Parking Lot Crossings Are Truly a #BikeChi #FAIL

Plans for Chicago Lakefront Trail separation between North and Oak, and from Montrose to Fullerton, don’t include any radical changes. But there are a few curve balls for pedestrians and cyclists, including a new concrete pedestrian route at the Oak Street underpass, and a section where bike riders will be asked to make three street crossings within two blocks.

The ambitious project to separate bike and foot traffic along most of the 18.5-mile shoreline path was made possible by a $12 million donation to the Chicago Park District from hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, an ally of Republican Illinois governor Bruce Rauner. Several miles of new bike and pedestrian trails have already been built and the project is slated to wrap up this year. You can view a full progress report on the park district’s website.

At an open house this evening at Gill Park in Lakeview, representatives of the park district, as well as the Chicago Area Runner’s Association and the Active Transportation Alliance, which have been meeting with the CPD regularly to weigh in on path design choices, discussed the latest plans with residents. For the most part the North-Oak section simply involves resurfacing and restriping the existing path with separate lanes for people biking and those walking or jogging. The biggest change is that at the Oak Street bike-ped underpass, a new concrete revetment wall, 14 feet wide, rising a foot or two above the beach, will detour pedestrians around the east side of the underpass.

Full Article:
https://chi.streetsblog.org/2018/02/15/montrose-fullerton-trail-pla...