CHICAGO | General Developments

[intrepidDesign]

Originally Posted by aic4ever

And yes, I ride my bike on the sidewalk all the time, and I always have.

I hope you do this in front of a cop one day and get a huge ticket. I have seen people like you riding their bikes recklessly dodging around people on the sidewalk with children in strollers. I mean how stupid can you be to think this is ok? I'm sure you argument will be "well those people are morons, I would never do that, as I stated I get off the sidewalk/slow down when there are people" NOT THE POINT. Bikes, genius, are vehicles, albeit human powered ones, and BY LAW are required to be on the street. I can't believe someone even has to tell you this!

"I'd rather have some pedestrians pissed at me for 5 seconds than risk getting obliterated by a car or a truck or a bus." I get it, you don't mind the idea of possibly smashing into a pedestrian while they have the right of way and you're breaking the law... just so YOU don't get hurt. Even though the solution to you not getting "obliterated by a car or truck or bus" is a protected bike lane. Wow.

"do not suggest designating the sidewalks as bike lanes. I suggest that sidewalks be used by people on bikes" The only thing you clarified by this statement is how foolish you are.

"they always have been meant to be anywhere else I've ever lived in my life" Everywhere I've ever lived, the law is always bikes on the street. I'm sure that was the law wherever else you've lived, but you've been to arrogant to know it.

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by intrepidDesign

"they always have been meant to be anywhere else I've ever lived in my life" Everywhere I've ever lived, the law is always bikes on the street. I'm sure that was the law wherever else you've lived, but you've been to arrogant to know it.

No, that is a recent phenomenon. No society in their right mind would mix 10000 pound vehicles with 200 pound sticks of aluminum, especially in a snowy or rainy climate on heavily trafficked roads, and in many countries bicycles are forbidden from roads. It did become the law in dense areas like Chicago because frankly there need to be 3 categories of traffic, but the street infrastructure was mostly built for only 2. The bicycle tracks are finally the best way of resolving this. If any law is now necessary it should be one to clamp down on the fraction of irresponsible cyclists who fail to use adequate lighting around dusk and later.

[Rizzo]

The only reasonable solution is to separate all modes whether it's rail, bus, car, bike or pedestrian whenever it's possible. Each mode moves at different speeds, serve different mobility purposes and carry varying levels of risk.

I'm happy to say Chicago is moving in the right direction.


Chicago law prohibits bicycle riding on sidewalks. Law is enforced where signage is present or when reckless actions require reprimand.

[montasauraus]

I've often seen police on bikes riding up on sidewalks.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by intrepidDesign

I wish the Kinzie bike lane would have a curb separation. The bollards seem cheap and almost half committed. Washington street is another example of a bike lane that could be vastly improved. I wish from Desplains west they would get rid of all street parking on the south of the street and make that a bike only lane, make the current bike lane a raised separation with intermittent breaks for bus stops.

If you wanna put in a curb, you need to reconstruct the entire roadway with separate storm water drains for the traffic lanes and a bike lane. Otherwise the new curb would block rainwater from draining and Kinzie would flood pretty damn quick.

It's easy to do on Elston, which is a whole new roadway, but absurdly expensive to do anywhere else. The bollards are a good solution, and don't forget that parked cars provide a secondary barrier. If you need a more substantial barrier, you get a butt-ugly Jersey barrier. But then parked cars can't open their doors, so you can't use those in conjunction with street parking.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by montasauraus

I've often seen police on bikes riding up on sidewalks.

Yes, and they ride horses on city streets and drive cars on the lakefront trail lol.

Originally Posted by ardecila

If you wanna put in a curb, you need to reconstruct the entire roadway with separate storm water drains for the traffic lanes and a bike lane. Otherwise the new curb would block rainwater from draining and Kinzie would flood pretty damn quick.

It's easy to do on Elston, which is a whole new roadway, but absurdly expensive to do anywhere else. The bollards are a good solution, and don't forget that parked cars provide a secondary barrier. If you need a more substantial barrier, you get a butt-ugly Jersey barrier. But then parked cars can't open their doors, so you can't use those in conjunction with street parking.

Not necessarily. My hometown did a street narrowing study and temporarily pushed out the curbs to see how well narrowing the street would work for 1 year. They even put down landscaping over what was once a traffic lane. They just created small spillways every so often so that water could reach the permanent curb. Actually the permanent curb remained undisturbed, so there were technically two curbs on each side.

The traffic calming experiment unfortunately made things worse, so it was dismantled and never considered again.

[M II A II R II K]

No tax hike needed to clean up Chicago River, water agency says


March 02, 2012

By Michael Hawthorne

Read More: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2...-chicago-river

Making stretches of the Chicago River and other local waterways safer for recreation won't require a tax increase and will cost dramatically less than officials ominously predicted less than a year ago, according to documents filed Thursday by the agency that handles Cook County's sewage and stormwater. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District said installing equipment to kill the germs in partially treated sewage will cost $139 million, about 7 times less than the $1 billion that top district officials once said it would require and half as much as they later argued it would take to disinfect the wastewater.

Contractors are set to complete the project by 2015, district officials said, much faster than the decade-long schedule outlined in records submitted last year to state regulators. They also said the equipment should cost about $5 million a year to operate, less than half of previous estimates. David St. Pierre, the district's new executive director, told elected commissioners that spreading the construction costs over three years will enable them to overhaul two massive treatment plants within their routine budget for bricks-and-mortar projects. The work won't cut into money set aside to complete the Deep Tunnel, the district's long-delayed pollution- and flood-control project, St. Pierre said.

.....

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by Hayward

Not necessarily. My hometown did a street narrowing study and temporarily pushed out the curbs to see how well narrowing the street would work for 1 year. They even put down landscaping over what was once a traffic lane. They just created small spillways every so often so that water could reach the permanent curb. Actually the permanent curb remained undisturbed, so there were technically two curbs on each side.

Interesting. I guess I'm just used to the Gulf Coast where an improperly-crowned street can quickly turn into a lake and become impassable during a rainstorm.

The traffic calming experiment unfortunately made things worse, so it was dismantled and never considered again.

Reminds me of Skokie.

[denizen467]

There are a couple things about the biking thing I'd like to understand-
-If law forbids riding on sidewalks, doesn't that completely shut out a sizeable portion of the elderly, frail (including people temporarily sick or injured or just lugging something unwieldy), and children out of bicycling entirely, other than in parks? There are always going to be some people who can't or won't risk riding alongside buses, trucks, and occasional crazies, so is the law saying "dive into traffic or else please figure out how to get to a park"? Does the law allow no leeway for riding on sidewalks slowly, by kids learning, or on wholly residential streets?
-Also, is it fair to assume bicyclists must obey all traffic rules that an auto driver would, or are there any specific exceptions? (Other than exceptions like not needing to wait infinitely at magnetic-sensor red lights or anything else equipment related.) The one I'm wondering about is stop signs, particularly on residential streets.

[untitledreality]

Originally Posted by denizen467

If law forbids riding on sidewalks, doesn't that completely shut out a sizeable portion of the elderly, frail (including people temporarily sick or injured or just lugging something unwieldy), and children out of bicycling entirely, other than in parks?

9-52-020 Riding bicycles on sidewalks and certain roadways - Permalink

(a) No person shall ride a bicycle upon a sidewalk within a business district. (b) No person 12 or more years of age shall ride a bicycle upon any sidewalk in any district, unless such sidewalk has been officially designated and marked as a bicycle route. (c) Bicycles shall not be operated on Lake Shore Drive or on any roadway where the operation of bicycles has been prohibited and signs have been erected indicating such prohibition. (d) Whenever a usable path for bicycles has been provided adjacent to a roadway, bicycle riders shall use such path and shall not use the roadway.

Added Coun. J. 7-12-90, p. 18634

Straight from www.chicagobikes.org where all municipal bike laws are listed.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by untitledreality

Straight from www.chicagobikes.org where all municipal bike laws are listed.

The law is pretty clear cut, or use prudent judgement. A few sidewalks are perfectly legal to bicycle on such as some of the larger sidewalks in Grant Park (signed as the law states). You can also ride on the sidewalks along lower wacker (for the folks that have basement bike rooms in their offices.)...because bicycle riding is prohibited on street. Good luck finding a pedestrian down there between Michigan and Congress lol. Though if I ever saw someone, I'd yield ROW to avoid scaring them in an already unfriendly place

[ardecila]

How do you get to Lower Wacker on a bike? Do you access it from the riverwalk, or go down a ramp like a car? I've never even considered doing that, but now I really want to. You could have races, Congress to Michigan (then a mad dash to escape the cops).

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by ardecila

How do you get to Lower Wacker on a bike? Do you access it from the riverwalk, or go down a ramp like a car? I've never even considered doing that, but now I really want to. You could have races, Congress to Michigan (then a mad dash to escape the cops).

I've only accessed the Eastbound side from Michigan and Wacker. But I've exited by way of Garvey / Haddock Pl before. Very narrow sidewalks, but you need to use them to avoid getting hit by trucks on the service drive. I used to park down there when I had a truck and was hauling some equipment. I quickly discovered that no one really seemed to care. Try it at your own risk lol!

[Nowhereman1280]

Originally Posted by Via Chicago

We can debate the merits of where protected lanes make best sense, but suggesting that curb hopping should become a standard and encouraged practice is foolish.

Let's not forget the fact that curb hopping every time you see pedestrians makes it about one gagillion times more likely that some delivery truck is going to plaster your ass to the pavement. The only thing dangerous about riding on the street is bicylists who weave in and out of traffic. Bicylists who jump curbs into traffic with little or no warning deserve to be run over for their stupidity. Either your are riding on the road or not, don't be an idiot and pop in and out of traffic and surprise drivers.

There is nothing more dangerous than erratic behavior when it comes to road ways. This applies to bikes, cars, pedestrians, whatever. If you are going to do something then do it, don't fucking waver as if you may or may not do it. I say this as someone who spends roughly equal amounts of time biking, walking, and driving around the city.

Originally Posted by montasauraus

I've often seen police on bikes riding up on sidewalks.

I've seen police driving on sidewalks, they obviously are excluded from following these rules to a T because they are on patrol. Also, every cop I've seen biking on a sidewalk has basically been coasting as slowly as possible. Obviously being on the bike gives them a height advantage so they can more efficiently patrol by getting their eyes above the crowd.

Originally Posted by denizen467

-If law forbids riding on sidewalks, doesn't that completely shut out a sizeable portion of the elderly, frail (including people temporarily sick or injured or just lugging something unwieldy), and children out of bicycling entirely, other than in parks? There are always going to be some people who can't or won't risk riding alongside buses, trucks, and occasional crazies, so is the law saying "dive into traffic or else please figure out how to get to a park"? Does the law allow no leeway for riding on sidewalks slowly, by kids learning, or on wholly residential streets?

As it should. If you are too incompetent at biking to ride on the street then you DEFINITELY should not be riding on the sidewalk. How does it make any sense to think that allowing shaky children or elderly bikers to ride on the sidewalk will make things safer? If anything those people are 10x more likely to crash into a pedestrian. If you can't control your bike well enough to use the street, then you shouldn't be biking on sidewalks either. That's why we have dozens of miles of nice, wide, recreational trails.

Originally Posted by ardecila

How do you get to Lower Wacker on a bike? Do you access it from the riverwalk, or go down a ramp like a car? I've never even considered doing that, but now I really want to. You could have races, Congress to Michigan (then a mad dash to escape the cops).

I've always just dropped down the three level ramps on E South Water by Aqua. The best way to explore the lower level streets is on bike because you can move quickly enough that you don't feel creeped out.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

As it should. If you are too incompetent at biking to ride on the street then you DEFINITELY should not be riding on the sidewalk. How does it make any sense to think that allowing shaky children or elderly bikers to ride on the sidewalk will make things safer? If anything those people are 10x more likely to crash into a pedestrian. If you can't control your bike well enough to use the street, then you shouldn't be biking on sidewalks either. That's why we have dozens of miles of nice, wide, recreational trails.

The law is the way it is because people did not know how to ride bicycles on sidewalks responsibly. Cities where it hasn't been an issue (like Detroit) allow people to ride on the street or sidewalk but must yield to pedestrians. As pedestrians densities go up and more accidents occur, the laws get more specific.

Young children are on smaller bikes and possess less inertia to cause great physical harm to an adult. If children or elderly are in fact at more risk of collision, then they are only worse off if in the streets and more likely to die in a fatality if they get hit.

A healthy young adult on the other hand may be more adept at navigating a busy sidewalk, but speeds tends to increase and bikes are larger, which is why they belong on the street.


The law varies by state. Michigan law gave cyclists full rights of a vehicle, but also meant you absolutely could not blow stop signs and red lights.....and cyclists getting tickets was VERY common It was illegal to overtake a cyclist without entirely merging into the next lane to pass. Bicyclists could legally occupy a full lane where here you must remain close to the curb....though in Chicago it's non-issue because the right-most lanes tend to be unusually wide.

[lawfin]

Originally Posted by denizen467

There are a couple things about the biking thing I'd like to understand-
-If law forbids riding on sidewalks, doesn't that completely shut out a sizeable portion of the elderly, frail (including people temporarily sick or injured or just lugging something unwieldy), and children out of bicycling entirely, other than in parks? There are always going to be some people who can't or won't risk riding alongside buses, trucks, and occasional crazies, so is the law saying "dive into traffic or else please figure out how to get to a park"? Does the law allow no leeway for riding on sidewalks slowly, by kids learning, or on wholly residential streets?
-Also, is it fair to assume bicyclists must obey all traffic rules that an auto driver would, or are there any specific exceptions? (Other than exceptions like not needing to wait infinitely at magnetic-sensor red lights or anything else equipment related.) The one I'm wondering about is stop signs, particularly on residential streets.

There are exceptions for children.

Generally if you are just coasting along say to get to the spot to lock up yur bike you are going to be fine. If you are going at speed probably not

Originally Posted by chicago muni code

9-52-020 Riding bicycles on sidewalks and certain roadways - Permalink
(a) No person shall ride a bicycle upon a sidewalk within a business district. (b) No person 12 or more years of age shall ride a bicycle upon any sidewalk in any district, unless such sidewalk has been officially designated and marked as a bicycle route. (c) Bicycles shall not be operated on Lake Shore Drive or on any roadway where the operation of bicycles has been prohibited and signs have been erected indicating such prohibition. (d) Whenever a usable path for bicycles has been provided adjacent to a roadway, bicycle riders shall use such path and shall not use the roadway.
Added Coun. J. 7-12-90, p. 18634
9-52-021 Riding bicycles on sidewalks–Penalty - Permalink
(a) The penalty for any person age 18 and older who rides a bicycle on the sidewalk adjacent to North Sheridan Road, between West Ardmore Avenue and West Sheridan Road (6400 north) shall be as follows: (1) the bicycle shall be temporarily disabled without permanent damage; and (2) the violator shall be subject to a fine of $50.00. (b) Following passage and approval, this section shall be in force and effect upon posting of signage notifying bicyclists of the penalty for violation of this section.
Added Coun. J. 2-6-02, p. 79154, § 1; Amend Coun. J. 6-4-03, p. 2538, § 1

[aic4ever]

You guys make it seem like every sidewalk everywhere in the city is filled with families with kids that I or anyone else would be rocketing through at 20 mph and diving out into the middle of traffic if they were in my way. Give me a break. I'm talking about having some common sense all around, which is something the law and how we're spending our money in this city obviously don't take into account.

I'm talking about riding a bike along the same kinds of places we're currently putting these protected bike lanes, where there is little to zero pedestrian traffic to begin with. Why put in these silly plastic bollards where there is very little foot traffic on the sidewalks when all it does is serve to further congest vehicle traffic?

Other streets like Roosevelt or Canal are a similar case. There's a bike lane on Canal, for instance, that I never use because everyone who drives on Canal drives way over the speed limit and weaves besides. The sidewalk is a good ten feet wide on top of that, so I just use that because it's safer. Same deal on Roosevelt. I just don't see the point in subjecting yourself to the risk, no matter what the law is, and I patently refuse to believe a person on a bicycle poses a risk to a pedestrian that is anywhere near the same level of risk a car or a truck poses to a cyclist.

And as far as laws go, if the law is going to designate bicycles as vehicles, then let it be enforced as such. I've lived in the City since 1999 and I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen cyclists obey traffic signals when the volume of cross traffic didn't force them to. If we're going to turn our attention to unenforced laws that should be enforced, I'd argue it's far more important to enforce that aspect of the law than whether or not someone chooses to ride on the sidewalk.

Incidentally, since I'm into more of a stream of thought than anything at this point, Roosevelt and Canal would both be much better locations for actual protected bike lanes. They are both wide enough already to support it without screwing with the width of the road. You could pretty easily put in a curb with scuppers every 100 yards or so for stormwater, and if you needed any extra width for the bike lane, you could cut it out of the sidewalk.

[ardecila]

I always stop for red lights, unless there's a loop detector and I'm waiting for more than a minute or two without tripping the signal.

Stop signs... well, I slow down to a crawl and check for cross-traffic, which is exactly what every driver does (often there is a car on the cross-street that doesn't have a stop sign, so I DO need to stop).

The only serious violation I ever do (rarely) is ride down a one-way street in the wrong direction... Otherwise you have to go 1/2 mile out of your way to get to a place one block away. Usually a thoughtful route can avoid this, though.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by aic4ever

Incidentally, since I'm into more of a stream of thought than anything at this point, Roosevelt and Canal would both be much better locations for actual protected bike lanes. They are both wide enough already to support it without screwing with the width of the road. You could pretty easily put in a curb with scuppers every 100 yards or so for stormwater, and if you needed any extra width for the bike lane, you could cut it out of the sidewalk.

In Europe, I saw several places where the "protected bike lane" was actually up on the sidewalk, separated from the pedestrian area by a striped buffer zone or planter boxes. You need wide sidewalks to do this, but it's a natural for Grant Park or some other places with overbuilt sidewalks or buildings with big setbacks from the curb.

[OhioGuy]

Originally Posted by ardecila

In Europe, I saw several places where the "protected bike lane" was actually up on the sidewalk, separated from the pedestrian area by a striped buffer zone or planter boxes. You need wide sidewalks to do this, but it's a natural for Grant Park or some other places with overbuilt sidewalks or buildings with big setbacks from the curb.

In Stuttgart, Germany, I noticed the bike lanes alternated between being on the side of the street and on the sidewalk. They didn't always have specific dividers when the bike lane was on the sidewalk, instead opting for painted bike lanes to differentiate between the biker & pedestrian sections.