Before I start in on this topic and my little rant let me state that I am a cyclist and I do believe in sharing the road.

Now with that out of the way it is driving me absolutely insane that people are now regularly riding bikes on Ridge. I can’t think of a week that has gone by that I have not seen multiple people riding on Ridge. They have never caused me any problems, but I can easily envision a situation where a biker causes a series accident that could lead to the death of the cyclist or even a driver/passenger. We need the police to start pulling over cyclist on Ridge maybe a few ticketed cyclists will get the word out and prevent a disaster waiting to happen. I wish there was some other way to stop them because the police have more then enough to do in this town but I can’t think of any. If you have an idea please post it. This problem make me a bit worried that Bike Ridge is going to exacerbate this problem in the month to follow and next spring, although I am not against Bike Ridge.

I was recently told by a cyclist that he thought the signs along Ridge meant no bikes on the sidewalks. After he mentioned it, I looked at the signs - at least the ones on our end of Ridge are just a bike with a slash, without specifying sidewalk or street. Since Chicago's ordinance for Sheridan Rd is no biking on sidewalks, I could understand the confusion. I suppose some cyclists using Ridge are scofflaws, but it wouldn't hurt to have some more clarity.

I don't think the event is going to have an adverse effect on that issue (after all, how many bikes do you see on Lakeshore Drive?) but it might be an effective time to make sure that law is clear.

Tim,

Ridge south of Emerson and Dempster west of Dodge are likely the two most unsuitable for cyclist streets in Evanston.

I've only seen two people ride Ridge is several decades of commuting to and from Church/Oakton. I suspect that the construction situation has reduced traffic volume and other cues that Ridges in not for bikes so that cyclist not familiar with the road's history are trying it out.

I would ask that id you see a cyclist on Ridge that you not pull up along side in a can and roll down the window to explain things to them. It's almost impossible to hear anything said and drivers then to drift towards the curb when they do that. Not good.

The Bike the Ridge event would be an excellent opportunity to remind everyone that after the 26th Ridge is off limits to human powered vehicles.

To Tim and all - explicit in the publicity for BIKE THE RIDGE is the fact that it is otherwise illegal to Bike the Ridge. The first 2 paragraphs of the draft letter we will be mailing to everyone on Ridge is below. All the publicity is focused on "this is your big chance to BIKE THE RIDGE because otherwise it is ILLEGAL.


 14411
Bike the Ridge is an historic family event when

 for the first time the City of Evanston allows bike riders to travel the lengths of Ridge Avenue during “Bike the Ridge,”


scheduled from 8 to 10 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 26.

Ridge Avenue will be closed to ALL vehicular traffic from Howard St to Church St during this event.

Rain or shine, bike riders of every age are invited to travel the newly-paved Ridge Avenue from Howard Street to Church Street and back again or anywhere in the middle.


It is illegal to bike on Ridge Avenue at any other time,




so come out and enjoy this non-competitive, city-sponsored, first time ever, bicycle special event.

I used to ride my bike everywhere. Less so these days. In my opinion, signs or not, anyone who would ride a bike on Ridge is a complete wingnut. With the narrow lanes, high walls in some parts, and fast traffic, you'd have to be suicidal to bike there! And Asbury or Elmwood are only a block away. I've seen people do it, but yikes. Bike the Ridge sounds fun. Good job, guys!

I see bikes on Ridge and the rider is clearly one spoke short of a wheel. But, perhaps after all is said and done with construction, new signage could go up. After all, Ridge is the only Ave. in Evanston where bikes are prohibited. You see bikes on Sheridan Road all the time.

Ann, Should Ridgeville be the official start of the ride?

Report from the Skokie Courthouse: well, everything was continued - but at least only until next Friday at 1:30 as opposed to next month. At that point, Ms. Bennet is to have an agreement with a contractor, and Mr. Witkowski is to show some indication of work being done...or fines. At least that's what the judge said, although he said repeatedly "I don't want to fine you, I want you to comply."

I wish there was some way to publicly disagree with this statement - I'd have agreed 9 months ago when we started going to court, but since we are in relatively the same stalemate, I'd like to see some punitive damages awarded to the City.

Edited by author 09-26-2008 05:33 PM
Please Candace NO. The start of the event is Howard Street. You can end up wherever you want-This has taken lots of planning and is being considered as a big deal by the city. There are 15 officers, 10 parking enforcement officers and all the cert group activated. We are gathering 50-60 Wiener and Still Champion Volunteers. The contractor, city etc are involved. You, neighbors and I are most helpful with volunteers, and getting people to participate.

Michele -I feel your pain. One addition:

The fire code violations have to be completed by Friday for 329 Custer

Great volunteer activity for BIKE THE RIDGE. This cannot be done without you. Thank you - let your friends kow we need help!

Also - let me clarify the earlier discussion about the start point for BIKE THE RIDGE. The official start point is Howard & Ridge. But - this is a family and kid friendly event so, of course, you can begin and end your ride at any point along the way.

RE: Discussion of the illegality of biking on Ridge

The problem with Ridge, of course, is that there are too many lanes dedicated to automobile traffic. The reason that it is unsafe for cyclists is because it was designed that way. Under a more equitable planning regime the street should only have two/three lanes for automobiles.

It would be easy to reconfigure Ridge from Howard to Emerson to be three lanes--one lane north, one south, and a center left turn lane--and put bike lanes on each side.

This would make the street multi-modal, likely slow down the cars, and make travel safer for everybody.

Ridge is one lane in Chicago as it hits Evanston and continues to be one lane after Emerson. The two lane stretch of the road is an anomaly that ought to be fixed.

You can advocate for safer bike transport in the city on Wednesday, Oct.1 at 7 (I think) in the Parasol Room at city hall. The city's consultants are running a forum for the multi-modal transportation plan.

It will be interesting to see what they propose since normally multi-modality is usually only given lip service and then planners continue to ignore pedestrian and cyclist issues while prioritizing autos.

The Bike the Ridge event is fine and dandy--but a more lasting legacy of making the street permanently accessible to everybody would be even better.

Interesting ideas, Ryan. I, too, have some concerns with how some of our streets are laid out. Chicago Ave. between Clark St. and Greenleaf are particularly annoying to me, because it is marked as 1 lane, but people drive on it like it's two! This might again be an opportunity to stake out an officil bike lane...?

Ryan --

You may have a good idea to make Ridge accessible to bikes, but does it really need to be? The streets on either side of it (Elmwood, Maple, and Oak to the east and Ridge Court and Asbury to the west) are all pretty accessible. Given the volume of traffic already on Ridge, I can't imagine that dropping down to one lane each way with a turn lane in the middle will make things more efficient, particularly if the goal is to add bikes.

Since so much of Ridge is walled, I wouldn't ride my bike there even if there was a bike lane -- there's no escape if a car encroaches into bike territory (which happens far too often on other streets with bike lanes as it is). Even if I had the warning, presence of mind, and skill to hop the curb, there's an eighteen-inch sidewalk to navigate with a pretty nasty flagstone wall on the outside edge of it. I'd rather leave Ridge to its cars and take other north-south routes, as there are many with fewer risks.

Ryan, your comments are interesting but with all the multimodal talk talk
BIKE THE RIDGE is the first time anyone has put bikes on Ridge. I think the event might be more than a patronizing fine and dandy.

There is always something. I do not support reducing the lanes on Ridge.

Ann,

While we talk about bike access to Ridge, what about citizen access to the lake? There have been comments that NU's new master plan, if fully implemented, will limit access to various paths and the lake shore. Has the Council reviewed the plan? There is supposed to be an NU/Council Committee -- is this like the imaginary pipeline?

I presume this will have to go before the various Plan Commissions? There are probably some buildings that are landmarks that are planned for demolition.

Any plan for citizen review or comment?

Here we go again.

when was there no plan for citizen review unless of course it involves nu. Oops, even they are giving opportunity. Here is the link to NU's 50-70 yr plan:

Received from Ed Colgate

As a member of the Evanston Campus Planning Advisory Committee, and an Evanston resident, I am pleased to advise you that the committee has issued the final draft of its Campus Framework Plan, which is available at http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/sto...8/09/framework.html
 
As the website indicates, our advisory group worked with consultants from Sasaki Associates, a well-known planning firm, to develop a framework that suggests possibilities for the evolution of Northwestern’s Evanston campus that could occur over the next 50 to 70 years.

On the Lakefront plan - everything you could want to know - I hope.
http://www.cityofevanston.org/departments/...kefront/index.shtml