Chicago has been making gains as a bike-friendly city over the past decade, and with Monday's release of the Chicago Department of Transportation's first-ever bike count study, plans for the Windy City as a cycling hub look as if they're about to accelerate. more ›

We know red light cameras are a money making machine. We also know there’s an app for almost anything. The two ideas have now combined forces to empower citizens and prevent tickets. Cobra has created a RLC and radar detector that’s compatible with its free iPhone app. Cobra iRadar alerts users of upcoming RLC spots and radar. Users can log alert history with a plethora of control options. The detector is sold at most electronic stores ranging from $149-170. more ›

The Illinois Department of Transportation's "You Drink, You Drive, You Lose" advertising campaign has had some effective spots since its inception a few years ago. The ads featuring people branded as "losers" or the motorcycle helmets and vehicles filled with beer, are good examples of what works. The existence of visually dynamic, competent ads with real production values could be why this new spot we just saw, hyperbolically called "Dreams Shattered," seems so laughably amateur. more ›

Park Ridge officials are puzzled by the sudden appearance of signs at the intersection of Prospect Avenue, Touhy Avenue and Northwest Highway declaring the thoroughfare "Honorary Jim Hendry Way." Hendry, the general manager of the Chicago Cubs, is a Park Ridge resident. Park Ridge director of public works Wayne Zingsheim said a Illinois Department of Transportation rep told him the signs were installed based on an ''executive order from the governor's office.'' The city's mayor, Howard Frimark, and aldermen are also clueless as to the story surrounding the signs and when they went up. The rub? The City Council was preparing to vote on a measure that would prohibit such designations of honorary streets, but since the poles on which the "Hendry Way" signs appeared are property of IDOT, the city has no say. What Hendry did to deserve the designation is anybody's guess (Blago is a confessed Cubs fan), but we have two ideas: either a big campaign donation or he's being honored for his propensity to overpay outfielders. [via] more ›

We were biking over to Montrose Beach last weekend and crossed under LSD at Lawrence. We saw what seemed to be a new set of struts, supports and ironwork under there and thought, "Good. Someone's doing something about these bridges." (We were in Minneapolis a week before I-35W collapsed last year. Drove right over it. We pay attention to these things now.) more ›

IDOT's hiatus from carcass-clearing is over! Rejoice, roadkill haters. more ›

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R. Kelly's defense team wants to call rock critic Jim DeRogatis as a witness. Save DeRo! [Trib] more ›

“We got a call Tuesday” from an anonymous person, said Health Department Director Laurie Schierer. “It was the first time we got any whiff (of news) that it was there.”