down on the list, behind all the veterans who knew to get there super early. Two and a half hours later, I finally sat down to talk to a tired, but friendly Alderman Maldonado.
I started off by thanking him for trying to make Humboldt Blvd safer, and asked if he could talk more about what his concerns and hopes for the area are. It seems his main focus is on reducing conflict points created by cars turning into the boat and field house areas. He agreed with me that the high speeds on the road are a problem. In fact, when I mentioned making Humboldt easier to cross for pedestrians (which I had assumed was part of his plan), he responded that pedestrians *should not* cross Humboldt; that's what the underpass is for.
At this point I started to panic and get upset and did say something along the lines of "That crossing is horrible and even if it was OK, one crossing is not enough for a 4 block stretch, especially in a park!!!!." But I mostly kept my cool and did not really speak with exclamation points. OK, maybe just once.
So, I abandoned my plan to aim for a quick visit and decided to dig in to take the time I needed to build the case for a ped and cyclist friendly Humboldt Blvd a la my letter earlier in this thread. Besides the design stuff, my two main points were:
1) Optimism: We *can* make this stretch better. We don't have to accept a high speed traffic barrier in our park.
2) Support: There are many people who would be happy to support him in his efforts to do something more than just "fix" a small part of a large problem.
After some vigorous back and forth, I felt like we moved into a more collabortive space. He asked me hard questions about how a road diet through the park would interface with the stretches north and south of the park. Of course, my answer is to tackle the whole 4 lane stretch, but that takes more money and goes beyond his ward.
I sense that he will be sitting down with CDOT soon to evaluate the test and make decisions. Ack! And he is planning to use his menu funds for the project, which means the project could move quickly. It also means he was not thrilled with the idea of "scope creep." Ie--not sure he wants to or can foot the bill for a Humboldt road diet along the whole stretch, esp since his ward stops at Bloomingdale. I suggested that Ald Colon might be willing to partner with him. I am worried that he will spend precious resources on a project that has minimal impact on ped and biking needs in the area. Once the road has been touched, other near term improvements become less likely.
What's next:
I think he needs to hear from active transportation advocates, esp those that live in the 26th ward. I think our message needs to be
1) Thank you! for trying to slow down cars and make Humboldt safer (as he is hearing from angry motorists too)
2) You would like any project on Humboldt to also add more pedestrian crossings and improve conditions for cyclists
3) Info about how and when final decisions will be made, and how you can get involved to help make this a great project for us all.
The thank you is most important. I think we will be most effective if seen as collaborators.
ALSO--I want to get some rough drawings to him ASAP that give ideas for what might be done. Steven Vance--I am looking at you ;-) I know Ash did this earlier, which is great. He mentioned that he was hearing from other cyclists. yay!!
He seemed genuinely interested in Kidical Mass, and even mentioned bringing his son along. Alas, he won't be in town for Nov 13 ride, but I would like to see if we can have a bike ride with him some time soon. I suspect that with some more outreach and education, he could become an ally for active transportation.
I sense that email is not the best form of contact. His office contact info is:
Alderman Roberto Maldonado's Ward Office
2434 West Division
Chicago, Illinois 60622
Phone: 773-395-0143
Fax: 773-395-0146
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I think the ped and cyclists needs are on the radar. . . it's just about figuring out the best way to address the probs. Tomorrow, I will be getting more info from Active Trans on the work they have been doing in the area. I will report back tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I am dreaming of bike-afying Humboldt/Sacramento all the way from Palmer to Franklin. Again, why should drivers be the only ones to enjoy the greenway?? ;-)
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Permalink Reply by jennifer james on
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Gin said:I think the ped and cyclists needs are on the radar. . . it's just about figuring out the best way to address the probs. Tomorrow, I will be getting more info from Active Trans on the work they have been doing in the area. I will report back tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I am dreaming of bike-afying Humboldt/Sacramento all the way from Palmer to Franklin. Again, why should drivers be the only ones to enjoy the greenway?? ;-)
I heard that there was a possible bike lane getting cooked up from Palmer into another ward. I think that might be a good sell if the lane through Humboldt doesn't go. Is the tunnel in Humboldt park a park district fix?
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Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on
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After recently moving to HP I find this road terrible to cross, thankfully they have the underpass and why would such a wide road be put in the middle of a park like this?
Nothing ruins a day in the park like an Ambulance screaming through or some guys on bikes cruising at 50 mph.
As far as biking some roads are better left to the cars, Western, LSD, North Ave., Sheridan.
Get support rolling for making the Bloomingdale trail into bike/pedestrian use and you've got a sweet section of no cars at all.
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What's wrong with this thread. Where did Gin's latest comments go. How come it goes from the Oct. 14th to the 15th then back to the 14th. Admins?
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Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on
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We just want to follow-up on Gin's comments. Active Trans has definitely been monitoring this thread and its questions. Our advocacy director, Adolfo Hernandez, has been having email discussions with Gin, John G. and some others about this issue.
We are definitely aware/involved in the Humboldt road diet and will make sure to let everyone know our position and action soon.
Thanks much,
Ethan Spotts, Marketing & Communication Director, Active Trans
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And to follow up on what Ethan just wrote. . . I had a great conversation with Adolfo this morning. I will get notes out to this forum as soon as I can, which might be tomorrow as I am behind on some other projects. I am feeling optimistic that we can positively influence the design of this stretch between Div and North while still thinking about the corridor as a whole.
I am excited that the Alderman is taking the initiative, and that CDOT has been responsive to his requests to make the area safer. I see a lot of possibilities. I suspect that when Ald. Maldonado was talking about not crossing Humboldt, he meant right now. As in it is horrible now, but should be better in the future.
Active Transportation Alliance said:We just want to follow-up on Gin's comments. Active Trans has definitely been monitoring this thread and its questions. Our advocacy director, Adolfo Hernandez, has been having email discussions with Gin, John G. and some others about this issue.
We are definitely aware/involved in the Humboldt road diet and will make sure to let everyone know our position and action soon.
Thanks much,
Ethan Spotts, Marketing & Communication Director, Active Trans
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Permalink Reply by Mark on
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Creating bike lanes on the entire boulevard system can be relatively inexpensive and quick to implement, especially compared to long-term projects like the Bloomingdale Trail and the Navy Pier flyover. All of these projects are important and we should all advocate for all of them. The boulevards were designed for all citizens to enjoy the greenery, not to become mini-expressways used exclusively by cars. The extra capacity of 2-3 lanes adds to the high and unsafe speeds. Bike lanes can be a win-win solution to calm traffic while allowing more users to enjoy our nation's oldest boulevard system. I agree that there are "car streets" such as Western that are not appropriate for bike lanes. We should not gove up on the boulevards as being "car streets". I think Geoffrey Baer's show "Biking the Boulevards" is a great way to draw attention to this movement.
Mike Zumwalt said:After recently moving to HP I find this road terrible to cross, thankfully they have the underpass and why would such a wide road be put in the middle of a park like this?
Nothing ruins a day in the park like an Ambulance screaming through or some guys on bikes cruising at 50 mph.
As far as biking some roads are better left to the cars, Western, LSD, North Ave., Sheridan.
Get support rolling for making the Bloomingdale trail into bike/pedestrian use and you've got a sweet section of no cars at all.
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