Kinzie. It's what's next.

Hopefully you've heard by now that CDOT will begin construction this week on the city's first protected bike lane: Kinzie Street from Milwaukee Avenue/Desplaines Street to Wells Street. 

 

Full story on Steven Can Plan. 

 

I want to know what you think about this.

  • What do you feel will need special attention?
  • Is this the right or wrong location for such a facility? Why?
  • Are you going to thank/congratulate Rahm, Gabe, and the CDOT Bicycle Program?
  • Will you use it?

 

Cycle track and protected bike lane naysayers, this isn't the post for you. But if you've ridden in protected bike lanes before, then I welcome your constructive comments and criticism based on your actual experiences. 

Big intersection

The new beginning. Looking southeast at the intersection of Kinzie/Milwaukee/Desplaines. 

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Permalink Reply by jennifer james on July 22, 2011 at 11:42am
I'm interested in how they will engineer new lanes as much as where. With so many ways to organize the traffic barriers  I am hoping they use something new- not bollards- to see how that works. (see the pedestrian walks on Broadway in  N.Y.( on Streeetsblog) all through the loop anyone?) I'm thankful for the new lane and hope it's just the start.
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on July 25, 2011 at 3:50am

The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Kinzie Track is TODAY at 11:00AM at the Southeast corner of Kinzie Street and Jefferson Avenue.

 

Be there or be square.

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on July 25, 2011 at 6:25am

That was definitely wrong of the cabbie and a PIA for you.

 

However, in all fairness to the cab driver, he was probably unfamiliar with the new cycle track and trying to follow the law/ordinance that requires cab drivers to pull over as close the "the curb" as possible to discharge passengers. The cycle track's new curb is the outside line next to the parked cars or buffer zone, closest to moving traffic. But given that it's a flat stripe of paint, this is hard for people to accept as a "curb".

 

I have a non-bicycling friend who drove the Kinzie stretch recently for the first time and sought me out to ask me about how it worked. She was astounded to hear that the parked cars that she described as being parked "in the middle of the street" were in fact parked in the right place. To her, they were in the middle of the street. White paint only goes so far, and it will take time for everyone to get used to new configurations. 

Cameron Puetz said:

In a new twist on Friday I had a cab drive around the bollards to let a fare out.

Steven Vance said:
USPS vans blocking Kinzie protected bike lane

Yeah, thanks, USPS.
Permalink Reply by Michelle S on July 25, 2011 at 6:36am

Very short Trib article about the Kinzie cycle track just posted here. The headline is “City’s First Protected Bike Lane In Use.” That’s “breaking news”??

 

It has already received 65 comments in less than an hour. As always, do not read them.

 

Perhaps this part is the breaking news - I thought the Stony Island thing was a no-go:

 

CDOT earlier said it also plans to install a cycle track on Stony Island Avenue on the South Side between 69th and 77th streets. CDOT received a $3.2 million federal grant to build and test the track.

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on July 25, 2011 at 7:03am

OK, sorry about the multiple posts. Catching up on news over lunch. I wasn't able to go to the 11:00 Kinzie track ribbon-cutting due to work commitments, but those of you who did probably already heard this announcement from CDOT that the next stretch of protected lane is on Jackson from Damen to Halsted.

 

Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 25, 2011 at 7:15am

Michelle, thanks for that link. I had not seen it. Mr. Klein mentions some interesting statistics.

What is absolutely astounding to me is the number of cyclists on Milwaukee: 48% of traffic was bicycles on a recent rush hour count. Not quite Groningen, but it is getting there ;)

Michelle said:

OK, sorry about the multiple posts. Catching up on news over lunch. I wasn't able to go to the 11:00 Kinzie track ribbon-cutting due to work commitments, but those of you who did probably already heard this announcement from CDOT that the next stretch of protected lane is on Jackson from Damen to Halsted.

 

Permalink Reply by Elihu Blanks on July 25, 2011 at 8:18am

I'm glad the Kinzie thing is working and hope it can be spread to Stony. Becasue my wife and i rode around Stony yesterday. We saw lots of riders out there on the side streets avoiding Stony becasue of the speed of the drivers. They may not have been riding $5k bikes but the population is there.

 

At first I was hurt to see that the next street will be Jackson but on second thought maybe its best to use these streets as an experiments to see what I need to look out for when the design comes into my neighboorhood. Since I ride year-round I can adjust to the traffic, weather and politics of riding no matter where I live. However, I WANT A BIKE LANE ON STONY ISLAND! :)

 

Riding Over Adversity...

Michelle said:

Very short Trib article about the Kinzie cycle track just posted here. The headline is “City’s First Protected Bike Lane In Use.” That’s “breaking news”??

 

It has already received 65 comments in less than an hour. As always, do not read them.

 

Perhaps this part is the breaking news - I thought the Stony Island thing was a no-go:

 

CDOT earlier said it also plans to install a cycle track on Stony Island Avenue on the South Side between 69th and 77th streets. CDOT received a $3.2 million federal grant to build and test the track.

Permalink Reply by John Wirtz on July 25, 2011 at 9:19am
Stony will take a little while longer because it's using IDOT money, so it has to go through the state's process.  The small projects using only city, Aldermanic, and private funds can be designed by CDOT staff and on-call consultants and installed relatively quickly like Kinzie.
Permalink Reply by Jason W on July 25, 2011 at 9:29am
man, I could use that route on my commute, but I'm not crazy about that neighborhood. Also, it kind of sucks they are doing in on a one way street. Doing it on a two way would give us twice the effective bike track.

h333 said:

Klein also announced the location of the city’s next protected bike lane:  Jackson Boulevard from Damen Avenue to Halsted Street.

Hmmm . . . several attacks on cyclists at Adams and Damen last year:

http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/attacked-sunday-at-845pm

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on July 25, 2011 at 10:50am

They could make it a two-way bike path even though it's one-way for motorized traffic, like this one on Kent in NY.  Too bad we get no details, just crumbs of info... 

 

Photo credit: NYCDOT, taken from Streetsblog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason W said:

man, I could use that route on my commute, but I'm not crazy about that neighborhood. Also, it kind of sucks they are doing in on a one way street. Doing it on a two way would give us twice the effective bike track.

h333 said:

Klein also announced the location of the city’s next protected bike lane:  Jackson Boulevard from Damen Avenue to Halsted Street.

Hmmm . . . several attacks on cyclists at Adams and Damen last year:

http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/attacked-sunday-at-845pm

Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on July 26, 2011 at 12:35am

Think we'll ever get something IN the loop?

 

Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on July 26, 2011 at 2:40am
How about Roosevelt crossing the river?  That is effin' HORRIBLE right now due to the Congress construction, cars are maniacs using the alleged shared bike/bus lane...

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