Traffic Guy

The Traffic Guy Hears...

... that the traffic signal on Dempster by the Evanston Plaza center, which was blinking yellow on Dempster and red for those coming out of the plaza - is now back to red-light, green-light. Speaking of that area, between Greenwood and Dempster on Asbury there is one lane in each direction for a while. Sherman between Simpson and Emerson is also one lane per direction.

... that there will soon be a one-way stop at Seward and Barton.

... that aldermen have decided not to join Glenview and other communities in providing streaming video of local government meetings over the Internet. At their Rules Committee meeting earlier this month, the aldermen agreed that the expense was too great - $14,000 for startup and $1,000 per month. However, they may start airing Plan Commission meetings, perhaps as early as January.

... that the weekend's warm-up helped folks dig out of the icy snowcover from the early December storm. The seasons's first snowstorm was sure a change - from global-warming balmy to Arctic frigidity. Some folks received violation notices for errant parking, but for the most part the City said it received positive feedback on how it handled the snow. And some folks created great snowfolks, most of which have melted like the Wizard of Oz witch.

... that the Chicago Tribune (a newspaper in the City south of us) followed up a story called "Hey, we're walkin' here" (published on Sept. 29) with an interview with Professor Joseph Schofer of NU's Transportation Center. Here is some of the stuff he said about Chicago and walkers..." There's a West Coast attitude, a Midwest attitude and an Eastern attitude. I think what you experience in Seattle, for instance, is culturally different. They stop for you there. They look around, and they are more attentive. But in Chicago, the attitude is "I'm gonna get there first." So people tend to bully pedestrians."

He also said "We don't accommodate pedestrians ... We don't give pedestrians enough information about when it's safe to cross a road. ... We don't make particular physical and design accommodations for vulnerable pedestrians -- older people or younger people."

The Prof also weighed in on jaywalking (one of TG's favorite pastimes in Evanston): "There's also a really strong tendency for people to cross in the middle of the block. And if somebody gets hit doing that, there's a really strong tendency to say, ‘You shouldn't have been crossing in the middle of the block.' But you have to back up and say: ‘Well, why do people do that? Is there something fundamental about the design that leads people to do that?" And sometimes there is. ‘The block length is long. And I need to get from here to there, and if I cross in the middle I save a lot of walking.'"

He said that in Salt Lake City, a city of wide streets, buckets containing red flags are attached to the light poles, which pedestrians can grab wave as they cross the street. Presumably they deposit the flags into a corresponding bucket when they cross the street.

"When I saw it, frankly, I couldn't believe it," Prof. Schofer said. "If you did that in Chicago, in two hours all the flags would be gone, and that would be the end of it."

He thinks we should come up with some scheme for mid-block crossers other than ticketing mid-block crossers - islands, he suggests," places of refuge in wide streets."

Those timed walk signals in Washington, D.C., for example, let you know how many seconds you have till the traffic is going to come at you, but they don't really help when you're in the middle of the street - they just probably stop people from initiating the walk.

From our readers:
TG: Let me ask a rhetorical question: What is the purpose of the even/odd parking ban on residential streets after a snowstorm? Answer, to allow the streets to be plowed. When does the parking ban end? Apparently whenever the parking enforcement police say so.

I live in the 2600 block of Lawndale in Evanston. Both sides of my block were plowed by the City by the end of the day on Dec 2.

Assuming that because the street was fully passable and I could park in front of my house I parked in front of my house on the odd side of the street on Dec 3. Wrong assumption. I and many of my neighbors on my block and the next block of Lawndale who parked on the odd side of the street received tickets on Dec 3.

Perhaps you could investigate the intent of the law that bans parking on residential streets after a snowstorm and when it is safe for citizens to go back to parking on both sides of the street. I realize that Evanston is short of cash, but the law should be applied fairly. To issue parking tickets two days after a snow storm when both sides of the street have been cleared is, I believe, contrary to the intent of the law.
-- Bill Keesom

From TG: The trick, as you suggest, is knowing when the snow emergency is over and you can safely go back to normal parking, and you have to learn that from the City.

Here's what the City says: "Snow parking regulations are in effect until the time indicated on the sign [posted on non-snow routes with information about alternate-side parking]. It is illegal to park on the street during the restricted time, even if the plows have been through. Plowing and salting operations may require a return visit by City trucks." The Public Works Department determines when the snow emergency is over, and here's what Public Works Director David Jennings said about how to find out when the snow ban is over:

1. Call the Snow Hotline at 847-864-SNOW or 847-866-2917
2. Tune in to Cable Channel 16
3. Check City homepage, www.cityofevanston.org.
4. Sign up for the City's E-newsletter and receive snow parking e-mail updates
5. Listen to Evanston Radio AM 1650

I personally [handle] #1, #3, and #4, so these are done almost simultaneously for snow declarations as well as returning to non-snow parking regulations. I forward the same information to the people who do #2 and #5, but there is obviously a slight time lag in getting the radio and TV changed.

The Streets and San phone is answered by staff 24/7 during snow emergencies and it has voice mail if everyone in the office is on a call. The e-mails are forwarded to me and I either answer them or forward them to senior staff.

TG: Saw your comments on the new meters for "outlying" business districts in the Nov. 29, 2006 issue.
People should know that even though there is only one slot (quarter-sized) and one rate posted (50 cents per hour), you can indeed put in a nickel or a dime.

The meter will accept those coins and give you time accordingly. I think it comes out to be 6 minutes for a nickel, 12 minutes for a dime. (Actually, this is true even for the downtown meters.)

This can be handy to know, especially if your errand is a short one, or you have some change but no quarters. You might want to share this with your readers. I don't think the City is all that interested in people knowing this, but, hey, they did design the meters to accept smaller coins.
-- Barb Levie

From TG: Thanks for the tip. It is comforting to know that we don't have to spend quarters for those quick trips.

The Traffic Guy thinks ...

... that even though there is a lot of fighting on earth, there was some apparent harmony in the skies over the weekend, as on Sunday, when Jupiter, Mercury and Mars were closer together than they'd been since 1925 and than they will be until 2053.

Folks from Buenos Aires to Anchorage who were up early could see them about 45 minutes before dawn, said Miami Space Transit Planetarium director Jack Horkheimer, in an online AP article. The article also said that, although the planets are millions of miles apart, the way they orbit the sun made them appear so close together "the average person's thumb can obscure all three from view."

... that the holiday collaboration between the businesses of EvMark and the Evanston Community Foundation is a good things.

Proceeds from their raffle ticket sales benefit ECF's "Every Child Ready for Kindergarten" initiative, offering proof of the proverb about needing a village to raise a child.

... Happy holidays, everybody. The menorah-lighting at Fountain Square will begin at 4:30 on Sunday. City offices and buildings will be closed on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, and the trash and recycling pickup schedules will be adjusted accordingly. Shop Evanston first.