Cool bicycle infrastructure.

[wolverine]

My commute is about get alot easier. Chicago is getting closer to building a new elevated bike and pedestrian trail. It gives me hope for cities looking to build more advanced recreational trails beyond some asphalt and a stripe of paint.


Image Source ChicagoJournal.com

Project Name: Navy Pier Flyover
Length: 2,500 linear feet [[self measured)
Cost: $40,000,000.00
Fair-Weather usage: 30,000 people a day
Access: Pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles
Approvals: Requires Planning Commission Approval to begin construction
Funding: Funding goals met and received

Description:
This project will replace a section of the lakefront trail known as the Navy Pier Bypass. The Navy Pier Bypass is an alternative route to a loop of the trail that extends out towards the pier, but then reunites just a block later. The result is a mingling of tourists, cyclists, joggers, and walkers that has created congestion, confusion, and often time accidents.

Additionally, the existing route follows a modified sidewalk that is well over capacity and has narrow clearances. Support columns carrying the upper deck of Lakeshore Drive create obstructions on the trail below and require clever navigation for cyclists. While many cyclists have become accustomed to passing people and bridge columns with just a couple inches of breathing room, many pedestrians feel uncomfortable passing through the area. This stretch is also responsible for many bicycle traffic backups on warmer weather days. Since the lakefront trail must provide detours during construction, a vehicular traffic lane must be shut down during maintenance which requires barricades to be brought in.

The new project would add additional lanes and provide wider clearances. An elevated merge point would eliminate T-intersections and provide more visibility where the Navy Pier extension reunites. Since most pedestrian traffic to Navy Pier is at street level, it will provide a nice grade-separated thru-way to cyclists and joggers without having to mingle within crowds of tourists. The route will tunnel through the existing LSD bridge towers which are no longer in service, to accommodate the additional lanes.

It would hopefully reduce the number of injuries. From personal experience I can say the existing trail is very dangerous. My bike tire hit a wet spot navigating around one of the columns and I broke my head open, and now have a nasty permanent scar to show for it. That said, I hope this project can begin construction soon.


Photo of route closure detour by Steven Vance / flickr


Other parts of the route are seeing substatnial upgrades. The older and narrower asphalt Southside leg meets the upgraded, wider, concrete downtown section. Photo source: me


The crosswalks were eliminated and replaced with an underpass beneath solidarity drive
Photo source: reallyboring / flickr

[Whitehouse]

They should have used red asphalt. That would make this pavement distinctive of car lanes.

One of the most impressive bicycle bridges in the world in Amsterdam.

[wolverine]

Sick! ^ I dig the mid-air intersection. The design is sleek and clean. Already the Navy Pier plan is getting criticism for being too utilitarian, wish it could look more like the Amsterdam bridge

[GOAT]

Beter than nothing Wolervine. Most cities won't do squat for cyclists or pedestrians. Look at Detroit and Windsor. Both give lip service and little else.

[maxx]

How many days of decent biking weather days does Chicago get a year?

[rb336]

Eight. Nine during leap years

[wolverine]

How many days of decent biking weather days does Chicago get a year?

It's hard to define decent since biking in Chicago is a matter of lifestyle for many people regardless of the weather. Very different perspective out here. People don't really question you when they see you bike in to work during a snowstorm because there are plenty of other people doing the same. So important that the lakefront bike trail is plowed well before the neighborhood streets

[Herman Krieger]

As a kid in the early 1940s, I went everywhere in Detroit with my Silver King bicycle. Afterwards I put the bike on an aluminum collection pile as a contribution to the war effort. Now I ride a recumbent bicycle in the bike friendly city of Eugene, Oregon. www.efn.org/~hkrieger/bikepath.htm

[oladub]

Wolverine, Thanks for sharing the Chicago bicycle photos. "If you build it, they will come" Although it would be difficult to economically justify the beautiful bridge, this bold vision might more than pay for itself by defining Chicago and by attracting people to move to the central city thus revitalizing Chicago.

[[edited to add) Herman, your link doesn't work.

[Herman Krieger]

Corrected bicycle link:
www.efn.org/~hkrieger/bikepath.htm

[Det_ard]

Length: 2,500 linear feet [[self measured)
Cost: $40,000,000.00

????????????

$80 million/mile for a bike path? WTF?

[wolverine]

????????????

$80 million/mile for a bike path? WTF?

Been awhile since this thread lol. The enormous cost I believe is the result of retrofitting two concrete and limestone bridge towers that the path will "tunnel" through. It also includes the lower LSD bridge deck expansion. The deck's already been extended in the past so I don't know how much more additional loads it can take without new steel being added.

To complicate things, a shutdown of one lane of traffic is required to create a detour path and the bridge must be able to continue opening and closing for boat traffic, though they'll work a schedule. If this was a standard elevated pedestrian structure, I'm sure it would cost significantly less.

[wolverine]

City finds $46 Million to build Bloomingdale Trail
http://www.suntimes.com/11228760-417...ale-trail.html

The Navy Pier flyover bridge will cost the same, but I guess the city is still short a couple million to start construction.

Rahm promised 25 miles of bike cycle tracks per year....which are different from traditional bike lanes. So far the Mayor has kept his promise, and new routes seem to be turning up by the month. Cycle tracks typically use up to 25-50% of road space since they require wide buffer separation and sometimes new curbs and drains. Here's some shots of cycle tracks I rode on yesterday. The bollards are made of plastic, so you can still open a car door when parked close to one and they hinge over. Yet they're durable enough to survive a snow plow or semi truck.

Wells-Kinzie



Canal-Kinzie


18th-Ping Tom

[canuck]

Chicago is also getting the BIXI bike rental system that was designed for Montreal a couple of years ago. They will get 3000 bikes and 300 stations.
New York signed in for 10000 bikes. Boston, Toronto, Ottawa, Washington, Minneapolis, Melbourne and London have BIXIs and San Francisco is next to sign on maybe.

Montreal's system is up and running for its third year this spring and is pretty successful so far.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites...8_accueil_POS5

[wolverine]

^^ These are the greatest. My friend was in town visiting and just wanted to bike around. We picked up one of those bikes at the station. Very convenient.

[canuck]

I havent tried them out yet since I'm in the suburb. The advantage as you say is that a tourist can use it on a daily pass just like other transit and a city-dweller can do without hauling the bike up stairs or elevators, and not worry about getting their bike stolen.

[wolverine]

Video I found online of the Dearborn cycle track.

http://vimeo.com/55703927

1. Runs 12 city blocks through the heart of the loop
2. Two-way configuration to allow contraflow travel
3. Dedicated traffic signal for bicyclists.
4. Dedicated left turn arrow for motor vehicles to reduce congestion
5. Parking spaces shifted. No parking spaces were lost, as street parking is owned by a private company, not the city of Chicago
6. Buffer zone to allow easier negotiation into parking space and door swing area to prevent the dooring of cyclists.
7. Dedicated loading and standing zones for taxis, and parking for armored trucks, delivery vehicles and food trucks.
8. Elimination of one thru traffic lane. But it appears traffic congestion actually went down because of proper signaling.
9. Longer LPI sequences. Bicyclists may not jump the LPI though it's unknown if that will be enforced. There's no precedent.
10. Currently there are no induction loops. So "ghost lights" do happen more often than not.

While it took a few weeks for people to get the hang of it, the new cycle tracks work like clockwork. I have noticed substantial reduction in traffic backups on Dearborn. That green arrow was a huge assist, and I see less people making "Chicago Turns" which involves using any or all lanes to perform a turn.

[wolverine]

Lansing Buffer Lane on Saginaw St.

http://www.lmb.org/index.php?option=...=145&Itemid=94

[wolverine]

Chicago Department of transportation has some data to report on the new separated cycle tracks. The article unfortunately requires registration but I've copied a few bits of text and an illustration. Here's a link for citation
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classi....column?page=3

"Chicago's first two-way protected bike lanes have been in place for six months through the center of downtown on Dearborn Street, and the experience so far has led city officials to conclude that all cyclists really need to obey traffic laws are signals of their own, telling them that stop means stop.Monitoring by the Chicago Department of Transportation shows that cyclists stopping for red lights has improved by 161 percent since cyclist-specific traffic signals, which glow with the image of a bike on the lens, were installed on Dearborn in December."




Commanding Compliance to the law
"Tougher laws now on the books may help everyone go with the flow, if the laws are matched by enforcement. The Chicago City Council last week increased fines for bicyclists who flout traffic laws. Current fines of $25 for all minor traffic offenses will increase to between $50 and $200, depending on the violation.Motorists who endanger bicyclists also face stiffer penalties under the amended traffic laws, officials said. The fine for leaving a vehicle door open in traffic doubles to $300. The fine for opening a vehicle door in the path of a cyclist also doubles, to $1,000. Some 250 "dooring" accidents were reported in the city last year."

As a bicyclist, I welcome these new laws. I have been a victim of dooring and shattered through the window but only had minor injuries, the person was cited for illegally exiting a cab not on the curb side since "dooring" wasn't in the law books.

Also, I was struck by another bicyclist from behind when I stopped for a stop sign. They assumed I wasn't going to and crashed, got up and didn't even apologize. Had a cop been there they probably would have had their bike impounded. I'm happy to say I've avoided most situations because I comply with the laws. People that violate need to either leave earlier for work or stop being lazy.

[Jimaz]

A couple of recent videos about bicycle innovation:

• Underground Bicycle Parking Systems in Japan
• Monkey Light Pro [Bicycle Wheel Graphics Display]

[Whitehouse]

The city of Utrecht in the Netherlands is about to build the biggest bicycle parking in the world! There's room for 12.500 bicycles.

[wolverine]

The city of Utrecht in the Netherlands is about to build the biggest bicycle parking in the world! There's room for 12.500 bicycles.

Now THIS is magnificent! I'd certainly pay to store my bike there!

[wolverine]

Cycling in the US...or Chicago and SF from a Dutch perspective

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=m2THe_10dYs

[wolverine]

The former elevated Bloomingdale line in Chicago is moving towards ground breaking for an elevated park, bicycle and pedestrian path.

Project Name: The 606
Length: Nearly 3 miles
Cost: $91 Million
- Only $46 Million is needed to start the project, but the city was still short. However the remaining $9 million was found from somewhere in just a few days to begin construction
Access: Sloping parks and ramps will draw people up onto the elevated line.
Approvals: Fully approved
Funding: Funding goals met to begin basic construction
Construction Start: Now

http://the606.org/wp-content/downloa...t-Drawings.pdf

[qsabe]

I'm only 77. I wish the Metro-Detroit area would create bike paths before I'm to old to use them. The one on Michigan Avenue from Dearborn is cool, but getting to it is hard.