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Permalink Reply by Tricolor on August 14, 2014 at 6:24am

By 'Sheridan Road to Davis Street' do they mean South Boulevard to Davis?  South of Main I wouldn't want to ride a bike on that bit even with all the strangulation that's been put on Chicago over the last ten years.  I'd stick to Sheridan and take any of the numerous cross-streets over to Chicago Ave stores.

Of course, that means finding the best way up to Evanston from the city.

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Permalink Reply by mike w. on August 14, 2014 at 6:36am

i just take the turn SB on Sheridan at Chicago... it's safer on Sheridan below NU's campus anyway. Chicago av is pretty busy all the way to South Blvd most of the day, and  Hinman, Judson, and Forest are rather good alternatives crosstown. If they're considering PBLs on Chicago, they need to do the whole length through town, but personally i'd prefer sharrows over PBLs.

 Years ago, bikes were banned on Chicago N of South Blvd (as they were on Ridge, Green Bay, Dempster,Central,and Sheridan and IIRC, Main...)

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Permalink Reply by Joe Schmoe on August 14, 2014 at 8:26am

Will be making a run up Clark/Chicago tonight.  It hasn't really bothered me up to now. There are spots that need resurfacing before you hit Evanston, but it's mostly wide enough where I don't feel threatened. Still sad to see idiot politicians who don't understand that easy car access and economic growth don't always coincide with one another. 

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Short 2.9 on August 14, 2014 at 8:39am

The plan is to put a protected bike lane on Sheridan next to Northwestern and connect that to both the Davis and Church street protected bike lanes through a protected lane of some sort on Chicago for those three blocks.

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Permalink Reply by yaj 7.4 on August 17, 2014 at 5:43am

In case you didn't know, Alderman Burrus is a cyclist, I've ridden with her many times.  

Last night, I checked out the part of Chicago Ave they're talking about and I agree with her - that's not a good place for a bike lane.  It ends at a messy Sheridan intersection.  I'm glad Evanston is trying to increase their bike lanes and I hope they figure a better location than this proposal.

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Permalink Reply by David Barish on August 17, 2014 at 4:21pm

Are you sure of that? I do not know of any ban on Chicago Ave and see bikes on it all the time including mine.


mike w. said:

i just take the turn SB on Sheridan at Chicago... it's safer on Sheridan below NU's campus anyway. Chicago av is pretty busy all the way to South Blvd most of the day, and  Hinman, Judson, and Forest are rather good alternatives crosstown. If they're considering PBLs on Chicago, they need to do the whole length through town, but personally i'd prefer sharrows over PBLs.

 Years ago, bikes were banned on Chicago N of South Blvd (as they were on Ridge, Green Bay, Dempster,Central,and Sheridan and IIRC, Main...)

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Short 2.9 on August 17, 2014 at 5:09pm

Looking at the Municipal Code of Evanston, Ridge is currently the only street where bikes were prohibited. They re-did a lot of the code in 2012, and I think they removed all of those streets. They definitely had bike bans on short stretches of a bunch of streets.

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Permalink Reply by mike w. on August 18, 2014 at 3:59pm

Those bans were lifted in the early '70s, IIRC..( i distinctly remember Chicago ave as prohibited, as i recall being scolded by a driver for riding  there a couple of weeks after the signs came down c.1972.) Not sure when they were first instituted. Ridge for sure and i think Green Bay are still no-go streets in Evanston.

David Barish said:

Are you sure of that? I do not know of any ban on Chicago Ave and see bikes on it all the time including mine.


mike w. said:

i just take the turn SB on Sheridan at Chicago... it's safer on Sheridan below NU's campus anyway. Chicago av is pretty busy all the way to South Blvd most of the day, and  Hinman, Judson, and Forest are rather good alternatives crosstown. If they're considering PBLs on Chicago, they need to do the whole length through town, but personally i'd prefer sharrows over PBLs.

 Years ago, bikes were banned on Chicago N of South Blvd (as they were on Ridge, Green Bay, Dempster,Central,and Sheridan and IIRC, Main...)

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on August 19, 2014 at 3:13am

http://chi.streetsblog.org/2014/05/21/evanston-bike-plan-catches-re...

A survey from the city earlier this spring suggested banning bikes on parts of five roads (in addition to the current bike ban on Ridge from Howard to Emerson):  Main, Dempster, Central, Green Bay & Chicago.  Terrible idea, hope it goes nowhere.  The only upside is that sidewalk riding outside of the central business area is permissible for adults, so those streets could still be awkwardly accessed by cyclists.  But still, ban bikes but not cars?  Seriously?

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