electrical bike Some argue bike lane format for brand spanking new Lincoln Yards bridge is sub-par – Streetsblog Chicago
There’s been a huge backlash to the Lincoln Yards luxurious megadevelopment plan in Lincoln Park, a mission that’s being sponsored with $1.3 billion in tax-increment funding, and which opponents argue will drive up native housing costs. However one attainable upside is new sustainable transportation facilities, together with proposals for brand spanking new bridges over the Chicago River, a brand new Metra station, and water taxi stops, in addition to a possible new mild rail line.
There was some excellent news on that entrance yesterday, when developer Sterling Bay launched plans to increase the Bloomingdale Path, aka The 606, east from Bucktown to the brand new enclave, in addition to to elongate Dominick Avenue — a diagonal roadway that presently hugs the east financial institution of the Chicago River roughly between Ashland and Southport avenues — virtually one other mile southeast to attach with Throop Avenue and south on to North Avenue. As reported by Block Club Chicago’s Hannah Alani, the developer mentioned work on these infrastructure tasks will start subsequent yr.
The brand new Dominick Avenue Bridge over the Chicago River will probably be 80 ft extensive, together with 10-foot sidewalks on both aspect, and a single 10-foot two-way bike lane. From the rendering, the bikeway seems to be curb-protected, so the format will probably be much like the favored Dearborn Avenue two-way protected lane downtown. The bridge will fly over new riverwalk segments on each side of the waterway, which can hyperlink as much as the brand new Bloomingdale stretch.
The tasks are budgeted at a complete of $35 million. The work projected to start out in the midst of subsequent yr and final by mid-2023.
Typically these new facilities look like a significant win for individuals who bike, however not everyone seems to be thrilled in regards to the bridge plan but, together with transportation advocate Michelle Stenzel, who previously ran the group Bike Stroll Lincoln Park.
A brand new north/south bridge crossing the river within the Lincoln Yards website can have a separated bike lane, but it surely seems like it is going to be a single two-way lane. Except the two-way lane extends far on each side, this isn’t optimum. https://t.co/KR77VFP5Ry
— Michelle Stenzel (@MichelleStenzel) October 12, 2020
Stenzel added that the format “makes turning on and off safely extra sophisticated.”
And a few of us who bike merely dislike two-way protected bike lanes basically, such because the Twitter consumer who responded to Stenzel, “Single two-way bike lanes are unhealthy information.” He cited the favored concrete-protected bike lane on Chicago Avenue in Evanston as a worst-practice. For what it’s price, Streetsblog Chicago assistant editor Courtney Cobbs loves that Evanston bikeway, so clearly not everybody agrees on what makes for a very good biking route.
Presumably there will probably be ramps connecting the brand new riverwalks to the Dominick Avenue bridge, and hopefully there will probably be a reasonably seamless transition from the Bloomingdale to the riverwalk on the north financial institution, to the bridge bikeway, to the riverwalk on the south financial institution. We’ll be checking in with Sterling Bay and the Chicago Division of Transportation for extra particulars on the plan within the close to future, so keep tuned for an replace.
