I rode today. Did you?

Nice first ride in the COLD.

 

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Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on January 21, 2014 at 4:51am

There are designated snow routes that parking is banned on if there are over two inches of snow. I am not sure if the city actually tows people from the street before they plow. That might be too much coordination for Chicago to handle.

Skip Montanaro 12mi said:



Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

... although the bike lanes were close to unusable.

Does Chicago have the concept of a snow emergency, where after a certain size snowfall they do some sort of even/odd parking to allow the plows to clear streets to the curb? In the last round of snow it didn't appear that was the case, at least not on any side streets. The snow was just plowed up against the parallel parked cars, obscuring bike lanes.

Evanston hadn't yet declared a snow emergency this morning, though I'm surprised they didn't. The actual snowfall was difficult to judge because of the wind, but when I was out shoveling my sidewalks this morning it seemed like 4-6", which should have been enough to trigger the alert.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on January 21, 2014 at 5:00am

Skip, you are kidding, right?

As Adam said, many main streets have parking prohibiited after 2" of snowfall.  That actually works pretty well. Clear side streets to the curb in Chicago?  Bwahaha! 
 
Skip Montanaro 12mi said:



Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

... although the bike lanes were close to unusable.

Does Chicago have the concept of a snow emergency, where after a certain size snowfall they do some sort of even/odd parking to allow the plows to clear streets to the curb? In the last round of snow it didn't appear that was the case, at least not on any side streets. The snow was just plowed up against the parallel parked cars, obscuring bike lanes.

Evanston hadn't yet declared a snow emergency this morning, though I'm surprised they didn't. The actual snowfall was difficult to judge because of the wind, but when I was out shoveling my sidewalks this morning it seemed like 4-6", which should have been enough to trigger the alert.

Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on January 21, 2014 at 5:05am

Permalink Reply by Eli on January 21, 2014 at 5:08am

As Adam said, many main streets have parking prohibiited after 2" of snowfall.

This doesn't seem to have been enforced at all this winter.

I have seen no streets with street parking plowed to the curb at any point this winter--not Clark, not Damen, not Lincoln, not Broadway, not Devon.

Permalink Reply by T.K. 3.5 mi on January 21, 2014 at 5:26am

Adam, from cityofchicago.gov (bold is mine):http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/streets/provdrs/street/s...

"A separate snow related parking ban exists for another 500 miles of main streets and can be activated after there are at least two inches of snow on the street. While the 2” snow inch ban is not activated often, motorists who are parked there when it is could receive a ticket or find that their vehicle has been relocated in order to facilitate snow clearing operations.

Both of these parking bans were implemented on designated arterial streets to prevent recurrences of problems that happened in 1967 and 1979 when Chicago came to a traffic standstill due to major snowstorms."

The 2" of snow isn't the activator of the ban, the city is. 

Ride today was really fun and slow except for one left turn I had to make in heavy moving traffic and slippery roads.

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on January 21, 2014 at 5:27am



Lisa Curcio 4.1 mi said:

Skip, you are kidding, right?

Not kidding at all. I live in Evanston, and have no idea what the Chicago protocols are for heavy snowfall. For example, I got a mail this morning with this (from Patch, but I imagine they just beat Evanston to the computer keyboard):

Residents are asked to park according to the "snow route parking ban" signs on Tuesday night, and according to the "snow emergency" signs Wednesday and Thursday.

So, in Evanston, we have both "snow route" and "snow emergency" events.  For all I knew, the previous "polar vortex" event might have just overwhelmed the City of Chicago and kept them from implementing the "snow emergency" because they were so caught up in trying to clear snow routes.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on January 21, 2014 at 5:37am

You missed the paragraph above that that says that parking is automatically banned on 107 miles of vital arterial streets when there is 2" or more of snow.  That includes Milwaukee, which is almost always pretty clear right away.  Getting to Milwaukee is usually the issue, as it was today, which is (to get this thread back on track :-)) why I did NOT ride today. 
 
T.K. 8.4 mi said:

Adam, from cityofchicago.gov (bold is mine):http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/streets/provdrs/street/s...

"A separate snow related parking ban exists for another 500 miles of main streets and can be activated after there are at least two inches of snow on the street. While the 2” snow inch ban is not activated often, motorists who are parked there when it is could receive a ticket or find that their vehicle has been relocated in order to facilitate snow clearing operations.

Both of these parking bans were implemented on designated arterial streets to prevent recurrences of problems that happened in 1967 and 1979 when Chicago came to a traffic standstill due to major snowstorms."

The 2" of snow isn't the activator of the ban, the city is. 

Ride today was really fun and slow except for one left turn I had to make in heavy moving traffic and slippery roads.

Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on January 21, 2014 at 6:06am

Chicago has two types of "Snow" bans.   The most important roads ban overnight parking during the winter.   Period.   Even if it is 70 and sunny, no overnight parking.    The other roads CAN have a ban imposed if the snow is more than 2 inches deep.  But the City just about never invokes this ban.  Further complicating this, the ban can only be invoked on those streets which have signs in the block as well.  And MANY of these signs have not been replaced when lost or destroyed.  In my area, for example, Damen is a 2 inch snow route, but the signs are missing in most blocks.  



Lisa Curcio 4.1 mi said:

You missed the paragraph above that that says that parking is automatically banned on 107 miles of vital arterial streets when there is 2" or more of snow.  That includes Milwaukee, which is almost always pretty clear right away.  Getting to Milwaukee is usually the issue, as it was today, which is (to get this thread back on track :-)) why I did NOT ride today. 
 
T.K. 8.4 mi said:

Adam, from cityofchicago.gov (bold is mine):http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/streets/provdrs/street/s...

"A separate snow related parking ban exists for another 500 miles of main streets and can be activated after there are at least two inches of snow on the street. While the 2” snow inch ban is not activated often, motorists who are parked there when it is could receive a ticket or find that their vehicle has been relocated in order to facilitate snow clearing operations.

Both of these parking bans were implemented on designated arterial streets to prevent recurrences of problems that happened in 1967 and 1979 when Chicago came to a traffic standstill due to major snowstorms."

The 2" of snow isn't the activator of the ban, the city is. 

Ride today was really fun and slow except for one left turn I had to make in heavy moving traffic and slippery roads.

Permalink Reply by T.K. 3.5 mi on January 21, 2014 at 6:24am

Thanks for the clarification, Lisa. Here is the map of the permanent overnight parking ban: http://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/streets/supp_in...

It doesnt look very helpful for bike folks, since a lot of them are riding north and east of Milwaukee and Kedzie, and/or wont have clear access to those streets like you said. Ok I'll stop derailing now. :) 

Lisa Curcio 4.1 mi said:

You missed the paragraph above that that says that parking is automatically banned on 107 miles of vital arterial streets when there is 2" or more of snow.

Permalink Reply by EssFresh on January 21, 2014 at 6:34am

I bussed to job 1 and divvy'd to job 2. The roads are clear, bike lanes mostly clear, side streets are a mess. The sun is out and I was overdressed. 

Permalink Reply by David Barish on January 21, 2014 at 6:56am

If I lived close to the loop I would have given it a go. Major arteries in the city were ok but not  ideal. Suburban streets were difficult for all users. If I had ridden I would have had to portage two blocks to get to a plowed street. There was a half foot on the street and driving to the train was no snap. I have no regret about bailing. 

Although the city is better for riding major streets right after a storm, it is inferior once you get to the capillaries. Most suburban communities enforce alternate side parking allowing the minor streets to be clean within a couple days. In the city the minor streets are difficult until the snow melts. My street, unrideable and virtually undriveable this morning, will be fine by tomorrow. Neighborhood streets in the city will still have buried vehicles and a center trough for a while. This isn't a better/worse opinion. It just is what it is. 

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on January 22, 2014 at 4:45am

The last two mornings have been fairly brutal with my fingers and toes getting numb. My core and legs were warm for the most part until I got to the Loop and got stopped at every red light on Dearborn. Still better than walking to the 'L' and filing into a packed train. It's nice to stay active though the winter.

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