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Bike the Ike?
Controversial Expressway Proposal Could Come With a Bonus Bike Route - Or Not
By Eric Holeman

From the trailhead, you can reach the Loop in a nice leisurely hour or so. Along the way the surrounding greenery and the views of the skyline make it easy to forget that all the traffic of a multi-lane highway roars just a few feet away from you.

No, it's not Lake Shore Drive. In a decade or two, riders could have a lakefront path experience along the Eisenhower Expressway - without the lake, of course. And instead of traffic roaring by along the inland side, it would roar along underneath in a well-insulated tunnel.

The idea of an Eisenhower bikeway can't really be called a plan. It's barely more than a glimmer of an idea in the minds of a few Oak Park residents. And taking the concept from an idea to a plan to pavement will require a lot of unlikely coincidences.

First, the Eisenhower Expressway expansion, included in the Chicago Area Transportation Study's Destination 2020 plan, would have to go forward. The plan calls for adding high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes for buses and carpools to the forty-year-old expressway. The lanes would be added between Cicero Avenue and Mannheim Road, one HOV lane in each direction.

Secondly, the widened expressway would have to be built with a concrete lid to seal off the noise and free up space above. Capped highways have been built in the U.S., but the costs typically run into the billions. Capping two short stretches of Interstate 90 in Seattle helped boost the final cost of a ten-mile stretch of the road to $1.5 billion - but helped minimize the impact of the highway on the neighborhoods it passes through.

Both of these requirements face significant hurdles. A number of Oak Park residents are opposed to any expressway expansion, claiming that adding more lanes won't relieve congestion - it'll just mean more traffic. Rick Kuner, a planning consultant who lives in Oak Park, pointed to the recent expansion of the nearby "Hillside Strangler" interchange. Rebuilt to clear a bottleneck, the interchange quickly backed up again, and is now only a bit faster than before the rebuild. After all that, he said, "It saves less than 1 minute." More capacity, he says, hasn't sped things up - it's just led to more traffic.

Kuner also points out HOV lanes haven't yet been used in the Chicago area. The few diamond lanes that exist are typically bus-only and run for short stretches. Nationally, the number of miles of HOV lanes has grown, but the Chicago area remains a holdout, leaving open the possibility that once built, the lanes may be converted to general use if they don't attract enough carpools and buses to convince the drivers in the other lanes that they're being well utilized.

Ron Burke, another Oak Park resident, says that it doesn't particularly matter whether new lanes carry HOVs or not."Adding two new lanes, even though they're HOV lanes, takes it from six to eight," he said."Even more HOV traffic is still more traffic."

Burke doubts whether more lanes will help congestion. "IDOT sells it as shorter commutes, less congestion, etc., but over time, you''ll get all the congestion back and worse." Widening expressways, he says, is'n't the solution to traffic jams. "We need to focus on alternatives to driving, and on land use."

However, if the HOV lanes do get built, that leaves open the possibility that some sort of mitigation might happen - like in the form of a lid on the expressway.Burke says that the village government of Oak Park has begun working with the Illinois Department of Transportation."They're not saying they oppose it," he said."They're basically just trying to get the best deal they can."

The village is trying to get IDOT to go through some additional planning steps, such as an environmental impact assessment. "Also they've suggested, as a mitigation step, capping the highway."

But Burke thinks that getting a cap on the expressway is a long shot. "It would be great if IDOT were to somehow cap the whole thing. But it''s not too likely, because of the cost."

Though unprecedented in the Chicago area, putting a lid on the Ike - or at least part of it - would free up a lot of space, says Burke. "Obviously that would create a lot of additional land that could be developed in some way."

Could that mean a bike route? Maybe, says Burke.

"You could obviously do a lot of fun things with that land."

Giving the Lane(s)
CDOT's striping opens street space for the taking
By Mark Counselman

If you ride in the city, you've probably noticed new bike lanes on streets in your neighborhood, 20 miles of new lanes to be exact. The Chicago Dept. of Transportation is working to expand the bike lane network outlined in the city's Streets for Cycling Plan. Along with new bike lanes, many of Chicago's existing lanes got a facelift: fresh lane lines, design improvements, new bike symbols and improved signage. The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation played a key role in a busy summer for bicycle improvements.

CDOT's goal is to build a contiguous network of bike facilities throughout the city. Chicago now has 75 miles of bike lanes. "We've worked with aldermen in 28 of the city's 50 wards to put in bike lanes this year," says Beth Meier, a planning consultant with CDOT, who organized state, city and aldermanic approval for the new lanes. For the complete list of new bike lanes, check www.biketraffic.org. The Streets for Cycling network, including both existing and proposed bike lanes is illustrated on the Chicago bike map.

CDOT installs bike lanes by reconfiguring existing streets, not by widening them. Generally, current travel lanes are narrowed to provide a 5 foot bike lane. On streets with parking, bike lanes are designed to be wide enough for cyclists to safely avoid the "door zone." CDOT will conduct on-going evaluations to ensure the new lanes work as designed.

This summer's crop of bike lanes was largely built using a federal grant aimed at reducing congestion and improving air quality. Safe streets, more bikes, fewer cars, less smog...Bike lanes are a relatively inexpensive yet effective way to encouraging cycling. CDOT (with help from Federation volunteers) has been counting cyclists before and after the installation of bike lanes and expects to see increases in bike traffic as the bike network expands. (To volunteer call Grant Davis at 312/952-2842.)

Chicagoland Bicycle Federation staffers work on the design of bike lanes for CDOT and oversee the installation of the lanes to ensure they are built correctly, on time and under budget. Says Ben Gomberg, CDOT Bicycle Program Coordinator, "Our partnership with the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation has been instrumental in our success." Dozens of Federation members attended public meetings to review plans for new lanes, and most importantly, members contacted aldermen to express their support for bike improvements.

CDOT is designing another 50 miles of new bike lanes, but winning approval for these lanes will take the support of cyclists. If you live in Chicago, write your alderman to express your support for bicycle improvements. If you don't live in Chicago, call your elected officials and tell Ôem Chicago's got bike lanes and you want some too.

Roll and Rack
CTA goes to the wall to park bikes

The CTA is testing wall-mounted hanging bike racks at two different suburban CTA train stations, and one in the city.

Three wall-mount bike rack suppliers provided the CTA with samples, says Kristina Young, who directs the placement of bike racks at CTA stations. "CDOT provides racks to us for stations within the city limits. Having the wall-mounts gave us the opportunity to address demand for racks outside the city.," says Young.

Racks have been installed at:

•Fullerton - Red/Brown/Purple Lines (supplier: Bike Track, Inc.)
•Davis - Purple Line (supplier: Saris)
•Skokie - Yellow Line (supplier: Creative Pipe Inc.

The CTA doesn't know yet how many wall-mount racks they'll install. "Wherever there is demand and they fit.," says Young.

Bike 2010 Plan Update
Forces gathered, research begins
By Lisa Phillips

The Bike 2010 Plan is getting down to brass tacks. We've taken our first steps, gathered our best possible partners, and are tackling the research that will lead us to the innovations we need to take bicycling in Chicago to the next level.

We held our successful public meeting in May, and posted the results and summaries on www.biketraffic.org/2010. Since notifying the biking public of the site, we've received a steady stream of useful feedback on the plan's proposed topics, such as Education, Enforcement and Bike-Friendly Streets.

Next we organized and have met with two special subcommittees established for the project. The first is a Technical Advisory committee, representing at least ten government agencies, such as the Chicago Park District, Department of Public Health, and Police Department. The other is a Citizen Advisory committee, with representatives from different cycling factions including Chicago Critical Mass, Friends of the Parks and Children's Memorial Hospital.

Based on the plan scope and results of those meetings, we've created a research outline and are now culling data from previous successful bike plans, the Web and other bike planners to study best practices and develop performance measures. Just a couple of things we heard from the public meeting and are now investigating include:

• Bike lane designs that provide more physical separation from auto lanes

• Programs to increase bicycling as more healthful transportation among specific demographic groups, such as elderly, overweight adults and children

• Incentives for businesses to provide bicycle facilities in trade-off for car-parking facilities, and for retailers to sell some bike equipment at reduced cost to increase short bike shopping trips

Look for monthly updates on the Bike 2010 Plan in each subsequent issue of Bike Traffic. We welcome your suggestions, comments and contributions to Nick Jackson, CBF Director of Planning at nick@biketraffic.org, or Lisa Phillips, CDOT Planning Assistant, at lisa@biketraffic.org.

Break the Gridlock III:
"Eye of the Ti..." I mean, "Prequel to a Car Lite Chicago"
By Michael Burton

Imagine Chicago with less pollution and no ozone action days. Envision uncongested streets safe for biking and neighborhhoods that are safe for kids to play. Visualize more greenspace and less pavement. If less Chicagoans used cars as their primary mode of transportation and simply biked, walked and used transit more, this beautiful dream would become reality.

The Break the Gridlock conference each year brings together activists, academicians and policymakers to reduce Chicago's auto dependency and inspire peoople to make better transportation choices. This year's conference, set for Saturday, October 12, 2002 at Pulaski Park Fieldhouse in the Wicker Park neighborhood, will feature Chris Carlsson, a founder of the San Francisco Critical Mass, nationally known transit and pedestrian advocates, and break out sessions to help you get involved in local campaigns to reduce car dependency.

Conference registration is $10 in advance, $15 at the door and includes lunch. See www.BreaktheGridlock.org for more information and help make the dream of a car lite Chicago come true.

Same Old Economy, New Faces
Bursting Bubble Erupts in Talent

We're largely immune to economic downturns by virtue of never having any money, regardless of how well telecom stocks are peforming. In fact, we benefit in down economies, because the number of talented people disillusioned with promises of wealth and willing to work for three shekels (which have dropped against the dollar AGAIN) and cheese goes way up.

Neile Rissmiller is our new Office Manager. Neile worked in IT at 3com, and has the much appreciated (and long overdue) ability to not roll her eyes and sigh when someone asks her how to stop Word from inserting item numbers after every paragraph.

Cathy Haibach is our new Event Director. Previously, Cathy worked at Tribune Media Services for over six years before leaving as Conference & Event Manager to be plunged into the hellish experience of organizing the Boulevard Lakefront Tour one week before the actual ride. She's still here, and that's nothing but C-H-A-R-A-C-T-E-R.

Former financial analyst Kirsty Paoli innocently volunteered her free time to assist with Bike the Drive. Then she innocently volunteered her free time to coordinate volunteers for the BLT. She is a bottomless well of innocence, and we, bastards that we are, will take all we can get.

Intern Lisa Phillips works with Director of Planning Nick Jackson on Chicago's 2010 Bike Plan. An Urban Planning student at the University of Illinois and a free-lance writer, she also is immune to economic downturns.

Alex Wilson is a consultant with bicycle planning firm Susan Pinsof and Associates, whom we've hired to create and manage a Student Marketing Program (full report in October Bike Traffic). He says he's a bike freek. Well, just look at him.

Is That a Bike on Your Back
Or are you just happy to be riding?
By Gareth Newfield

Last year (as reported in Bicycle Magazine) I bought my first track bike. Through winter, injuries and the cursed non-bike activities I anxiously awaited the opportunity to begin racing my new fixed gear friend. At first I thought I would ride it 16 miles to the Ed Rudolph velodrome in Northbrook. A couple of my friends ride their fixed gear bikes everywhere on dirt and gravel paths, through pot-hole and SUV filled city streets. Still I'm intimidated. And having experienced the debilitation of minor knee problems I'm determined not to experience more serious

problems. A hand brake might be all I need, but my bicycle doesn't have mounting holes and I'd need to remove the brakes when racing. Also the wheels that came with it are sew-ups so a routine patch becomes a gluing and sewing operation. Of course - with tubular rims, and no brakes, derailleurs or other nick nacks - track bikes are not heavy.

At 20 lbs. my track bike weighs less than my backpack and half as much as the clunky commuter hybrid to which it is strapped. I use as many as ten bungee cords varying from six to 48 inches in length to keep it firmly attached to a heavy duty rack. It works well and I've gone to the velodrome racing 8 or more times without incident, not counting the double takes and the driver who threw a sack of something out her window at my head. And though many of my fellow racers think I'm crazy, a couple have told me they've been inspired to ride their bicycles to nearby races. Another told me that carrying his briefcase no longer seems a good excuse to drive to work. Fewer cars at lease once in a while!

Riding a bicycle is fun and riding two bikes is even better so I'll continue riding up Milwaukee and Waukeegan avenues to the track, and taking a lane when my safety demands it.

Still, a closer velodrome would expose thousands of Chicagoans to this thrilling sport. So please join the Logan Square Bicycle Advisory Committee in calling and asking your elected officials to rebuild Chicago's Humboldt Park velodrome. Meanwhile you can start with a regular street bicycle at Northbrook's excellent friday night series held May through August.

Walking to School
Experts agree: most kids have two perfectly good feet
By Melissa Smiley and Gin Kilgore, Chicago Area Transportation Study

Forty years ago, school bells rang and neighborhood streets filled with the sounds of children walking, running, meandering and biking to playgrounds, home, or an after-school job. Today's scene is often different: automobiles queued up along the street, engines idleing, waiting to whisk kids away. Health experts believe this change negatively impacts child development.

Last May, the Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) hosted a Safe Routes to School Workshop. Planners, engineers, school officials, parents, public health professionals, students and advocates gathered to discuss ideas to get more children walking and biking safely to schools in northeastern Illinois.

Rich Killingsworth, a nationally recognized expert on the connections between transportation options and children's health, described how development patterns have created a society that is less active and healthy. Wendi Kallins described how her work with the Marin County Bicycle Coalition led to a 57% increase in walking and biking trips to schools. Six local experts, including Heather Convey of Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, provided a range of information and ideas about encouraging walking and biking in northeastern Illinois. Copies of the workshop report and materials are now available at www.catsmpo.com/bikeped, or contact Melissa Smiley at 312/793-0119 or msmiley@catsmpo.com.

Here's some other CATS resources and activities you can take advantag of:

Bike Lanes and Paths Along Roads: How and Where to do Each Participants raved about last June's bike lanes and paths design workshops hosted by CATS (see July Ô02 Bike Traffic). Michael Ronkin, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Program Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Transportation conducted the workshops. He kindly sent us his power point presentation for distribution. If you attended either workshop, the CD will be sent to you. If you want to purchase one, contact Melissa Smiley (see above).

Illinois Greenways and Trails Regional Workshops. These workshops will focus on trail corridor design, funding and overall project management. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is the lead organizer. The workshop in our region is on September 20 at Waubonsee College in Sugar Grove. Pre-register at www.bikelib.org or email greenway@dnrmail.state.il.us for more information.

Soles and Spokes Regional Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan.. This is the first regional pedestrian and bicycle plan for northeastern Illinois. It will recommend policies and projects to improve the safety, convenience and frequency of walking and cycling throughout the region. The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation is part of the consulting team that is helping CATS develop the plan. Details and progress on the plan can be found at solesandspokes.com.

Get your "Why I rode
on LSD"-T today! Click on local hipster Johnny D' to actually be able to read the shirt.

Copyright 2002, Chicagoland Bicycle Federation
650 S. Clark, Ste. 300, Chicago, Ill. 60605
Ph: 312/427-3325  Fax: 312/427-4907 E-mail: cbf@biketraffic.org