Water Work May Pave Way for 2-Way Bike Lane
The alderman’s office says they’ve made strides in the last week toward plans to create a biking ‘greenway’ down School Street. It would limit driving on the street, add street details and be a biker’s paradise.
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West School Street is one step closer to a major makeover that would limit driving to create a Neighborhood Greenway with a two-lane biking path, Ald. Tom Tunney’s (44th) office says.
The development is a part of both the alderman and the Chicago Department of Trasportation’s plan to create an east-west biking corridor from Lake Michigan, through Lake View and into Roscoe Village. This project, however, would almost completely transform a one-way street into a two-lane biking corridor.
Sougata Deb, Tunney’s director of infrastructure and special projects, says he and the alderman met with the Commissioner of Water Management Thomas Powers last week. When they discovered the water mains beneath School Street are more than 100 years old, plans to convert the corridor into a bike-friendly Greenway were thrown into the spotlight.
“The alderman informed the commissioner of our plans to convert West School Street into a Neighborhood Greenway, which is contingent on resurfacing West School Street,” Deb said. “(The) last thing we want is to install new bike lanes, only to have them removed a year later to resurface the street. Commissioner Powers was kind enough to move up the proposed water main project on West School (from) Ashland to Halsted to 2014.”
Because crews plan to use money from the Department of Water Management's fund to repave the street after replacing the mains, Tunney’s office can use money set aside to resurface School Street to help fund the Neighborhood Greenway. That means adding things like curb bump-outs to put a squeeze on traffic, new signage and more.
"The last thing we want is to install new bike lanes, only to have them removed a year later to resurface the street."
And because the street is city-owned and isn’t focusing on creating buffers or protections from traffic, it doesn’t fall under the Illinois Department of Transportation’s new hold on Chicago’s bike lanes.
The two-way bike corridor down School Street would connect bikers with already bustling lanes running north and south, like North Halsted Street, Clark Street and Lincoln Avenue. But rather than simple bike lanes, the proposed lanes would be more similar to the Berteau Greenway in Ald. Ameya Pawar’s (47th) ward.
Deb said the plan is still tentative, but CDOT is already aware of the latest developments and are pleased with the progress. And while the plans are still tentative, neighbors will get a say in the finished product.
“There would be a community process to make sure everyone’s comfortable with the idea,” Deb said in December. “And we’ve gotten great feedback on it so far. We talked with people on School from Ashland to Southport, and they were very supportive.”
Tunney’s office plans to push for the water main project to begin in early 2014, and Deb says he’s hoping to get CDOT on School Street immediately following the project’s completion.
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Winston
11:15 am on Thursday, February 14, 2013
Noooooooooooo!!!!
Steve johnson
12:30 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
YESSSS!!! As a resident on School St, traffic is currently too heavy and moves too fast. Considering there are 2 schools and a new park opening this spring along School St, I think this is a good long-term approach to enhance the safety for pedestrians, bikers and children in this neighborhood.
Adam Rosa
12:31 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
In full support of this... my kids (and I) would have a much safer ride to school (Nettelhorst) and to the Lake... Let's make this happen!
Adam Rosa
12:32 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
Steve is right, the new park/playlot will also be a MAJOR draw for young cyclists.
Larry Garner
1:51 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
I like to bike a lot. When the weather is mild, I try to go everywhere under 10 miles r.t. on my bike. But I am not at all in agreement with this project. Sometimes I think that the cyclist lobbies are so anti-car that their ultimate objective is to make driving a car in city as unpleasant as the experience of daily commuter chumps on the expressways. But Chicago will never be a city where most of the people get around on bikes--both because of the weather and the large number of elderly who inhabit it, but also because work/home transit many times deviates from a simple straight-line pattern--and not to mention the problem that Chicago, for its size, has an altogether mediocre public transit system. There is no comparison in numerical terms between the number of cyclists who use School/Aldine and those drivers using it on an occasional or regular basis. To privilege the former at the expense of the latter, when the balance is so far in favor the drivers and when cyclists have no problem whatsoever negotiating the street as it is (and I'm one of the them), strikes me as just plain nonsensical. If you want to calm down the traffic on School/Aldine, get the city to enforce the towing provision of traffic on Belmont & Addison during rush hour, and in both directions during rush hour.
Larry Garner
1:58 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
One more thought on this proposed project: If there is a pressing need, as I believe there is, for the repaving of School/Aldine, then let's make a claim to the city on that basis. What Deb & Tunney have done is link the wacky 2-lane bike project with the repaving, as if to say: "You can forget about getting your street repaved (however much it may need it) unless you sign on to the bike project." Let's keep these two things separate in our minds--it will help us to think more clearly about the pluses and minuses of the wacky bike project.
Adam Rosa
3:42 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
The balance in our country for the past 60 years has been 95% car, 5% other. Things have been so out of wack for so long... It IS time to change the balance and make some streets priority bicycle ways, even at the cost of a few minutes of time for drivers. I'm perfectly fine with drivers being inconvenienced if it supports more walking, transit and bike use (ie healthier and safer lifestyles)!
Adam Rosa
3:43 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
Oh, and Chicago's transit system is not mediocre... it actually is very good and quite functional, when taken as a whole, especially in and around the Lakeview area.
bernie bradshaw
8:24 am on Friday, February 15, 2013
This makes little sense to me. I bike to the park on Aldine all the time which is School on the west side of Clark. I drive in with my car on School when coming home from the west. When I bike home from the park, I come back west on Roscoe. I have never had any issues with road sharing whether on my bike or in my car on these streets. Also if this runs east to the park on Aldine, how will the crossovers be handled on Clark, Halsted and Broadway with an increase of bike traffic. Especially Broadway where you have to zig-zag to the north. Will traffic lights be placed at each corner as well as at Lake Shore? Looks like we are trying to fix something that already works.
Larry Garner
9:03 am on Friday, February 15, 2013
Bravo, Bernie. Common sense may yet win out in this. Maybe Tunney and Deb weren't thinking of us when Deb said, "“There would be a community process to make sure everyone’s comfortable with the idea.” Sounds like we won't be part of Deb's "everyone" if the project goes through. Keep your eyes and ears open so we can bring this common sense to the next "community meeting" on this wacky project.
LView lifer
1:49 pm on Sunday, February 17, 2013
This is an absolute joke. Roads were made for vehicular traffic, and the obnoxious bike drivers that do NOT respect signs should be forced into purchasing some type of insurance to protect the people who spend good money on automobiles, which in turn provide significant tax revenue at time of purchase, through gasoline taxes and for stickers (city/state). It is ironic that the taxes that are being forced on drivers will end up paying for some liberals right to cruise streets. I ride a bike for recreation and exercise often, and RESPECT the signs, and I also understand that a car deserves significant respect. Also, the bikers who wear those weird helmets (military style) look like total buffoons. I'm sure this may offend many, but the truth hurts at times.