Waiting for the Brown Line at the Belmont stop. Photo by John Greenfield.

[This article also ran in Checkerboard City, John Greenfield's weekly transportation column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets in print on Wednesday evenings.]

Two Saturdays ago on National Train Day, my transit-racing brother-in-arms Danny Resner and I tried to write a new chapter in the saga of competitive CTA riding, AKA the ‘L’ Challenge. The rules are simple: you must stop at and/or depart from every CTA station by train, although it’s not necessary to ride every inch of track, and you can only travel by ‘L’, bus or shoe leather.

Adham Fisher, right, a Leicester, England, native and 'L' Challenge record holder for 143 stations, with CTA President Forrest Claypool at the 100th anniversary party for the Linden stop, shortly before Fisher beat Danny Resner and John Greenfield in a head-to-head transit race. Photo by Greenfield.

Several people, including Danny and me, have worn the CTA racing crown at various times. In October, ad men Chris Aubin and Garrett Sorrels set the current record for 145 stations: 9:12:39. We hoped to snag the title before the five-month shutdown of the south Red Line for a $425 million track rehab and station enhancement project, which started on Sunday. Here’s how our day went down:

10am We begin our journey in Wilmette at the Purple Line’s Linden station, a stone’s throw from the Bahá’í temple. Last week a seven-month, $2 million slow-zone-elimination project started on the line north of Howard and we see yellow construction vehicles parked along the track as we roll south. Just before we reach Howard to transfer to the Yellow Line there’s an excruciating twenty-minute delay.

Why does the the mascot for the Yellow Line / Skokie Swift have no head? Photo by John Greenfield.

10:30am Finally we’re on the Yellow Line, heading to Skokie and back. At Howard we transfer to the Red Line and ride south. Around Granville I strike up a conversation with a guy with a big backpack and a couple of metal cargo boxes. He’s magician Sean Masterson, heading to a matinee performance at Theater Wit, near the Belmont stop.

11:30am At Belmont we switch to the Brown Line and ride to Kimball, the end of the line, where a bus immediately shows up to take us west down Lawrence, a melting pot of ethnic shops and restaurants, to the Jefferson Park Blue Line stop. “We’re having good bus karma,” I say. “You mean bus-ma,” Danny quips.

12:18pm At Jeff Park we hop the Blue Line northwest to O’Hare, then head back into town. We pass through the Loop and roll west along the Eisenhower Expressway. The Illinois Department of Transportation wants to build a forty-foot-wide flyover ramp a few feet from condos at 400 South Green. Residents have hung a huge banner facing the Ike reading, “IDOT—Don’t destroy our homes!”

The Morgan stop on the Green and Pink lines. Photo by John Greenfield.

1:50pm As we approach the Forest Park station, I begin stretching in anticipation of the 1.5-mile sprint we’ll make to the Green Line’s Harlem station. My knees throb as we catch the train back into the city.  At the new Morgan stop I hop onto the platform to snap a photo of the snazzy green glass awnings, then jump back on. “What are you doing?” scolds the female driver over the intercom. “Are you on the train or off the train?”

2:49pm After passing through downtown again, we head south on the Green Line and get stuck at Roosevelt for twenty more aggravating minutes due to track work, part of a $20 million reinvestment in the line in preparation for the Red shutdown.

3:29pm When we arrive at Ashland/63rd, instead of riding the train back to Garfield to transfer to the east branch of the Green Line, we hop a 63rd bus to the Cottage Grove station, take the train one stop west to King, then catch another bus back to the Red Line, which we ride south. A prerecorded announcement reminds customers about the upcoming shutdown.

Danny Resner by the CTA spire at Ashland/63rd. Photo by John Greenfield.

4:35pm After tagging 95th, we ride back north toward Belmont. A young man is freestyle rapping along with music on his smartphone while his little brother grooves next to him. In the Loop, the car fills with passengers, including a dude in a Deadmau5 t-shirt with wraparound shades, a seatbelt around his waist and a Klingon action figure hanging from his neck.

5:32pm At Belmont, Danny and I switch back to the Brown Line and return to the Loop. We transfer to the Pink Line at Adams and roll into the West Side one more time. A mustachioed guy across the aisle from us is swigging a thirty-two-ounce can of Milwaukee’s Best.

View of the Chicago River from a Pink Line Train on the Lake Street Bridge. Photo by John Greenfield.

6:36pm After passing by the colorful murals of Pilsen’s 18th Street station, we arrive at the 54th/Cermak stop in Cicero. My knees are killing me as we jog east to Cicero Avenue. There we catch a Pace bus to Midway Airport and the Orange Line, the last leg of our journey. Since we’ve already reached the 9:12 mark by the time we get to the airport, our hopes of setting a new record are dashed. When we reach our finish line at Halsted, the final time is 9:33:19, our slowest ever, and we feel a bit depressed.

Afterward in Chinatown, as Danny and I toast our challenging, if fruitless, day with cups of sake, we rationalize that there was no way we could have set a record with all the construction being done on the Purple and Green lines. However, since the Red Line rehab promises to slash twenty minutes off the round trip from 95th to Roosevelt, we look forward to clocking our fastest time ever once the work is complete.

See more photos from the journey here.

The signal points to the center of the intersection. Photo: Kevin Zolkiewicz.

Kevin Zolkiewicz sent us these photos on Saturday showing the new pedestrian crossing signals pointing diagonally across the intersection of State Street and Jackson Boulevard, right outside DePaul University’s Loop campus. We’re waiting for confirmation from CDOT, but it looks like these signals are designed to work as part of an exclusive pedestrian phase — known as a pedestrian scramble or Barnes Dance — in which people on foot can cross the intersection in any direction. This treatment is common in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Tokyo.

Kevin writes that there appear to be small speakers above the new signals. We have an inquiry in with CDOT to find out more about what’s happening.

The small speaker above a diagonal crossing signal. Photo: Kevin Zolkiewicz.

Photo: Kevin Zolkiewicz.

Photo: Kevin Zolkiewicz.

Research has shown that women are more comfortable biking on protected bike lanes, but the male-dominated engineering profession has discouraged this type of street design. Photo copyright Dmitry Gudkov

A study published in this month’s American Journal of Public Health finds that highly influential transportation engineers relied on shoddy research to defend policies that discourage the development of protected bike lanes in the U.S. In their paper, the researchers point out that male-dominated engineering panels have repeatedly torpedoed street designs that have greater appeal to female cyclists.

The research team, led by Harvard public health researcher Anne Lusk, examines four engineering guides published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials between 1974 and 1999. All of these guides, treated like gospel by engineers across the country, either discourage or offer no advice about protected bike lanes, despite the fact that research has shown that women, in particular, are much more likely to bike given facilities that provide some separation from vehicle traffic.

Lusk found that many of AASHTO’s official claims regarding the purported safety problems of protected bike lanes were offered without supporting evidence. AASHTO refused to consider data demonstrating the proven safety record of protected bike lanes outside of the United States. And since there have been almost no protected bike lanes in the U.S. until quite recently, AASHTO based its position against protected bikeways on domestic street designs like sidewalk bikeways, not real bike lanes designed specifically to integrate physically protected bicycling into the roadway.

The researchers came to this rather damning conclusion: “State-adopted recommendations against cycle tracks, primarily the recommendations of AASHTO, are not explicitly based on rigorous and up-to-date research.”

Lusk and her team carried out a safety study of their own, examining crash reports on protected bike lanes in 19 U.S. cities. They found that protected bike lanes had a collision rate of about 2.3 per million kilometers biked — lower than the crash rates other researchers have observed on streets without any bike lanes. (Those rates vary from 3.75 to 54 crashes per million kilometers.)

Lusk’s research also suggests the lack of gender balance in the engineering profession may have contributed to the resistance to protected bike infrastructure. Researchers found that in 1991 and 1999, AASHTO’s Bikeway Planning Criteria and Guidelines were written by a committee made up of 91 and 97 percent men, respectively.

“The AASHTO recommendations may have been influenced by the predominantly male composition (more than 90%) of the report’s authors,” Lusk writes.

AASHTO’s refusal to endorse protected bike lanes has been a major deterrent to their adoption across the United States and has contributed to the nation’s low cycling rates, undermining public health, the report suggests. Where protected bike lanes have been adopted in places like New York, Washington, and Chicago, cycling rates have increased (as much as 200 percent on one DC street). But many cities with more conservative transportation engineering departments are hesitant to implement designs that haven’t been explicitly endorsed by AASHTO. Even the organization’s most recent bikeway guide does not include protected bike lanes, even though they are now in place in 32 cities around the U.S.

“Without inclusion of cycle tracks in the commonly adopted AASHTO guide, without US-based cycle track research, and without public health and transportation policies in support of cycle tracks, it will continue to be difficult to create cycle track networks,” Lusk and her fellow researchers write. “As a result of these and many other historical reasons, the default bicycle facility in the United States remains a bike lane painted on a road, in which many bicyclists do not feel comfortable or safe.”

Get national headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Ghost bike memorial to Jacqueline Michon at Wacker and Wabash. Photo by John Greenfield.

Cruising the city streets with hundreds of fellow bicyclists is usually a noisy, joyous occasion, but Wednesday’s Ride of Silence had a somber, meditative atmosphere. The silent bike procession takes place in cities across the country to pay tribute to those who have been killed and injured while cycling, and to draw attention to the need for safer streets. Participants wear black armbands in memory of those who have been killed, or red bands to show that they have been injured by a car while riding. Chicago’s ten-mile route visited six “ghost bike” memorials, white-painted cycles installed at the sites of fatal crashes.

As the group assembled in Daley Plaza, I asked a few people why they were participating. “I’ve been lucky so far that I haven’t been hurt or known anybody who has, but I go by ghost bikes all the time on my route to work,” said Angie Rickwalt. “I thought this would be a good way to raise drivers’ awareness of safety issues and honor the memory of those who were killed.”

“It appeals to me because I work as a messenger here in Chicago and sometimes, unfortunately, a messenger gets hit and he may get injured or lose his life,” said Paul Nelson. “One thing messengers often do, whenever there’s a death, they go to that intersection and lift their bikes up to give the fallen bicyclist a salute. This is kind of similar to that.”

“I am just comforted to see all of the people that support everyone that has been injured or passed away while biking,” said Lindsey Volker. “It just makes me feel more confident biking out, and I’m sure it will for everyone else.”

Elizabeth Adamczyk, front right, addresses the crowd. Photo by John Greenfield.

Chicago organizer Elizabeth Adamczyk addressed the crowd. “There’s been some good news and some bad news this past week,” she said, referring to the proposed Bike Safety Ordinance that would double the fines for dooring cyclists, as well as three recent cycling deaths in the city and suburbs. She then read a passage from Brent Cohr’s blog Easy As Riding A Bike that called the ride Bike Month’s most significant event:

The Ride of Silence pays pay tribute to all those cyclists who are no longer with us. Those honored are the victims of unfortunate bicycling accidents – usually at the hands of motorists. Like each of us, they were once “just riding along,” enjoying everything that bicycling represented to each of them. But now they’re gone…

“It’s very sobering for all of us to think about that,” Adamczyk said. “This Ride of Silence is a reminder to the public that cyclists are people too. We are people worthy of respect on the roads.”

The Ride of Silence rolls north on State Street. Photo by John Greenfield.

The silence was eerie as the large mass of riders left the plaza and pedaled north to Wabash and Wacker to visit a newly installed ghost bike honoring Jacqueline Michon, who was killed by a truck driver while riding home from Lollapalooza in 2011. We pedaled to the near South Side to new memorials to cyclists Ryan Boudreau and Frederick Kobrick, as well as a shrine to Martha Gonzalez, a pedestrian who was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 2009 at 18th and Halsted.

From Pilsen, the procession wordlessly rolled back north to the Near North Side, visiting a new ghost bike for Patrick Thomas Stark, as well as existing memorials to Clinton Miceli and Neill Townsend, both recent victims of doorings. At some of the shrines, family and friends of the deceased embraced and wept, placed fresh flowers on the white bikes and lit candles as the crowd maintained a respectful hush. Perhaps this show of support from hundreds of strangers brought them some solace as they remembered their loved ones, and hopefully the silent ride, and the ongoing presence of the ghost bikes, will remind others of the consequences of reckless driving.

No one wins with the current arrangement on Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park, where traffic backs up every weekday. This line extended from Damen Avenue to Thomas Street, about 1 mile.

When the Chicago Department of Transportation proposed a redesign of Milwaukee Avenue that will improve safety for cycling, a few merchants groused about the loss of parking directly in front of their stores. Change can be scary, but this fear is misplaced. A safer street is a more inviting street, and CDOT could actually implement much more dramatic transformations that would still benefit the bottom line of local businesses.

Take the stretch of Milwaukee in Wicker Park. This is one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in Chicago, but it has a congestion problem. And all that car traffic on neighborhood streets decreases the quality of life for people who live there, people who visit, and people who travel through.

If you approach this problem the conventional way, you might eliminate parking to make room for more travel lanes. But that would also make the street less pleasant for walking, and then it wouldn’t be such a vibrant place. The congestion might be alleviated, but you would also eliminate some of the reasons people came in the first place.

There’s another way to approach the problem: Giving priority to the most efficient modes of transportation, which would address both the need for people to travel and the need to create a desirable urban environment. More people will be able get to and through the place, even as the pedestrian environment improves thanks to the decline in car traffic.

This more rational option is paying dividends for American cities. Reallocating urban street space from cars to pedestrians, bikes, and transit has shown time and time again to improve the efficiency of the street and enhance retail performance. A recent analysis of sales receipts and real estate data in New York City found that streets where traffic lanes and parking had been re-purposed for bus lanes, bike lanes, and pedestrian space performed better economically, overall, than streets that saw no changes. San Francisco recently eliminated left turns and increased enforcement on its transit-only lanes on Church Street: travel times dropped, reliability increased. These changes are good for business in part because they make the street more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists, who tend to make more frequent trips to retailers than car drivers.

So what could be done on Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park? Well, one solution would be to make it a street only for transit, biking, and walking. Taxis could also be allowed to take home those who can’t take themselves home.

The resulting roadway would look something like this section of Copenhagen’s Nørrebrogade, the main drag of the Nørrebro district (think of it as the Wicker Park of the Danish capital):

This block of Nørrebrogade is for buses, bikes, and pedestrians only.

In 2008, one block of Nørrebrogade was closed to cars for a three-month trial. Afterward, the changes were made permanent. Improvements for transit and bicycling were implemented not just on the car-free block, but on the entire length of the street, including closer to the city center where double-wide bike lanes were constructed. Here’s how one local official described the city’s thinking:

“Our goal of transforming Nørrebrogade into a better place to be, making it easier to be a cyclist, pedestrian and bus passenger, has succeeded”, said Klaus Bondam, the councillor in charge of Traffic and Environment.

The followup report showed that car traffic on Nørrebrogade decreased 60 percent while traffic in the surrounding neighborhood also decreased, but by a smaller amount — 10 percent. At the same time, buses traveled 10 percent faster, and the number of pedestrians and cyclists on the street increased. As you can see, it remains a thriving retail environment.

A car-free Milwaukee Avenue could also feature wider sidewalks, providing more space for sidewalk cafés (the cheapest way for restaurants to sell more tables), and a bigger buffer for the existing cafés that occupy more than half the sidewalk. Meanwhile, dooring between bicyclists and drivers – very high in this corridor – would be eliminated.

Too bold for Chicago, you say? It would be a major change, sure, but it would work.

The status quo on Milwaukee clearly isn’t working. You cannot improve transportation to and through an area by letting private cars — the least efficient mode — have most of the space. While Milwaukee often has long traffic backups and the conditions remain hostile for the average Chicagoan who might bike there, it’s only getting worse as a transportation corridor. Bus ridership on the 56/Milwaukee has dropped by over 100,000 riders per month since 2001. Even automobile counts have dropped.

A simulation of Milwaukee Avenue with a protected bike lane and a traffic lane, but no car parking. Photo-simulation: Nate Lynch

Where would the drivers go if this part of Milwaukee became a transit-and-bikes-only street? Some car trips would surely be converted into transit or biking trips. Others would find different routes. The Chicago Transit Authority is looking at this question as it relates to the bus rapid transit line proposed for Ashland Avenue, which would eliminate left turns at several intersections. Initial findings show that “the Chicago grid network is robust and provides multiple routes to the same destination.” In other words, we have a lot of redundancy in our transportation network. We should take advantage of that by creating great streets for people, not cars.

The League of American Bicyclists reports today that the cities seeing the biggest jump in bike commuting are, by and large, also the cities that have been recognized by the League as “bike-friendly” for their efforts to make biking safer and more convenient.

Image: LAB

The Bike League’s Carolyn Szczepanski writes:

From 2000 to 2011, the bicycle commuting rate has risen 80% in the largest Bicycle Friendly Communities — far above the average growth of 47% nationwide and more than double the rate of 32% in the cities not designated as bicycle-friendly.

In some Bicycle Friendly Communities, bicycle commuting rates have skyrocketed by more than 400% since 1990, including cities as diverse as Portland, Ore., and Lexington, Ky. Meanwhile, cities like Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Denver have more than doubled their bike commuter share since 2000.

Take it from League President, Andy Clarke: “I see the dramatic increase in ridership on my own daily bike commute, and it’s definitely more pronounced in those communities — like Arlington County and the District of Columbia — that are proactively improving conditions for bicycling and following the Bicycle Friendly Community blueprint.”

Elsewhere on the Network today: People for Bikes files a dispatch from a gathering in Austin, Texas, exploring how bike infrastructure can benefit city residents equitably.

Get national headlines at Streetsblog Capital Hill

Before. Photo: Justin Haugens.

The Trattoria No. 10 restaurant at 10 N Dearborn Street installed their own “stop for pedestrians” signs (taped to bricks) on Tuesday in the middle of the two-way Dearborn bike lane. The Chicago Department of Transportation received notification via Twitter, to which they responded:

@justinhaugens Those signs should not be placed in the bike lane. We sent an inspector out, and the signs were removed. #bikechi

— CDOT (@ChicagoDOT) May 15, 2013

Trattoria made a quick adjustment and now the signs are placed on the outside of the bike lane, one on the sidewalk and one in a hashed area that the restaurant’s valet operator uses to load vehicles. Michelle Stenzel pointed out on The Chainlink that loading in this area is dangerous because it gets in the way of people’s sightlines: “there is an alley right there, and drivers of turning vehicles can’t see the bicyclists (and vice versa).”

This is the first warm weather period since the bike lane opened in December, and bike traffic is growing while the sidewalks become busier. When I was riding on Tuesday and waiting for the bike-only signal at Randolph, I turned my head to notice five people queueing behind me. While it’s important for cyclists to stay aware of people on foot and yield to pedestrians, these signs added unnecessary confusion.

Restaurant owner Dan Rosenthal told Streetsblog that he recognizes it was a mistake to put the signs in the bike lane, saying “our chef, who bikes, told us that’s dangerous. We put them on the sides to eliminate that hazard.” Rosenthal said they placed the signs there because “there are a lot of unsuspecting pedestrians that cross here, we want everyone to be safe.” He has sent a letter to Alderman Brendan Reilly asking for something to be done. “If the city would help correct this hazardous condition, it would be better for the bikers and better for my guests,” he said.

After. Photo: Justin Haugens

Revolution Brewing owner Josh Deth, left; employee Bert Velilla is drilling. Photo by John Greenfield.

Lovers of sustainable transportation and beer rejoice! As I type this, on-street bike racks are being bolted into the asphalt in front of Revolution Brewing, 2323 North Milwaukee in Logan Square. This will be Chicago’s fifth on-street bike parking corral, replacing car parking spaces with bike racks. I talked with owner Josh Deth (an old friend of mine) about the benefits of the corral for his businesses and the community, and the sometimes-challenging process of navigating the city’s bureaucracy for permits.

John Greenfield: Congratulations on finally getting your on-street bike parking corral installed. You’ve been trying to get this installed for several weeks now. What happened that you were finally able to do it?

Josh Deth: Well, it’s a partnership with the city of Chicago’s bike program and the First Ward office. Alderman Joe Moreno was really helpful. He helped get the two parking spaces moved elsewhere in the ward [since the contract with parking concessionaire Chicago Parking Meters requires the city to compensate the company for any lost meter revenue.] We had to move two parking spots – it’s a 40-foot-long bike corral, the biggest one in the city. It kind of took a while. We had to get a right-of-way permit, we had to do a use agreement with the Department of Law, we had to get insurance certificates, we had to get the design reviewed and approved, order the racks, that kind of stuff. So there were a lot of little steps involved.

JG: What was the tipping point that allowed you to move forward with installation?

JD: We got the right-of-way permit yesterday from CDOT, we got the use agreement from the law department last week, and those were the final steps.

That evening, the RevBrew racks were already getting plenty of use. Photo by Steven Vance.

JG: Are you going to be adding planters?

JD: No. That’s a little bit of a sore subject. There is no city standard planter. This is like the city’s standard bike corral manufactured by Saris up in Madison, Wisconsin. In order to do planters there was a requirement to get an architect of record to make architectural drawings. That was going to cost more than the bike racks themselves. Plus, there was the cost of the planters themselves being fabricated. We ran into a lot of bureaucratic hurdles.

JG: So what do you think the corral is going to do for your business?

JD: It’s going to be great. You know, we had a bike crash occur today, just down the road a bit on Milwaukee. It was very sad. I think the woman’s going to be OK. But while we were here installing the racks there has been an endless stream of bikes. People have been coming by and saying, “Awesome,” “Congratulations,” and “That’s so cool.”

So, obviously, it’s going to allow more people to comfortably park their bikes to come into Revolution, to go to Threads Etc. [a neighboring consignment shop]. Cole [Bryson, owner of nearby Cole’s bar] came by and checked it out – he thought it was really cool. The Threads guys came by and thought it was really cool.

It’s going to encourage people to shop on the strip. There is something like two restaurants, a bar and a distillery coming in at the end of the block here, so there’s going to be a lot more activity around here. We need make room for them to be able to bike here. We’re going to have room for 20 bikes where there were two parking spots. So it’s not just for Revolution, it’s for all the neighboring businesses.

Bike corral in front of Cafe Jumping Bean in Pilsen. Photo by John Greenfield.

As I was typing up Deth’s comments, CDOT Deputy Commissioner Scott Kubly called me with an update on his efforts to streamline the bike corral installation process. Here’s what Kubly had to say:

Once we learned about this whole process, we realized that we were treating people that wanted to put a bike corral in front of their business no differently than someone signing a $500,000 contract with the city, from the perspective of all the paperwork we were having them fill out. The city’s goal is to encourage bicycling, so we thought it was crazy that we’re making it difficult for businesses that want to help us out.

So, in the future, business owners will buy the rack and CDOT will install it. The owner will sign an agreement to maintain the corral and pay a small deposit to cover the cost of removal in case they don’t live up to the maintenance agreement. The planter stuff is a new wrinkle – I’m going to look into that as well. We’re also working with Streets and Sanitation to change the policy so that the racks wouldn’t need to be taken out during the winter. The business would shovel snow from the rack and Streets and San would plow around it.

The bottom line is, I wish I could tell Revolution Brewing this, but no other business is going to have to go through what they did to install a corral.

Milwaukee is a city that lost 0.4 percent of its population between 2000 and 2010. Over that time, the larger five-county region it anchors grew 3.5 percent, or at about a third the rate of the national average.

Wisconsin's proposal for a double-decker freeway. Image: Milwaukee Rising

And yet, bizarrely enough, WisDOT wants to stack highways on top of highways, reports Gretchen Schuldt of Milwaukee Rising:

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is expected to pursue an I-94 east-west freeway expansion project that would cost up to $1.2 billion and include six additional lanes of concrete in many places; double-decking through west side cemeteries; additional elevated, overlapping lanes east and west of the double-decked section; and absolutely no transit.

The double-deck proposal will raise freeway lanes 40 to 45 feet in the air through cemeteries just west of Miller Park. Estimated project costs are $950 million to $1.2 billion, the elected officials said; proposals for less expensive projects that would replace the freeway in its current configuration or include spot improvements are not favored by WisDOT.

All this is taking place, keep in mind, as WisDOT faces a civil rights lawsuit stemming from claims that the agency is starving all other modes of transportation to pursue outlandishly expensive highway projects, Schuldt reports:

WisDOT’s expansion options will come on the heels of a federal judge’s ruling that the Zoo Interchange reconstruction plans probably discriminates against minorities because they do not include transit improvements. Ald. Robert Bauman said WisDOT should immediately suspend the I-94 environmental review process and cancel next week’s public meetings so that the impact of Judge Lynn Adelman’s decision can be fully assessed.

Gov. Scott Walker is seeking delays in some of the Zoo Interchange work because of a lack of available funding.

Elsewhere on the Network today: The Green Lane Project explains the importance of Walk Score’s city and neighborhood bikeability rankings. I Bike TO shares a new study that finds helmet laws can actually reduce public safety. And the Metropolitan Planning Council gives an overview of DC’s performance parking policies on its Connector blog.

Dooring survivor Dustin Valenta with his mother, Terry O'Bryan.

Last Thursday, after Rahm Emanuel announced a new ordinance that would hike the fees for infractions by bicyclists from $25 to $50-200, it wasn’t a shocker that notorious bike-baiter John Kass responded with a smug “I told you so” column in the Tribune. However, the ordinance also doubles the fine for drivers who “door” cyclists from $500 to $1000, and in addressing this aspect Kass crossed the line from snide commentary to blaming the victim:

Emanuel is also increasing fines against drivers of legitimate vehicles, and by this, I mean cars. Actually, drivers of legitimate vehicles are going to have to pay disproportionately more than the Little Bike People.

If we dare open our doors when a bicyclist is approaching, and said bicyclist hits the door, the driver could be fined up to $1,000.

[Snip]

The fault of the Little Bike People?

No. It’ll be the fault of the drivers of legitimate vehicles. And they will pay.

Later that day, Chicago Magazine’s Whet Moser did an effective job of calling Kass out, noting that doorings often result in grievous injury, or even death, for people on bikes. He pointed out that Dustin Valenta suffered multiple, life-threatening injuries February 8 on Milwaukee Avenue, when he was doored by one motorist, then run over by a second who fled the scene. Clinton Miceli was killed in a similar incident on LaSalle in 2008, and Neill Townsend met the same fate on Wells last year. “If you’re in the door’s arc and it opens into your bike, there’s not a damn thing you can do,” Moser wrote.

Ghost bike memorial to Neill Townsend at Well and Oak. Photo by John W. Iwanski.

Valenta, who sustained a cracked skull, fractured pelvis and shoulder blades, 23 broken ribs, a punctured lung and lacerated shoulder, has made a remarkable recovery over the past three months. He is largely healed, although he is still undergoing physical therapy to try to regain his full range of motion and strength, and he’s working at a bike shop and doing food delivery. Jeaneane Quinn, the motorist who doored him, has pleaded guilty. Although the Chicago Police Department has red light camera footage of the hit-and-run vehicle, they have not used video enhancement software to decipher the plate number; Valenta’s lawyer has filed a lawsuit to force the city to identify the driver.

Ghost bike memorial to Clint Miceli on LaSalle. Photo by John Greenfield.

When I told Valenta about Kass’ comments implying that drivers shouldn’t be responsible for checking for cyclists before opening their doors, he was interested in providing a response. Here’s what he had to say:

For John Kass to simply view the fine for opening your door in the path of a cyclist as an inconvenience to drivers is willfully ignorant. Because clearly if you are obeying traffic laws and aware of your surroundings, and doing all of the necessary things that a responsible driver would do, then you’re not going to have a problem. But if you are not acting responsibly, why shouldn’t you be fined the maximum penalty for endangering a life?

He’s clearly writing from the stance that bicyclists are in the wrong in the first place, just by being on bikes. His pejorative use of the “Little Bike People” phrase is evidence of that. It’s like he’s putting a value on human life based on an individual’s choice of transportation.

I just think that it’s sad that he’s drawing a line in sand, as if there’s a difference between human beings in cars and human beings on bikes, and that we should be at enmity with one another. I think what he’s doing here is creating a conflict between humans that doesn’t need to exist. Ultimately if you’re riding a bike or driving a car you should be trying your best to not destroy the lives of other people around you and your own life.

That’s what I think the bike safety ordinance is about. Hopefully, awareness of the potential punishment is going to make people more likely to think and look before they open their doors. It’s not about punishing drivers and rewarding bikers; it’s about making sure everybody is safe. Trying to take sides and make a war over it is just irresponsible.

Get national headlines at Streetsblog Capital Hill

Condo board president David Lewis indicates the height and proximity of a ramp.

The residents of 400 S Green Street, the building where the Illinois Department of Transportation plans to build a new highway ramp just a few feet away, have begun a petition to rally neighbors in opposition to the project.

The proposed flyover is part of IDOT’s $400 million Circle Interchange expansion, a project that the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s myriad committees allowed onto the funding list for the GO TO 2040 regional plan, even though it conflicts with the plan’s commitments to transit, livability, and sustainability.

IDOT’s “preferred alternative” for the project, known as Alternative 7.1C, calls for building a highway ramp next to 400 S Green, while a different variation, which IDOT rejected in mysterious fashion, would avoid building the new ramp.

Asserting that “the inclusion of the flyovers in an urban environment divides communities, creates unsafe viaducts, and increases noise and pollution,” the petition lists the many reasons people tend to not want flyovers or highway ramps outside their windows. For example:

Overpass structures create a darker and dirtier environment. Threatening to pedestrians. This ramp will also be located outside the Halsted Street Blue Line station where people need to wait for buses and enter/exit the station.

Some signers are leaving comments about how Alternative 7.1C would affect Chicagoans:

300 South Green residents have hung an "IDOT: Don't destroy our homes!" banner on the building facing the Ike. Photo by John Greenfield.

This will make my friend’s home 20 feet away from passing cars traffic, noise, and pollution – he will not be able to ever open his windows or have a quiet moment ever again… -C.J.

Find an alternate that doesn’t affect the 1000′s of residents in the local neighborhood. This doesn’t benefit us and will cost us in decreased property values! -E.K.

A South Shore Line car with high and low level boarding doors. Photo: David Wilson.

Two weeks ago, at a friend’s suggestion, I started a petition to lobby the South Shore Line to allow bicycles on trains, which currently has 125 signers. Our motivation was mostly selfish: We want to be able to travel to the Dunes National Lakeshore and other places in northwest Indiana with our bikes. So I reached out to Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, the agency that operates the South Shore Line. Yesterday afternoon, when I called John Parsons, NICTD’s planning and marketing director, he said he was expecting me since he had already received many emails about bikes on trains (the petition website automatically sends them).

Note: Passengers may bring bikes if inside luggage and can fit in the luggage rack. 

Parsons said he appreciated the petition emails because they told him why people want to take their bicycles on the South Shore Line. Many people, like me, want to visit the Dunes, while others want to be able to visit family in South Bend without having to be driven to and from the station. People left comments about how bicycles can fill the “last mile” gap to your final destination – that leg of the trip where there’s often no transit service – and that allowing bicycles on trains could increase ridership.

The signatures weren’t all from Chicagoans. Bruce Spitzer from South Bend wrote, “This is South Bend’s ‘direct connection’ to Chicago! Yet we bicyclists cannot enjoy easily taking our bikes to Chicago. We’d love to bike in Chicago via the South Shore!” Russ Perdiu from Tippecanoe, IN, said, “With gas pricing sky high and traffic a total disaster no matter what city you are in it is important to allow access to alternative travel options.”

So why can’t bikes go on South Shore Line trains? Parsons said the limitations are pretty straightforward. A lot of the route’s 19 stations have low-level boarding that requires people to enter trains via narrow stairs and doorways at the end of the cars. “You literally cannot bring a bike up these stairwells,” he explained. The agency is converting more stations to high-level boarding in order to use the cars’ middle doors, which would improve access for people with disabilities.

Interior of a South Shore Line car. Photo: David Wilson.

The other problem is the lack of space in the cars. While there is space for people using wheelchairs, these spaces cannot hold bicycles, according to Parsons. Parsons also told me about how the train line’s low frequency would affect conflicts. “What do you do when there’s someone in a wheelchair using the space and you have a family with bikes [say, at Beverly Shores] and this is the last train to South Bend? Metra has a lot more frequency than we do.”

The good news is that the South Shore Line and the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) are conducting a study to see what can be done. Parsons said the study would look at “what physical changes could take place in the cars, how we go about managing bikes on trains given the types of equipment we have, and the service frequencies we have.” NIRPC and NICTD are currently discussing the scope of the study and held their first meeting last week.

Jack Eskin, a planner at NIRPC, says that the study is largely an engineering one, “to show what NICTD would have to do in capital improvements to their cars, and how much it would cost to create space for bikes.” Eskin said that the study would be published “well into 2014.”

Updated to add interview with Eskin.

Wrong-way cycling isn't the way to assert cyclists' rightful place on the streets. Photo: Big Shot Bikes

Sarah wrote that cycling is no longer a mode for daredevils and mavericks weaving through traffic. Some cities now have street infrastructure that accommodates cyclists and guards their safety. Bicycling is increasingly incorporated into the transportation system in these cities, and as such, cyclists need to follow the rules.

Few people would contest the idea that for the transportation system to function well and safely, drivers need to abide by the rules of the road. It’s obvious that when drivers break the rules, the consequences are dire, since they’re operating a heavy vehicle capable of high speeds.

But safety isn’t the only issue. The orderly functioning of our streets is also a priority of planners, and should be a priority for all of us. When the signal says walk, we ought to know that we can walk without being hit by a motorist — or a cyclist — who’s decided that the rules don’t apply to him.

“I am truly sick, at this late date, of people wanting to have it both ways: calling for protected bike lanes and a bike-share system, demanding that cops step up enforcement when it comes to cars, and then blithely salmoning up a major thoroughfare and expecting everyone look the other way,” Sarah writes. “It makes all of us look terrible and it’s a real hazard.”

She also claims that cyclists aren’t special and don’t deserve their own rules. I part ways with her there. Riding a bike doesn’t make you special because it’s badass or good for the environment. It’s special because roads designed exclusively for automobiles don’t work well for cycling. And we should advocate for rules and infrastructure that safely accommodate sustainable and efficient modes of transportation at least as much as destructive and polluting ones.

Just as cities increasingly have infrastructure tailored to bicycling, we also need rules that make more sense for the way people ride bikes, rather than just applying all automotive rules to bicycles. The Idaho stop, allowing cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs, is a good example of a way that road rules can safely be tailored for cyclists.

But when people complain about “scofflaw” cyclists, a lot of the time they aren’t referring to people who approach stop signs slowly and defer to others who have the right of way. They’re referring to people who blow through intersections without yielding. That’s not an Idaho Stop. That’s recklessness.

If we want the transportation system to respect us when we’re biking, we have to respect the system. On the road, the system is enforced with tickets. I agree with Sarah that it’s fair for cyclists to be subject to that enforcement.

I disagree with her when she says, “Is it fair if bikers get tickets when motorists don’t? Nope. You know what else isn’t fair? Everything. Deal with it.” The entire point here is that we’re striving to build a system that is fair, and above all, safe. Enforcing cyclist behavior more than motorist behavior is ludicrous. I don’t think people should “deal with it” when reckless drivers get off scott-free. I think they should clamor for justice when people put others at risk and turn our transportation system into a danger zone.

But neither can cyclists claim to be completely outside the reach of enforcement.

In his piece on WashCycle (which also appeared on Greater Greater Washington), David C writes that cyclists need to ride safely and courteously “whether or not cycling is mainstream.” But he also says the “great cycling cities in Europe” don’t have ticketing blitzes to enforce good behavior. And he makes the somewhat convoluted argument that “increased enforcement is [not] needed to keep growth going.”

Well, that’s true. No one’s saying that biking tickets will spur more growth in bicycling rates. But as more people bike, cycling has a greater impact on everyone else on the road, and we need that impact to be perceived in a positive way. Higher rates of bicycling can reduce congestion and pollution, lower health care costs for everybody, encourage human interaction, benefit local businesses, and free up public space for better uses than car storage. But if people associate cycling with wrong-way riding and blowing through reds, they won’t perceive the positives.

It’s not about holding cyclists to a higher “squeaky-clean” standard of behavior than everyone else, as David C alleges. It’s simply about acknowledging that we’ve fought for our seat at the table, and now that we’re there, we have to stop throwing food.

Voters in Missouri will decide whether to allow state transportation funds to support transit, biking, and walking. Image: Ohioans for Workplace Freedom

But there is some progress as well, even in political environments that might seem especially hostile to transportation reform. Last month Colorado finally overturned its ban on spending gas tax revenue on sustainable transportation. Now a major milestone in Missouri: The state may, for the first time, allow transportation money to be used to support walking, biking, and transit.

Brent Hugh at the Missouri Bicycle Federation has this report:

Today bicycling, walking, and transit took another step towards being officially recognized in the Missouri Constitution and funded by Missouri transportation dollars. The Missouri House passed SJR 16 by a vote of 100-57.

This was the final major hurdle the bill faced. The Senate must still ratify a few technical changes made in the House resolution, which (we are hearing) could happen as soon as later today.

That means the Missouri Transportation Funding proposal will come before Missouri voters in August or November 2014.

If approved by Missouri voters, in either August or November 2014, the measure will, for the first time, completely integrate bicycling, walking, and transit funding into the Missouri state transportation system. Previously, transit and passenger rail has received a small amount of general tax funding, an amount that is debated and hard-fought every year in the Missouri General Assembly. Bicycle and pedestrian facilities, by law, receive no funding whatsoever from the Missouri state road fund.

So SJR 16, if approved by voters, will represent a fundamental change in how MoDOT does business, how Missouri transportation projects are designed, and in funding for bicycle, pedestrian, and transit projects and operations. The proposal allows, but does not require, MoDOT to spend dollars on transit, biking, and walking. So it remains to be seen how thoroughgoing the change within MoDOT will be.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Half-Mile Circles looks at the expansion of rail and bus rapid transit lines in U.S. cities. The Get Around Blog wonders why we’re investing so much energy examining the misdeeds of bicyclists, when so many motoring sins go unexamined. And, in honor of Bike to Work Day, Bike Pedantic explains how bike commuting has changed his perspective.

Get national headlines at Streetsblog Capital Hill

For the next two days, we have an extra set of goodies to give away to three lucky donors: a commuter pack courtesy of Planet Bike. This bicycle accessory horn-of-plenty includes all of the following:

• SuperFlash taillight and Blaze 1-watt headlight
• K.O.K.O. Rack – tubular aluminum rear rack
• Fenders of your choice
• Protege 5.0 five-function computer
• BRT Strap – LED safety light
• Planet Bike socks
• Courtesy bell, brass
• Blaze 2 watt Micro and Superflash Turbo set
• Planet Bike gloves
• Planet Bike shoe covers
• Snack sack

Give by Thursday at midnight to be eligible for this drawing. And don’t forget that anyone who gives $50 or more at any point during the pledge drive will be entered to a win a new Dahon folding bike.

Thank you for supporting Streetsblog and Streetfilms. If we could give all our donors a free bike, we totally would.

There is a double standard when cyclists are expected to "earn" their right to the road, while motorist misbehavior is accepted as the norm. Image: Likecool.com

A version of this axiom was repeated yesterday by Sarah Goodyear at Atlantic Cities, in an article titled “Cyclists Aren’t ‘Special,’ and They Shouldn’t Play by Their Own Rules.” Goodyear argues that cyclists need to clean up their behavior in order to legitimize themselves in the eyes of others. A crackdown on rule breakers is needed, she says, to advance the cause of cycling.

Blogger David C. at Greater Greater Washington says that’s baloney:

Goodyear is asking cyclists to become footdroppers and thinks that more enforcement of cycling laws is what is needed for cycling to “get to the next level.” I disagree which is easy to do since Goodyear offers no evidence, no data and no defense of her position. It appears to be 100% emotion-based opinion.

When I look at great cycling cities in Europe it doesn’t appear to me that there is some point where increased enforcement is needed to keep growth going. Growth is fueled by better designed streets, laws that protect cyclists, and increasing the costs of driving. If anything, what I’ve read about Amsterdam and Copenhagen is that they don’t tolerate the kinds of bad driving that are considered normal here. I don’t read about ticketing blitzes.

She makes the point that many cyclists are rude or ride dangerously and that she’d like to see such behavior ticketed. I have no problem with ticketing dangerous behavior — though if we’re really going to focus on the MOST dangerous behavior, that will rarely mean ticketing cyclists. And if law enforcement were to blitz cyclists, it would likely not be for their most dangerous behavior (riding at night without lights or too fast on the sidewalk or against traffic) but rather not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign during a charity ride or at some out-of-the way intersection.

Bike lawyer Brendan Kevenides wrote in Urban Velo last year that “the way you ride is probably a crime,” saying that in many cases cyclists have logical reasons for breaking the rules, often for their own safety. He wrote that lawmaking bodies across the country are starting to recognize ways in which cyclists behave differently from motorists, and are making appropriate accommodations. In other words, lawmaking bodies are recognizing that cyclists are special, in that they are not the same as cars, and that they should have their own rules.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Kansas City’s gudthoughts blog considers whether crowd-funding is a viable way to improve that region’s transit infrastructure. Systemic Failure says Amtrak’s strict “no pets” policy is unnecessary and puts the quasi-public transportation provider at a competitive disadvantage with other modes. And People for Bikes asks cyclists to send pro-bike letters to their local newspapers in honor of Bike to Work Week.