The Chainlink

Kinzie Street Protected Bike Lane Being Removed?

According to Alderman Reilly, it is going to be relocated to Grand Ave. because of the impact that the Wolf Point development will have on traffic.  Hopefully it will connect all the way to Milwaukee Ave.  Source:  bitly.com/VN8x9p

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Permalink Reply by Night Owl on November 9, 2012 at 2:22pm

I believe that SRAM did, in fact, pay for part of the Kinzie St. PBL.

Adam Herstein said:

Nice to see that the developer is paying for the new bike lane.

Maybe this will start a trend and we can get corporate sponsors for new protected lanes? Who wouldn't want to ride in the SRAM or Intelligentsia bike lane? I'm only sort of half kidding. :-)

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on November 9, 2012 at 2:23pm

Anyone live in 42?  Call his office or e-mail him to tell him you support the plan as outlined in the Active Trans blog!

Permalink Reply by Cheryl on November 9, 2012 at 3:03pm

Agreed. Maybe the developer can be persuaded to add this to the list?

Tim S said:

that Left turn from Milwaukee is gonna be an interesting on during the morning rush. At least at Kinzie we had an official left turn signal.

Permalink Reply by Matty Ice on November 9, 2012 at 3:38pm

That is going to suck for Milwaukee commuters. I suppose either of these two routes would be options to consider to get onto Grand, and possibly adding some street paint advising cyclists to take these routes.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Fosdal on November 9, 2012 at 3:44pm

Agreed.  I bike and I try to avoid them.

envane said:

I hope it and all "protected" bike lanes go away forever. :)

Permalink Reply by Will on November 9, 2012 at 4:29pm

This x 1,000.

Turning left on Kinzie is no big deal. Turning left on Grand is very dangerous.

Tim S said:

that Left turn from Milwaukee is gonna be an interesting on during the morning rush. At least at Kinzie we had an official left turn signal.

Permalink Reply by chixieonfixie on November 9, 2012 at 7:26pm

If you dont like it talk to the Kennedy family.  When they sold off the Merchandise Mart they kept this sliver of land b/c it was so valuable.  If you look up Wolf Point on Wikipedia it talks about their plans for it down toward the bottom of the page.

Adam Herstein said:

Yeah, except that it's currently an ugly surface parking lot. I would have preferred a park on the entire site, not another glass and steel River North condo building. The developer is managing to sandwich a public park and river walk on the site in between the towers and a surface parking lot, though. Certainly not ideal, but I don't think it will be a bad thing.

http://blog.chicagoarchitecture.info/2012/11/05/will-a-scrawnier-wo...

David of the North (David606xx) said:

Time to visit Wolf Point before it's all construction.  Been there?  Gorgeous view of the river!

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on November 9, 2012 at 10:10pm

I've been talking to CDOT and Active Transportation Alliance about this today. CDOT is still working out the details with the developer. It's not 100% clear that "relocating" the Kinzie Street bike lane will be needed or carried out: it's highly dependent on (1) the Wolf Point project is approved by the Chicago Plan Commission and (2) the project's construction needs would interfere and possibly harm bicyclists on Kinzie Street. The removal of Kinzie Street would be temporary. 

Permalink Reply by blair on November 10, 2012 at 11:11am

Just glad to see the developer would be paying for this.

Permalink Reply by Madopal (16.5 mi) on November 12, 2012 at 1:36pm
Steven/Ethan...thanks for following up. Don't want to see this become a Chicago version of Toronto's Jarvis street. I know there may be some people worried here, but with the history of this city's backdoor shenanigans, I think it's warranted.

At least they're not calling it a protected bike lane in council and then immediately rescinding it...
Permalink Reply by JeffB on November 12, 2012 at 2:50pm

Plus, that section of Green St, short as it is, has some of the worst pavement in the city.  If anyone is considering that workaround, use the alley just west of Green and save yourself and your bike a beating.

Clint H said:

I don't see the Green route as a solution. At least turning directly from Milwaukee, onto Grand, you have a light, even if there's no turn signal. There's no light at all on Green. Now, I go that way all the time, But I don't see that working with the volume of bike traffic you'd have wanting to make this turn now.

(Edit to clarify: by Green route, I mean the route that goes down Green St., not the route that is colored Green on the map. On the map, the Green route is red.)

Matty Ice said:

That is going to suck for Milwaukee commuters. I suppose either of these two routes would be options to consider to get onto Grand, and possibly adding some street paint advising cyclists to take these routes.

Permalink Reply by Will on November 12, 2012 at 3:26pm

I think people would be better off turning left on Kinzie and taking the lane, or maybe heading further south and turning left on Washington. Both scenarios are preferable to, and safer than, turning left on Grand.

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