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Get psyched, pedal-powered people: October 5 and October 26, parts of main boulevards in the city will be closed to cars to create a thoroughfare for people on bikes, scooters, folks pushing strollers and plain-old pedestrians. The Sunday Parkways program builds community, combats obesity, relieves congestion and noise pollution, and encourages people to explore their neighborhoods, according to the Chicagoland Bike Federation.
The original plan, according to writer and bicycle enthusiast John Greenfield, was a bit more ambitious:
Chicago’s initial proposal was to create a 7.5-mile route along the boulevards connecting three large green spaces on the city’s west side: Douglas, Garfield and Humboldt parks. The route would pass through the neighborhoods of Little Village, North Lawndale, Garfield Park, Humboldt Park and Logan Square. While cars were to be virtually banned from the boulevards, cross streets would still be open to motorized vehicles. Cyclists, walkers and skaters on the Sunday Parkways route would obey traffic signals to allow cross traffic to flow smoothly.The plan was to run pilots on three summer Sundays. One Sunday the event would take place on the northern half of the boulevard route; on the second Sunday it would take place on the South Side; on the third Sunday the entire route would be used.
Instead, Sunday Parkways will only run for two Sundays, both in October, and it won't be quite as car-free as organizers had originally hoped, nor will the South Side route be as scenic and social as it could have been. Still, Sunday Parkways is a start. [More at CBF]
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I am happy that this sillyness will be nowhere near me. I do hope they have a day when I can drive my car on the bike lanes along the path though. That would then be fair. Plus I actually pay for the streets and the bikers may not.
This is a fine idea.
I've always thought that one north/south and one east/west street running the length of the city should be closed off to all car traffic and instead made into a city long boulevard for biking, walking and parades. If those boulevards connected with parks and forest preserves, all the better.
Businesses on the route would benefit from the foot (and pedal) traffic and all the other benefits of cycling.
Albany: Great idea, if a bit utopian for Chicago.
Kdj: We all pay for the roads in one way or another. Gas taxes aren't the only source of road-related revenue, though they are the most direct source, I suppose. For instance, I own no car (or bike), but I do help pay for the city's salt supply and pothole repair, as well as the city's general road repair activities. And all consumers, directly or not, help pay gas taxes via the prices of shipped goods, into which fuel costs are added. My tax dollars also help support capital-project bond issues at various levels government, bond issues that help pay for highways, roads, streets, bridges, etc. Don't believe me, though: Feel free to contact transportation officials, or academics who study this issue, or officials who help craft government budgets. If you email a few of these people, you might be amazed how many take time to respond.
Matilda:
Don't feed the troll, you waste precious resources.
There's a streak of hatred for biking that some people have because they precieve some bikers as being obnoxious. And some are, just like some drivers.
Whether you are on 4 wheels or two, you can be a monstrous prick if you so choose.
I drive and bike and try to reserve my bile for more deserving targets than inconsiderate motorists and hipsters on fixies.
Right, Albany, but here's the difference: Drivers already dominate the roads through tradition, transportation priorities and, some might argue, existing law.
Bikers remain a minority, even if numbers are increasing.
And yes, walkers, bikers, drivers and mass transit users all have subsets of pricks. Human nature and all that.
But bikers need more mainstream support to gain more money for bike-centric improvements, and to simply gain more popular support, which can translate into less aggressive behavior against bikers in the future, as well as more willingness among taxpayers and their elected officials to fund bike-centric improvements.
While I realize that most bikers are not pricks, I also fail to understand why the biking community (or, I suppose, communities) don't do more to promote considerate biking that follows traffic laws (and, as you know, bikers are required to follow those laws). Perhaps these communities are too busy simply making sure drivers recognize that bikers are allowed on roads--a fair point--but I think a chance has been missed to gain more mainstream support for bikers.
In any case, I hope this parkway idea catches steam and grows in the years to come. Seems like a nice idea.
@Albany:
"I drive and bike and try to reserve my bile for more deserving targets..."
Like Matilda? :)
No, really this is a great idea. It reminds me of State Street in Madison. Your idea in theory is great too, but I think that there would be considerable push back from businesses in the affected areas, depending what roads would be closed. If we had those roads, I may even get over my Chicago biking phobia and even venture on them. Those streets would be ideal for Velib stations. It would be great if they connected to public transit as well. But sadly I think this wouldn't become reality in Chicago.
"Cyclists, walkers and skaters on the Sunday Parkways route would obey traffic signals to allow cross traffic to flow smoothly."
ROFL. Yeah, okay.
But sadly I think this wouldn't become reality in Chicago.
I disagree. One of the only things about Mayor Maynot I like is his commitment to making Chicago safer for cycling.
As for businesses, it's going to vary considerably. Shops and stores are going to blossom from the traffic. A car repair shop will have to find a way to get cars in an out, but that's a work around. Chicago is a city of alleys and sidestreets, there are likely options.
Add to that the draw of a city street devoted to foot traffic. Host music festivals there, concerts, street fairs. In the winter you could open up skating rinks. Temporary and semi-permanent markets. It's a return to the pre-automobile dominated street. A busier boulevard.
I can't speak for the area South of the Ike, but the entire Northern part of the route is pretty much all residential, or parks.
I LOVE these stories. One of my favorite things is to read the tumult that erupts on the Tribune comments with any bicycle related story. There are some really enjoyable flame wars between bikers and drivers. My favorites (in order):
1. drivers who use the taxes-as-right-of-way argument.
2. The drivers who use a singular example of a reckless biker to indict every biker on the road.
3. Bikers who defend Critical Mass as a way to stand up to "the man" and change the world.
4. The drivers claiming that it is only bikers who roll through stop signs.
5. Smug biker with a $4000 Cervelo and claim that their bike is worth more than most cars as a justification for being on the road.
@doppelerd:
Cycling Vs Cars, Atheism Vs Theism and any subject involving race.
These are the great merry-go-rounds of the internet.
neat idea.
three things going against chicago (and most american cities) that prevent mass adoption of bikes: it's way too easy to park in the loop and the neighborhoods, the streets/car traffic are relatively unsafe for the majority of bikers, and the weather sucks for 4-5 months of the year.
contrast that with amsterdam (the only big european city i've been to) where parking is tough; there are dedicated bike lanes - separated by a low brick curb in most cases - that look like mini streets (with their own traffic signals!) so even small kids can ride safely on the roads; and although the 'dam is occasionally rainy, it doesn't get much snow. chicago could probably solve two of the probs if we got rid of all curb parking which would make it hard to park and would make room for dedicated bike lanes with low-profile dividers. that and women would have to learn how to ride in skirts.
several things:
1. i ride in skirts all the time ... and sometimes when i probably shouldn't. i figure the important parts are sitting on a seat, so even if someone gets a prurient thrill from a peek of leg, they're not getting anything too important.
2. no doubt about the rolling stop sign. i'll admit, i'll run 4-ways on my bike when there is no traffic. and i KNOW what i'm doing is wrong. but the people i see in cars who don't seem to even whisper on their brakes lately and then seem annoyed that i might want to walk through the crosswalk is alarming. worse yet are the people in the morning who don't even seem to think there might be other cross traffic coming, and breeze right on through. yipes.
3. wasn't state street in *chicago* closed off to car traffic for quite some time? that's how i remember it 10+ years ago.
As a biker (and motorcyclist, and driver), I see all sides.
I generally slow down for stop signs, and run them without stopping if traffic allows. I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS stop for lights. If an intersection is big enough to warrant a light, I'm stopping for it.
So, though the law sees no distinction between casually riding through neighborhood 4-ways and blowing through red lights downtown (please, biker evangelists, don't pretend you don't see it), I do.
Then again, on a nice peaceful ride on Wells in Old Town last weekend, I was almost run over 3 times in 4 blocks, while in the bike lane, and not in intersections. One Mercedes driver cursed me out after I slapped his window, saying he'd run me over next time. Seeing as how he nearly shit his pants when I banged on his window, I found his threat a bit idle.
I don't own a bike and since I absolutely need my car for work, I am driving in the city every day.
I haven't found coexisting with bicyclists to be difficult. One in twenty does something dangerous right in front of me, but then, so does one in twenty drivers. I admire bicyclists and we should be grateful that they are not driving cars and thus adding to congestion, emissions, etc.
Ooops. I think I just talked myself into buying one.
I've been amazed at the thoughtful replies I've gotten to a couple rants I've made about cyclists recently. I'm listening, not just a troll. Maybe I'm being to hard on all because of a few.....
I've been amazed at the thoughtful replies I've gotten to a couple rants I've made about cyclists recently. I'm listening, not just a troll. Maybe I'm being to hard on all because of a few.....
Your logic just collapsed like a a red giant transitioning into a black hole.
You've gotten thoughtful replies to rants. You mean people being reasonable to your nonsense? Yes.
And being hard on an entire swath of the population based on your own, admitted, limited, experiences?
BOOM.