Traffic Guy

The Traffic Guy Hears...

… that Ridge Avenue is hung with festive temporary traffic lights from Howard to Church, as the road reconstruction is gearing up. The section of street between Crain and Dempster has a temporary patch where crews installed the new sewer lines a few weeks ago. The temporary lights are also on the Church and Davis intersections of Asbury, so look up, not to the side, when you travel Ridge or the side streets.

… that McCormick is almost finished. Steamrollers were out over the weekend, ironing out the top layer of asphalt on parts of the road.

… that, while Ridge is in the beginning phases and McCormick is almost done, the Dempster resurfacing is about in the middle. Between Ridge and Dodge it's one-lane in each direction. There's a yellow lane-marker for east-bound traffic, but west-bound drivers have to navigate the saw horses. A lot of the curbing seems to be done on the south side, but the north side, particularly at some street corners (Asbury, Dewey and Ridge, to name a few) still has work to be done. The street has that groovy, pre-pavement layer.

... that the Farmer's Market season is over for this year, but what a wonderful day to end on. Gloria and Luis Lobin-Schwartz, in photo below, were among the kids who stopped by to hobnob with Mr. and Mrs. Pumpkin.

… that a reader objected to Clif Brown's suggestion of removing the evergreen in front of the north-facing billboard on Green Bay south of Simpson, saying the City has already lost enough trees to disease. There are two conifers in front of the billboard, not one. TG would suggest removing the billboard rather than the trees - in fact, removing all billboards in the City sounds like a good idea.

… that the 2007 vehicle stickers go on sale today. They're $60 for a regular passenger car, but seniors aged 65 and up who are income-qualified may receive a discount. They must be purchased and displayed by Jan. 10 of next year. And if you don't: A) There's a 50-percent penalty for applying for the sticker after Jan. 10, so on Jan. 11 the $60 stickers will cost you $90. B) If you get caught without your sticker properly displayed, the fine will be $50 - $70 if you don't pay the fine within 10 days. So don't mess around. And to help us avoid all these penalties, the Collector's Office (on the first floor of the Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave.) will have Saturday hours of 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Nov. 18 and Dec. 9. Also both the Collector's Office and Parking System will be open until 7 p.m. on Jan. 3, 4, 8 and 9 and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Jan. 6.

… that the City's division of Streets and Sanitation has initiated a P.E.P. - Painting Evanston Plows - contest, asking District 65 students to paint murals on the blades of its snow plows.

Classes at Dr. Bessie Rhodes Magnet School, Dewey Elementary, Nichols Middle School and Chute Middle School took the City up on its invitation. Streets and San dropped off a plow blade and paint kit at each school and suggested that the kids infuse the theme "More Recycling" with "school spirit, City spirit, holiday spirit or winter spirit."

These three photos, courtesy of the City of Evanston, show students at Bessie Rhodes Magnet School getting into the spirit. The snowplow murals will be on display Nov. 6-8 in front of the Civic Center.

Lisa Arreguin's Technological Media Arts class at Dr. Bessie Rhodes Magnet School painted their interpretation of Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" and submitted the theme "Recycle for a Starry Night" on a snowplow blade.

... that this is a pretty interesting mural, found on the CTA retaining wall where Mulford dead ends at the tracks. Most of the designs are in shades of blue, purple and green, for the most part, outlined in black. Does anyone know who painted it, what the motif is, etc.?

From our readers: TG:
Now that the inexplicable reconfiguration of the stretch of McCormick from Emerson to Green Bay Road is a failure accompli, the only question left for me to ask is, whose idea was it to reduce four useful lanes to two inadequate ones, ensuring that every third or fourth time I drive down that stretch, I will be stuck behind a criminally lethargic driver, often a truck, doing maybe 30 m.p.h. tops? The reason I'd like to know who the knucklehead was is that I want to know whose name should precede "Folly" when I'm telling people about the latest irritating little degradation that Evanston hath wrought in my quality of life. -- Jim Morris

From TG: You can probably just say "Evanston's Folly," because the City Council approves everything, but contact the Public Works Division or the Traffic and Engineering divisions of the City if you feel the need to be more specific. You may recall that that portion of McCormick was a state route, which the City agreed to take over. The state wanted a wider road but the City wanted less expansion to save as many trees as possible. So, while the State is kicking in a good portion of this repair and resurfacing, this street, like our new portion of Ridge Avenue, belongs to the citizens of Evanston for perpetual upkeep.

But TG advises waiting until after the lanes are lined in to let your anger kick in fully. You may recall that there was an outcry when the City first proposed the four-lanes-to-three reduction, and we were promised that we would not have the Isabella/Green Bay nightmare that Wilmette offers.

The Traffic Guy Thinks

… after NU's astonishing loss to Michigan State, TG noticed two types of trash along Poplar Avenue.

... that this trash bag was dumped onto the parking space by gruntled MSU fans.

This trash bag, however, was hung over a parking meter, obviously by NU fans, proper even in defeat.