Milwaukee Avenue

Improving Milwaukee Avenue: Community meeting tomorrow night

June 28, 2017 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Who/What: Mobilizing for a Safer Milwaukee Avenue: The Active Transportation Alliance and apparel/equipment company Arc’Teryz hosts a community meeting to discuss the much-traveled Milwaukee Avenue. Over the last several months, the city has hosted public meetings to solicit input from residents on impending improvements. The meetings have generated discussions about safety for cyclists, many of whom commute on Milwaukee Avenue daily.

Bonus: Free beer from Revolutionary Brewery and refreshments provided by Boxed Water.

When: Thursday, June 29, 6-8pm.

Where: Arc’Teryz Chicago, 1630 North Damen Avenue.

Why: As we’ve written before, Milwaukee Avenue is one of the most notorious roads in Chicago. Car and pedestrian accidents are frequent and sometimes fatal. Between 2010-2014, the city reported 1,097 crashes at the intersection of Milwaukee/Damen/North Ave, the majority of injuries suffered by cyclists or pedestrians—and that’s just one intersection. The City of Chicago has labeled Milwaukee Avenue a “spoke route,” meaning it’s a prime target for the city’s prospective network of protected bike lanes, but details are lacking as to what it might mean.

The Alliance points out that between 2010-2015 the Chicago Department of Transportation reported 74 dooring crashes, accounting for 6 percent of the citywide total. And more still, based on a blog post published on June 20: “More than 5,000 people cross the Milwaukee/North/Damen intersection on foot during a.m. and p.m. peak hours – yet crosswalk markings are faded or missing altogether.”

Last week, the Active Transportation Alliance launched an online petition to raise awareness about forthcoming developments to the Milwaukee/Damen/North Avenue intersection, scheduled to begin at the end of the summer. The Alliance says it launched the petition to encourage city officials to “think big,” perhaps stemming from the fact that the scheduled improvements to Milwaukee Ave. includes no plans for dedicated bike lanes. DNAinfo reports that the petition has already garnered more than 900 signatures.

Nonprofit launches petition for dedicated bike lane on Milwaukee Avenue

June 26, 2017 by Jay Stefani Leave a Comment

Milwaukee Ave. needs a change

The Active Transportation Alliance has launched an online petition to encourage city officials to consider “low cost, near term improvements” on Milwaukee Avenue, including a dedicated bike lane, according to the Tribune.

“Bold actions are needed to immediately improve the safety of Milwaukee Avenue and begin the street’s long overdue transition to a walking, biking, and transit oriented corridor,” reads the petition.

“This public process is a unique opportunity to advance a shared vision for truly transforming one of Chicago’s most iconic streets and one of the busiest streets for biking in the whole country. We are heartened by many of the exciting ideas already floated by local leaders and city officials, including reducing vehicle speeds and closing off unnecessary slip lanes.”

Among the proposals included in the petition are:

New bikeways that eliminate risk of doorings and other common crashes
Vehicle speeds of 20 mph or lower
Easy and accessible access to transit
More space for people walking and biking at intersections, including closed slip lanes, curb bump outs, and bike boxes

A few weeks ago, we made a few speculations about what the city might do with regard to the reconfiguration of North/Milwaukee/Damen. As it relates to Milwaukee Ave., the Active Transportation Alliance seems bent on forcing the issue by soliciting public support to make it more likely that one of Wicker Park’s busiest intersections and roads is made safer.

As we’ve said, a dedicated bike lane on Milwaukee Avenue would significantly improve the safety and security of cyclists who ride in the neighborhood. On one recent trip to Wicker Park, I noticed a throng of traffic that posed severe risks to two Divvy riders, who had just ventured into the left-turn lane of North/Milwaukee/Damen. No one seemed to care that they were not wearing helmets and that they were vulnerable because of a lack of adequate lanes directing cyclists to safer areas. Worse, the cyclists seemed to assume that drivers would accommodate them by virtue of the fact that they were on bikes.

It doesn’t stop there. Once the couple turned on Milwaukee, they were nearly clipped by a parked car that had opened its passenger door from the driver’s side, all while cars behind them dodged between lanes.

The problem here is two-fold: Cyclists need a designated bike lane on Milwaukee Ave, but the city needs to find a way to account for traffic that is consistent and unrelenting. One proposal from the neighborhood meeting I mentioned above suggested eliminating parking on one side if Milwaukee Ave., opening the possibility for cyclists to ride on safer, wider streets, though it’ll cost the city parking in a premium shopping and dining district. There’s a compromise somewhere, but based on the petition from Active Transportation Alliance, it seems people are tired of waiting.

Click here to read the petition and voice your support.

The reconfiguration of North/Damen: What to expect at tonight’s public meeting

May 9, 2017 by Jay Stefani Leave a Comment

More red light cameras? A radical redesign?

For years, the intersection of North/Damen/Milwaukee has been a tried and true hazard for pedestrians and cyclists. It’s heavily congested, awkwardly designed, and densely populated—a combination of cars, buses, and foot traffic spilling out from the surrounding nightlife and the Damen Blue Line. It’s also the site of dozens of accidents that occur annually.

Recently, for example, a 76-year-old man in a motorized wheelchair was thrown from his chair when a truck hit him as he crossed the intersection. Luckily, he sustained non-life threatening injuries, but his case wasn’t the first and it won’t be the last.

The Chicago Department of Transportation hosts a public meeting tonight to talk about reconfiguring the much-fraught intersection, and it’s the first time the public will have an opportunity to provide critical feedback for what could be a turning point for the future of Chicago’s six-point intersections.

Here are some ideas that could come up, ranked from ostensibly the simplest to the most difficult modifications and implementations.

Eliminate left-hand turns from Damen and North Ave.

Steve Vance of Streetsblog proposed the relatively simple, but exponentially beneficial elimination of left-hand turns by drivers coming from Damen and North Avenues. Vance pointed out that the change could potentially free up about ten feet of roadway “for bike lanes in each direction, wider sidewalks, or a combination of the two.” It would also allow people crossing the street to feel protected from inattentive or impatient drivers, who often jump the gun at the sight of a yellow light.

Vance even went as far as suggesting that right-hand turns should also be eliminated, and while that may be a stretch, it’s indisputable that doing so would allow for a much safer intersection.

Consider more red light cameras

Chicago drivers have had issues with Chicago’s red-light camera enforcement. And there’s no question the city has bungled its operation to a degree. But there’s also no question that red light cameras deter drivers from making hasty decisions.

A study in 2016 by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that cities with active red-light camera programs experienced 21 percent fewer fatal red-light running crashes, and 14 percent fewer fatal crashes of all types at signalized intersections. The study also found that of the 79 cities with active camera programs between 1992 and 2014, roughly 1,296 lives have been saved.

What’s more, red-light cameras receive a great deal of public support. A 2012 survey conducted in D.C. found that 87 percent of residents supported red-light cameras.

Establish prominent road markers and “smart” traffic lights

If you’ve been hanging out in Wicker lately, it may feel as though the roads could use a drastic makeover. That’s because they could. As it stands, the traffic signals and road indicators are relatively modest in size and scope.

One solution is to consider a “smarter” approach for getting people’s attention. In Bellevue, Washington, for example, the city has worked with a system of intersection signals that adjust to traffic conditions in real time, known as adaptive signals. According to an article in Time, Bellevue is the standard for which every city should strive to become. Back in 2010, officials in Bellevue began instituting a system called SCATS (Sydney Coordinative Adaptive Traffic System), “a series of wires embedded in city streets that tell the signals how much traffic is moving through the intersection. When traffic is heavier, the green lights stay on longer. Less traffic means shorter greens.”

Costly? Yes. A long shot? Probably. Worth considering? No doubt.

Enforce small infractions/hire regular traffic cops

There’s an inherent risk whenever the city trots out a member of the CPD’s traffic division to direct heavy traffic. For one thing, the officer on duty is putting his/her life at risk. Washington D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood was once patrolled by Joseph Pozell, a volunteer traffic cop who manned the intersection of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue—one of the most notorious traffic spots in all of D.C.

One sunny, crystal clear day, as Pozell was directing traffic, he was struck by an inattentive driver and killed. It prompted the city to institute even stricter enforcement of the intersection.

The Pozell tragedy notwithstanding, traffic cops can do what stop lights cannot: enforce traffic and keep people from making bad decisions. It’s worth considering what might happen if the city considered assigning a traffic officer to Damen/North/Milwaukee during rush hour. And if a traffic cop isn’t the answer, what about crossing guards?

Consider a radical redesign

Is it time for Chicago to consider more roundabouts? The intersection is probably large enough, and the purpose would effectively expand on Vance’s proposal: to eliminate left-hand turns. A roundabout might also slow traffic significantly and give drivers a clear path to their chosen direction. But a redesign comes with significant costs and could likely prove to be a logistical nightmare. Still, I would argue that there’s no such thing as a bad idea.