Questions for the next Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Council meeting?

Hello Chainlinkers,

 

The next MBAC meeting is Wednesday June 12. 2013 (3:00 pm, City Hall, Rm 1103 - public invited!). 

 

I'm one of three community representatives on the council and have a chance to bring up topics of discussion or ask questions of the CDOT officials during the meeting.

 

Since you're a large part of the bicycling community and I'm your rep, I ask you: What questions would you like asked or topics discussed? 

 

(Edited May 31 2013 to update date)

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Short 2.9 on March 8, 2013 at 10:02am

Thanks for the tip about Halsted between Willow and Division, we'll set something up. I think we could do 400 events and there would be people that would never see us.

Permalink Reply by Jim Freeman on March 11, 2013 at 10:44am

Oh, how I dream of a day when traffic laws are enforced consistently as to all users of the roadways.  What a shame that we need to point to "enforcement events" as actual enforcement.

Charlie Short 11.5 said:

Siouxzi-

This is something we do every summer, all summer long. We'll be doing about 100 enforcement events like this from April through September. Last year we did 91 events and the year before we did about 50. We (actually Chicago cops) hand out tickets to motorists for all sorts of offences, including parking/driving in the bike lane, driving too close to bikes, and talking on cell phones.

Siouxzi Donnelly said:

Last topic I'd love them to consider is an bike lane awareness/enforcement program. I see something organized the last week of April/first week of May. Cops enforce some of the major known violated bike lanes during the morning and evening commutes. 1 week of real enforcement as cyclist numbers increase will make drivers wake up and be aware that they can not drive in bike lanes. Follow up with an end of summer one as well at the end of August/beginning of September. You don't need to enforce them all every day, even if it was a couple of days, one direction each. Have them pull people over and issue tickets.

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on March 13, 2013 at 2:45pm

The MBAC meeting was held today. I'll provide just a few elements and Anne or Julie can chime in as well, and of course, there will likely be coverage on Streetsblog Chicago as well.

CDOT has reorganized. There will be a new org chart available and they're working on a newer website as well. There will be more alignment to allow an approach that is more oriented toward "Complete Streets" and not silos for bike projects, placemaking projects, pededstrian projects, etc. The outreach to communities will be more wholistic under this new organization.

The new Complete Streets plan will be released soon.

Wells St between Chicago and North will indeed be resurfaced and then it will have buffered lanes put in. The time frame is resurfacing hopefully April/May and then lanes put in maybe May/June.

Dearborn PBL will get the plates put in on the bridge over the next week or so. They will be fixing the potholes and drainage issues. They'll be putting in improvements throughout the season in order to help visibility at intersections, alleys and driveways, including things like signage, green paint and more.

Bike share: Alta was now confirmed as the official bike share company we're working with. They hired the new GM for the bike share program and he came on board two days ago (I didn't catch his name). The first 300 sites have been recommended and are now under aldermanic review. They're now talking about a summer roll out, but Gabe Klein sounds hopeful to have it begun by the next MBAC meeting in mid-June.

CLOCC, the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago's Children, has a new Obesity Prevention Blueprint available online.

The LIB, League of IL Bicyclists, is developing an online bicyclist safety quiz (pretty comprehensive, though) that will be aimed at schoolkids, adult cyclists, and drivers.

What did I miss, Anne/Julie/Anyone?

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on March 13, 2013 at 2:48pm

Oh, I'll add that they discussed that Milwaukee from Kinzie to Elston is getting attention because the mayor is a strong believer in its importance as a bicycling route. They are trying as hard as possible to make protected lanes of some kind possible. Once they have a design, it will be made available for review and comment. (Yay!)

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 13, 2013 at 4:01pm

A little more detail on the bike share program:  They're in the process of finalizing locations. Each location will have a map showing nearby destinations and other bike share locations. Many stations will be placed close to transit and/or car share locations to give multi-modal connectivity. 

When the system is launched this year, they're planning on initial boundaries for this year's rollout of the lake on the east, Montrose (4400N) on the north, Damen (2000W) on the west and 41st (4100S) on the south. Stations won't all get set up at once. Installation will start in/near downtown and steadily expand outward into the neighborhoods. Next year's installation of additional stations will expand the geographic area a bit further out from downtown.

About protected bike lanes and related issues - if folks have suggestions, they should email them to: cdotbikes (at) cityofchicago (dot) org.

The idea of adding curbs as a physical barrier for protected bike lanes was mentioned, but that requires funding that isn't currently available. 

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 14, 2013 at 1:17am

But wait, there's more. On the subject of bike parking, I asked about an old issue: the problem of developers/ contractors installing crappy bike racks or poorly installing good racks due to lack of an inspection/approval mechanism in the zoning code where bike rack installation is required for certain categories of new construction.

A few years ago, I was motivated to do some follow-up work on the issue after seeing a poor installation of a good rack at the new public library in my neighborhood (inspiring me to start the bike parking hall of fame/shame).  At that time, these problems fell into a bureaucratic crack between the zoning department and CDOT's bike program.  


Charlie Short informed us yesterday that the bike program is picking up the slack to help prevent these problems in the future.  Three cheers for the folks at CDOT!

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on March 14, 2013 at 1:54am

I think you covered it pretty well.    The name of the new general manager of Alta is Ed Inlow.  Quick Linkedin check confirmed spelling of his name.  Looks like he came from Accenture doing Management Consulting.  I had to leave early so I wasn't able to personally congratulate him on the new position.  Happy its starting to roll forward. Gabe Klein mentioned he hoped the first installation would happen right around the time of the next MBAC meeting in June.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on March 14, 2013 at 2:55am

How do they plan to do that? It's one thing to say you are going to, another to have a feasible plan that will generate results.

Anne Alt said:


Charlie Short informed us yesterday that the bike program is picking up the slack to help prevent these problems in the future.  Three cheers for the folks at CDOT!

Permalink Reply by Melissa on March 14, 2013 at 3:25am

Thanks for the reports!  Also, here's a nice primer on Complete Streets.  The concept has been around for a long time, so it's great to see that it's finally being considered in Chicago. 

http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/complete-streets/complete-streets...

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 14, 2013 at 3:32am

My understanding from what he explained yesterday is that they are reviewing proposed rack designs and site plans and offering guidance when needed to prevent bad installations.

Charlie - If you'd like to elaborate on this at all, please do.

Duppie 13.5185km said:

How do they plan to do that? It's one thing to say you are going to, another to have a feasible plan that will generate results.

Anne Alt said:


Charlie Short informed us yesterday that the bike program is picking up the slack to help prevent these problems in the future.  Three cheers for the folks at CDOT!

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on March 15, 2013 at 5:45am

H' sorry, didn't see your question before: Sacramento came up in the context of whether CDOT will continue putting in infrastructure when the street surface is suboptimal.

See a little more on that and a comprehensive summary of the full March MBAC meeting at John's Stre... from today.

Permalink Reply by Charlie Short 2.9 on March 15, 2013 at 9:50am

Picking up slack isn't the right way to put it. What's been happening is the folks here at CDOT have been holding developers to the standards set out in the zoning ordinance, which means making sure bike parking (both indoor and out) gets installed. The zoning ordinance is confusing at best, and making sure it gets followed so we actually provide space for bikes is super important. An example of this was a mixed use structure (residential, educational and commercial) that we made sure bike parking got installed appropriate for each use. The developer was already providing the indoor parking for residents and felt that that somehow accommodated all the modes. CDOT folks made sure that they also provided outdoor spaces for the commercial and educational uses.

Additionally, we're making sure that the designs for bike parking can actually accommodate bikes (as opposed to some racks that get installed too close to buildings or other structures.)

We're working on some other behind the scenes bike parking stuff that I'll be able to report on in the coming months.


Anne Alt said:

My understanding from what he explained yesterday is that they are reviewing proposed rack designs and site plans and offering guidance when needed to prevent bad installations.

Charlie - If you'd like to elaborate on this at all, please do.

Duppie 13.5185km said:

How do they plan to do that? It's one thing to say you are going to, another to have a feasible plan that will generate results.

Anne Alt said:


Charlie Short informed us yesterday that the bike program is picking up the slack to help prevent these problems in the future.  Three cheers for the folks at CDOT!

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