Going postal again: CDOT replaces some of the bollards on Kinzie

Now you see 'em, now you don't, now you see 'em again!

After removing most of the bollards along the Kinzie Street protected lanes after complaints about their appearance from nearby residents, last week CDOT replaced some of the posts because of complaints about cars parking in the bike lane:

http://gridchicago.com/2012/going-postal-again-cdot-replaces-bollar...

Keep moving forward,
John Greenfield

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Juan 2-8 mi. on June 4, 2012 at 5:02pm

They do make a difference. Those parking cagers are tamed.

Permalink Reply by James BlackHeron on June 4, 2012 at 10:33pm

Maybe this way they can count the Kinzie lane twice as mileage towards the total protected bike lanes promised by the mayor. If they just keep pulling out the bollards and putting them back in maybe they can get 25-50 miles "worth" of "new" protected bike lanes just in that little stretch...

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 5, 2012 at 7:20am

Right, just like the "more police on the streets" smokescreen.

James BlackHeron said:

Maybe this way they can count the Kinzie lane twice as mileage towards the total protected bike lanes promised by the mayor. If they just keep pulling out the bollards and putting them back in maybe they can get 25-50 miles "worth" of "new" protected bike lanes just in that little stretch...

Permalink Reply by James BlackHeron on June 5, 2012 at 7:50am

I would think that they would be bumpy and hard on your wheels.

Permalink Reply by Brendan Kevenides on June 5, 2012 at 9:12am

Good for CDOT for quickly revising its approach. I was very surprised when the bollards were removed. They seem necessary to me.

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on June 5, 2012 at 1:39pm

Now CDOT should retime the lights so that when you enter the intersection (from southbound Milwaukee to turn left onto Kinzie) on the last second of a green phase, you aren't there for the entire yellow phase, then there on the first seconds of the red phase, AND there in the cross direction's green phase.

Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on June 5, 2012 at 1:49pm

"...this was done partly because of complaints from nearby residents about the appearance of the bollards."

And what was the other part?

Those folks living near the Blommer Chocolate Factory sure are assholes. First they complain about the "awful" fresh chocolate smell permeating the air near their homes, now this. The fact that CDOT caved in to such ridiculous complaints is beyond sad.

Permalink Reply by Duppie 13.5185km on June 5, 2012 at 1:50pm

Kudos to CDOT. They appear to be willing to try things and learn what works and what doesn't and keep making changes until they get it right. Let's keep in mind that this PBL business is still brand new to Chicago.

Now if only they listen and fix the Halsted bridge.

Permalink Reply by John Greenfield on June 5, 2012 at 1:54pm

The next sentence in the article is:

In addition, Amsden said that CDOT was planning on moving away from using so many posts anyway, since it’s the parked cars that actually provide the protection, and using fewer posts lowers installation and maintenance costs.

Zoetrope said:

"...this was done partly because of complaints from nearby residents about the appearance of the bollards."

And what was the other part?

Those folks living near the Blommer Chocolate Factory sure are assholes. First they complain about the "awful" fresh chocolate smell permeating the air near their homes, now this. The fact that CDOT caved in to such ridiculous complaints is beyond sad.

Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on June 5, 2012 at 2:00pm

Just like the floating lane on the Halstead bridge! The cars provide the "protection".

It's too bad that cars started parking in the bike lane -- they would've been able to save boat loads of money by not using so many posts.

Permalink Reply by Cameron 7.5 mi on June 25, 2012 at 9:59am

Has anyone else noticed an increase in cars parked in the protected lane since the scattered posts went back in? In the past week I've seen these two, plus a cab that took off when he saw I was taking a picture. At this point I'm not really sure that putting more posts in is the answer. There is a certain amount of self-centered disregard for other road users that can't be engineered away through road design and needs to addressed through enforcement.

Permalink Reply by John Greenfield on June 25, 2012 at 10:07am

It seems to me that, even after some of the posts were replaced, it's still too easy for cars to drive between the posts to pull up to the curb or park in the bike lane. Before any of the posts were removed, they were generally too close together for cars to easily drive through them to park, so it was mostly just USPS and UPS trucks who were intentionally driving the length of the bike lane to get to access deliveries. Grid Chicago is looking to this issue and should have another report in the near future.