First of all, much thanks to Donny and Karla for yesterday’s entertaining digital trip to Uptop, West Virginia. Did anyone else see the bird land on the camera? Blink and ya missed it. My highlight of that 6+ minute video. These days one needs distractions.
Anyway, I finished one distraction, my puzzle, about a month or more ago. It was about a fantastical garden scene. My daughter’s got me started on it, but I had to finish it by myself. Since then I haven’t had the will to disassemble it and put it back in the box. If I can get the photo off my phone I’ll show ya.
The last time I saw a puzzle being put together was in the ‘big kitchen’ Uptop. The boys from (mostly) Illinois were in a frenzy. I recollect 5 guys working day and night until that last puzzle piece fell into place. I can’t begin to describe how much fun it was to have those young men on the property after days and days of not so lonesome aloneness. Put that last word in the dictionary and smoke it.
So, yesterday I did something kind of cool with some results of another puzzle I’ve been working on for many months now. It is, what can we do in Illinois for bicyclists and potential bicyclists that will help save our children and save our climate?
You Chicago bike jockeys might like this, I sent a letter to Ms. Gia Biagias, Commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Transportation (cc’ed the Mayor too). This woman has talent, a big job, and I’d like to help. Silly me, but whatever. The weather has been awful around here!
Part of the puzzle I shared with her was an analysis of the 2017 City of Chicago Bike Map. I had a copy. I took it apart. I reassembled it. And now I have a spreadsheet of all the types and miles of bike facilities in the Loop, Chicago’s north- and south-sides, and the 468 miles of gaps that separate each from the other.
Basically the gaps tell the story. About 18 miles of route might entice, another 150 miles of route is marginally attractive to the best riders, and the rest is like ‘dangerous’. All separated by 468 gap miles.
That’s my story for today. I gotta get rolling…it’s too nice out. Please enjoy the letter, and don’t get too picky.
4/30/2020 City Hall 121 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60602 Attn: and Mayor
Dear Ms. Gia Biagias, CDOT Commissioner
I am interested in helping Chicago move quickly and effectively to achieve a 20 to 25% mode share for bike travel. You might agree that due to our common needs to help our youth and fight climate change we should put our knowledge and dollars to use immediately. That is why I write you now.
On your website I found the following:
• Chicago currently has…200 miles of on-street protected, buffered and shared bike lanes…
• The Chicago Streets for Cycling Plan 2020 calls for a 645-mile network of biking facilities…
Both numbers above, 200 miles, and 645 miles are not what they should be, says my analysis of the “2017 City of Chicago Bike Map.” To reach proper mode shares we need more, better and now. Here is what the city map data says:
• 18 miles of excellent, mode share shifting, barrier protected bike routes…what all miles must be
• 152 miles of good, not really mode share shifting, bollard and bike lane routes
• 139 miles of poor, not at all mode shifting, marked shared and signed routes
• 468 miles of gaps between the above bike routes, no facility at all
• = 759 miles of street that need either solid bollards, jersey or (my favorite) planter barriers
We need 777 miles of top-notch bike facility to transform our kids/our City for a little over $150 million.
I have seen a lot of bike plans and most of them make it seem as if bicycle planning is rocket science. It is not. You can plan until your blue in the face, but with the obstacles IDOT and the rule makers have put in place it is literally impossible to build a supportive bike system in Illinois in our lifetimes.
On your website I also found the following:
• CDOT's Bike Program continues to look for ways to improve the bicycling environment…
• …in place by 2020 to provide a bicycle accommodation within half-mile of every Chicagoan
In conclusion. The $150 million is at $200k/mile. Some use $120k/mile. Pick a number, it does not matter if “the plan” sits on the shelf. Build it and they will come. Build it so anyone from 8 to 80 years can use it if you want to shift the mode split. But I guarantee, if you build it right you will have to find a better way to deal with gentrification in Chicago.
Thanks for your time. Good luck in your position. Love your water infiltration plans for the environment. Sincerely, Mike Erickson, Out the Box Transportation Planning, 708-625-2597