Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on January 29, 2012 at 2:23pm

Nicely done!  I've completed the survey.  Thanks for offering it.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle S on January 29, 2012 at 3:43pm

Thanks for taking it!

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Permalink Reply by Michelle S on February 1, 2012 at 2:43am

Thanks to everyone who has taken the survey. We're closing it on Friday, so you still have time to do it.

 

And looking forward to seeing many of you tonight at Sulzer!

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Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on February 1, 2012 at 10:41am

Completed, thank you!

btw, I appreciate all the work everyone is doing on this & I know this isn't your call, Michelle, but I'm a little perplexed why the Chicago River has been chosen as a dividing line for the regions.  The Chicago River (and expressway viaduct areas) presents one of the biggest obstacles for those of us west of it to get to the Lakefront or downtown, so I hope the more holistic view of moving around the City by bike won't get lost.  Or perhaps there are more plans for river crossings/river pathways I don't know of, which would of course be great. 

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Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on February 1, 2012 at 10:46am

Yes! Great point! 

Carter O'Brien said:

Completed, thank you!

btw, I appreciate all the work everyone is doing on this & I know this isn't your call, Michelle, but I'm a little perplexed why the Chicago River has been chosen as a dividing line for the regions.  The Chicago River (and expressway viaduct areas) presents one of the biggest obstacles for those of us west of it to get to the Lakefront or downtown, so I hope the more holistic view of moving around the City by bike won't get lost.  Or perhaps there are more plans for river crossings/river pathways I don't know of, which would of course be great. 

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Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on February 1, 2012 at 10:48am

In fact, I noticed this came up in this recent discussion:

http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/westbound-route-boystown-t...

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Permalink Reply by Michelle S on February 1, 2012 at 11:05am

I believe the city was divided up as much as possible by using natural barriers or dividing lines, and the river is of course a huge barrier. You probably noticed that not many of the suggested greenways cross the river and I think that's for two reasons: One, they're not intended to be really long corridors, but instead neighborhood routes that people use to get to schools, the library, grocery stores, etc. (Although I personally say the longer, the better.) Second, not many side streets or secondary streets have bridges crossing the river. As we all know, the only choices for crossing rivers is often on major arterials, pretty much none of which have bike infrastructure. Those might be good candidates for protected bike lanes or other huge upgrades. Luckily, that's the exact topic we'll be tackling in the next month. So, stay engaged and stay involved!

As to the holistic view, the CDOT team will be receiving input from all 9 community areas but then looking at the city as a whole while they lay out the proposed plan. They're bicyclists like us as well as engineers. I'm confident they'll pay attention to the big picture as well as the little details. There will be a public input period after a draft is released, so you'll have time to voice opinions at that point as well.

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Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on February 1, 2012 at 11:14am

thanks, I live just west of the expressway at Belmont, so "my" neighborhood straddles both sides of those barriers.  I am liking the sound of "huge upgrades" for sure.  : )

btw, certainly outside of your scope, and who knows if this will happen, but there are two TIFs that have River crossing bridges in their budgets in your turf, at Roscoe and George:

http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/ti...

http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/ti...

One day I will be biking a kayak down Belmont to the river launch at Roscoe to paddle to work, you heard it here first!

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on February 2, 2012 at 3:01am

I believe the city was divided up as much as possible by using natural barriers or dividing lines, and the river is of course a huge barrier. You probably noticed that not many of the suggested greenways cross the river and I think that's for two reasons: One, they're not intended to be really long corridors, but instead neighborhood routes that people use to get to schools, the library, grocery stores, etc.

That's correct.  They used major barriers like the river and expressways to divide the city into areas for the public input process.  The greenways are intended to be neighborhood routes, although there may be some places where we find suitable routes that cross multiple neighborhoods.  I've got a few longer routes in my area.

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