u/Etown-G

The Evanston Transit Alliance, Sam and Kelly Mack from Mack’s Bike and Good’s, and some great community members organized a slow roll on Lincoln and Harrison last Wednesday to raise awareness for the city bike plan and need for better greenways and bike routes in Evanston.

It was a fun ride and we hope to see these grow! Join us all summer on the first Wednesday of the month for an all ages and abilities ride and hang at the park.

Recently I shared a video at an obstructed bike lane downtown which got some attention with COE and the Evanston Transit Alliance.

The following week I planned to speak at city council with other ETA folks. While editing another video to share before the council meeting the dooring incident in Chicago that killed Riley O’Neil occurred. This is that video.

Bikelaneuprising.com calling it “poetic injustice”. A CDOT worker and multi-modal infrastructure advocate was killed in a paint-only bike lane in a high traffic area with a lot of trucks.

We’re forced to compromise our safety so that drives don’t have to walk a block from the parking lot, or around the corner where there’s free side street parking. Or in Riley’s case, so they can illegally park for “just a moment”.

His death is a tragic example of why we say paint is not enough.

Riding a bike or crossing from one side of the street to the other shouldn’t be a risk or stressful thing to do.

So, the Evanston 2026 Bike Plan...

As a participant in ETA activities, a guide on their group rides, and through engagement with council I know there are discussions happening. I don’t have details, even folks on the advisory boards for the Bike Plan are vague and tight lipped about it, but things are happening.

I say that optimistically with all the built up frustration many of us have with the pace of new lane projects and the consideration they receive. A next step is coming and there’s potential brewing if we organize.

Sharing your thoughts or a few pictures from your phone can make a huge difference when it comes to getting these plans implimented.

Or, we’ve probably all seen that Not Just Bikes or Nic Laporte video on YouTube which explains it so well (or even a small local amateur fumbling through learning to edit and making commentary for council…). Sharing those videos helps change minds.

I like to talk about the good stuff too. For example let me tell you how easy it is to lock up next to the shopping carts at Trader Joe’s having skipped the entire ‘parking my car in the lot’ experience. A 1996 Trek 730 can easily carry ~$150 grocery load in my experience with a front and rear rack. I haven’t maxed out my new cargo bike yet.

Maybe you read a great study showing the economic benefits – from business patronage to public safety costs – complete streets bring to a commercial area; like that one from Portland showing cyclists spend more each month than drivers do. Safety and economic stimulus? Win win! Share these things with your council member.

Speak up. Let council know how important it is for kids and families to be able to get around Evanston easily without a car. Did I mention riding to school so parents don’t have to do drop off? That would take a bike bus you say? Do those too! This is a community call to action, and it’s as easy as riding your bike!

And if you want to stay up to date on next steps with the Bike Plan you can subscribe to the city transportation updates at the COE website, join the ETA mailing list, or keep an eye on social media this summer for announcements.

I had contacted the city with a suggestion for keeping bikes off the sidewalk earlier this week mistakenly thinking the “no riding on sidewalk” bollards were moveable. They are not. Otherwise I thought they would be better served lining the bike lane as separation from traffic to keep cars from pulling in. A two for one. Cyclists see the signs and they’ll have a clear bike lane to ride in instead.

The city said they won’t put up physical barriers here until they try enforcement measures first.

I thought we were supposed to report obstructions to 311.

311 told me to call police non emergency.

Police on the scene didn’t understand what the problem was.

He didn’t realize the bike lane was also the street. Like we don’t count. The city is so concerned with pedestrians and cyclists sharing space but doesn’t think twice about a kid on a bike next to a Sysco truck in the street. It’s not right.

Can’t believe I forgot to post this over here. I was commuting to work and caught this moment.

Call me a radical extremist on a bike but I think the bmw flooring it across ridge long after the red is a problem and the person who stops at the crosswalk, looks, then crosses against the light with no traffic coming is not doing anything dangerous or wrong. It’s even legal in many states.

I keep hearing about all these bikes dangerously running reds and stops but all I ever see is us doing it safely either when nobody is coming or when we get there first anyway and stopping only serves to break our momentum. Rolling is safer, and doesn’t hold up traffic….in fact when I’m rolling and slowing to yield to the car that gets there first I HATE it when they sit there and wave me by. It’s your turn. I’m yielding. And now I have to stop completely, yell at you to go, and the whole process took 10x longer than it needed to had you just gone when it was your turn. /rant.