Looking back and looking forward

by Michelle Stenzel

Kidical Mass family bike rides began in Lincoln Park in 2013. (Photo: Bike Walk Lincoln Park)

It’s been a busy year for us at Bike Walk Lincoln Park! Before we ring in the new year, here’s a partial list of what we accomplished in 2013:

Led four “intersection evaluations”, in which we documented what’s working well and what’s not for people walking, biking, and using transit, and then submitted our recommendations to Alderman Smith for future improvements. This year we tackled the following intersections:

• Clark and Fullerton
• Halsted and Armitage
• Halsted and Wrightwood
• North and Sedgwick

Co-hosted a community workshop to brainstorm ideas for improving Clark Street from North to Armitage to make it better for people on foot, on bike and on transit.  More -->

Using Walk Score's travel time maps

by Michelle Stenzel

You've probably heard about Walk Score, a website that aims to provide information to help people determine how walkable a neighborhood is while making decisions about where to live. While the Walk Score website used to only provide measures of walkability, in the last few years, Transit and Bike scores have been added as well.

As you may imagine, Lincoln Park as a whole neighborhood does well on all these measures. The zip code of 60614 currently merits a Walk Score of 83, Bike Score of 84, and Transit Score of 79, which is a strong showing. For comparison, Chicago as a whole receives a Walk Score of 75, Bike Score of 62, and Transit Score of 65. One can quibble about the methodology being limited. For example, the only factor that is considered for walkability is the number of amenities within close walking distance, while disregarding other hard-to-quantify factors like how pleasant, safe, direct and inviting the routes are. 

However, today I simply wanted to share an interesting feature that I saw on the Walk Score website. They have added interactive Travel Time maps that you can use to see how far you can get in a certain time period walking, biking or taking transit. You set the time period for anything from 10 minutes to 60 minutes, then choose the mode of travel. Voila! The map shows you how far you can go.

I found it fun to experiment to see how far I can bike in various time periods. Here's the map of how far you can get by bike in 10 minutes, from the east side of Oz Park:

(Please note that the window for the map on the website is not resizable, so parts of the edges of all these maps are cut annoyingly cut off.) 

Newest Lincoln Park Divvy stations!

by Michelle Stenzel

Chicago now has 300 Divvy bike share stations up and running, with 3,000 Divvy bikes available for use. Lincoln Park has been part of the system since its roll out at the end of June 2013. It took a little while to install the first 300 stations, but they were in by end of October.

Here's what the map of Lincoln Park Divvy stations looks like currently:

Map of the location of Divvy stations in Lincoln Park, per the Divvy website.

We're pretty well covered! Depending on how you define Lincoln Park, there are about 38 stations in this neighborhood. I took pictures over the last few weeks of some of the newest stations for today's post.

Much to celebrate for biking and walking in Lincoln Park!

by Michelle Stenzel

In the last few weeks, there have been much work done that helps make biking and walking in Lincoln Park safer and more pleasant; that's our mission, and so we're thrilled to see it happening. In case you haven't spotted these new changes, we'll provide you with some photos for an overview.

HALSTED BIKE LANES

There are new buffered bike lanes on Halsted Street, from Fullerton to Diversey! Previously, there was only an old-style bike lane, which paint was so faded as to be pretty much invisible most of the time.

The new buffered lane on Halsted north of Fullerton has an outside buffer. (Photo: Bike Walk Lincoln Park)

Buffered lanes are not as comfortable to ride in as separated lanes, in which the bike lane is separated from moving traffic; this is still not a lane that I would take my daughter on, or a senior citizen relative. However, for experienced current bike riders, the buffered lane is an upgrade from what we had before. --->

Video: Morning commute on Clark Street

by Michelle Stenzel

Recently, we filmed a morning bike commute down Clark Street through Lincoln Park, from Diversey to North Avenue.

Clark Street looking north from Wrightwood. (Photo: Bike Walk Lincoln Park)

One mile of that route is designated as a Bus/Bike Only lane. Surprised? Even if you're a Lincoln Park regular, you may not even be aware that Clark Street from Diversey to Dickens is a designated Bus/Bike Only lane every weekday morning, from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM. These rush-hour lanes are designed to help the flow of people down a busy corridor.  (more -->)

Intersection of North Avenue and Sedgwick needs improvements

by Michelle Stenzel

Bike Walk Lincoln Park undertook our fourth and final “Intersection Evaluation” recently, this time at the junction of North Avenue and Sedgwick Street, on the southern border of Lincoln Park and the 43rd ward. During these evaluations, co-leader Michael Reynolds and I (and anyone else who join us!) observe the current conditions and make recommendations to improve the intersection for people walking, riding bikes, and taking public transit.

The intersection of North Avenue and Sedgwick Street is a busy with people using many modes of transportation. (Photo: Bike Walk Lincoln Park)

Overview

North and Sedgwick is a busy and important intersection for many people living, working or studying in the area.  (more -->)

Clybourn Avenue bike commute video

by Michelle Stenzel

In follow up to my post reviewing the new buffered bike lanes on Clybourn, Michael Reynolds and I rode the entire stretch during a Tuesday evening rush hour and filmed it using Michael's GoPro camera. It took us 17.5 minutes to traverse the 2.8-mile route from North Avenue to Belmont, but I edited it into a 5:54-minute video. 

Our impressions remain the same as my original review: It's a nice upgrade for experienced bicyclists, in that the lane is wide and clearly marked. The long stretches in between intersections are smooth and calm: Notably, on this evening, there was not a single driver exiting or entering their car, pulling in or out of a parking spot, nor a single taxi, truck or other vehicle blocking the lane. The weakness is that the lanes disappear before, during and after intersections. So Clybourn could certainly be improved, but it's a solid diagonal street for now.

Enjoy the video!

Clybourn Avenue bike commute from Michelle Stenzel on Vimeo.

We're on Twitter @BikeWalkLP