Traffic Guy

The Traffic Guy Hears...

... that the proposal for the second downtown tower - the one with the giant staircase and the poles over the Hahn building - has been withdrawn.

... that the Landmarks Illinois staff presented its candidates for the "preservation onion" at its first and hope-to-be annual presentation of the "worst blunders, remuddling efforts, or demolitions in historic preservation in the Chicagoland area." Evanston was one of the candidates for the onion. Audience response determined the "worst onion of the bunch."

... that it's not a heliport on top of Sherman Plaza (TG has this on the best authority: developer James Klutznick and City Manager Julia Carroll), even though some folks have said it looks like one.

... that, while road resurfacing continues around town, Northwestern is doing some reconfiguring over at the lakefill. Seems they'll be redoing the soccer fields and lacrosse fields over by where the observatory used to be (still a phantom landmark for many of us). There will also be a new parking lot there, but not, as was feared before, over part of the lagoon.

... that the Council is finally able to make developers be responsible for stormwater runoff. Thanks to the folks at the Public Works department, developers of certain-size pro-jects (more than 5,000 square feet, for example, with construction costs more than 100 percent of the latest assessment value) will have to detain stormwater and control its release into our sewer system. Now if the City could just figure out a way to redo residential streets in bricks or pavers, that would really be a help.

... that the planters along Custer Avenue are prettily blooming this summer. Here's a photo of two of them right above the el tracks.

... that the Metra overpass at Emerson, Ridge and Green Bay appeared to be wrapped in beige cloth last week. Does anybody know why?

... that the Mather, which is planning some underground parking (249 spaces) and a tunnel for its redone Mather/Georgian project, will pay the City $125,000 for the tunnel easement. Free money - sort of like the air easement Evanston Hospital has to pay for that bridge over Central Street between the medical building and the hospital.

... that demolition has begun in earnest on the former Kendall College site. And fire station #5, on west Central Street, is almost gone. It will be replaced, the City promises, by a green structure, the first LEED-certified building built by the City.

... that Sixth Ward Alderman Edmund Moran said recently that he was excited about the Council's approving contracts that will lead to establishing a bike path system in Evanston, a system he predicted will be used year-round. He said he'd read an article in the Reader titled, "Where would Jesus Park?" about a closed system for bicycle riding on Sundays that started in Guadalajara, Mexico, and spread to Bogotá, Columbia. The closed seven-mile loop has no automobiles, and people can walk, jog or ride their bicycles from 11a.m. to 4 p.m. It apparently has been very successful and resulted in the participation of vendors and church groups. Chicago has sent people to study the closed-street system in Mexico and possibly establish one in Chicago.

... Speaking of bikes, TG hears that the Forest Preserve District of Cook County estimates it will take until Oct. 9 to reconstruct all 20 miles of the northern Cook County North Branch Bike Trail. Here's the schedule of days, but not dates, it will be closed: Dundee to Tower, 20 days; Tower to Willow, 10 days; Willow to Lake, 10 days; Lake to Golf, 12 days; Golf to Dempster, 10 days; Dempster to Oakton, 10 days; Oakton to Touhy, 10 days; Touhy to Devon, 10 days. These are estimates only - they don't account for weather delays, construction hang-ups and the like.

... that there are a couple of participatory charitable events coming up: The Make-A-Wish Foundation folks are looking for riders in their Pedal For Wishes 35-mile bike ride along the North Shore on Aug. 5. Registration is $35/adults, $10/children; visit www.pedalforwishes.org. Closer to home, the FitzGibbons ALS Fun Run will take place 9 a.m.-noon in Lovelace Park on Sept. 9.

From our readers: TG: I want to know why the Harrison/Prairie neighborhood has to give up parking for business owners and workers on Central Street and Green Bay Road. In 2002, a study was conducted by Rimon & Associates, Inc. (who were paid handsomely by the City), a result of my petition with more than 250 signatures requesting two-hour parking for non-residents. I attended the packed meeting and heard the representative say residents were "bending over backwards" to accommodate non-residential parking.

I have a copy of the written report, which recommends that a pilot program add an evening-residents-only restriction on one side of the street, which has never even been at-tempted. Every day, the same business-owner vans, trucks and cars park in front of our homes for up to 12 hours, usually taking up two spots instead of one, in the few remain-ing shady spots.

Enough already! Give us our two-hour residential parking and make the businesses pay at the Metra eight-hour meters or as our Seventh Ward Alderman, Elizabeth Tisdahl, told me to do, work with the owner of the Top of the Tracks café to get NU to allocate spaces at Ryan Field for them.

The only restriction here is from 7 to 9 a.m. At exactly 9 a.m., the street fills up. Since I pay the taxes to live here, the least I expect is to unload my groceries in front of my house without having to illegally park, then search for a space that won't fry my car. Businesses should pay for a lot or at the meters. - Deborah Hirshfield

TG: It looks like all the Ridge Avenue traffic signals are operational. Main and Ridge and Oakton and Ridge have a different light sequence. Be very careful with left turns. - Jim Weiland

TG: Since the City put in new traffic lights on Ridge, there is no longer a left-turn arrow at either southbound Ridge and Main or southbound Ridge and Oakton. What gives? - W. Karpus

From TG: A lot of thought went into the changes that prompted your question. Rajeev Dahal of the City's transportation division said the original reconfiguration, in which northbound and southbound traffic proceeded separately, caused east-west traffic congestion that spilled over into the neighborhoods. The solutions were to widen the road (not an option) or to change the timing plan (the chosen solution). Now, northbound and southbound traffic both have the same green light, and some of the "green time" that was saved can be used by southbound traffic for left turns. The City's traffic guys also found that more northbound traffic than southbound use the left-turn signals, so they left those in place. The remainder of the saved green-time was given to the east-west traffic, to lessen the congestion there. Signs were to have been erected last week notifying drivers of the changes.

The Traffic Guy thinks...

... that everyone really needs to get involved in the downtown planning, if for no other reason than to weigh in on what the next Evanston T-shirt will be. Remember this one - the black square showing "Evanston
at Night"?

... Does anybody know about this interesting decor on a house in south Evanston?

... Look for the RoundTable booth at the Lakeshore Arts Festival. Stop by and we'll give you a T-shirt or a pen or a car magnet while supplies last.