Where would you put bus lanes?

[Elkmn]

If it were me making these calls, I'd put some on Irving Park crossing the river (between Western and California) and some damn TSP at the stupid light at Rockwell. The 80 is the only route I regularly use that's painstakingly slow and runs on a wide road with bus lane room. I'd also like Michigan avenue bus lanes too between Delaware and like Roosevelt.

[Mr.NewFlyer1279]

7 hours ago, Elkmn said:

I'd also like Michigan avenue bus lanes too between Delaware and like Roosevelt.

there is already a bus lane along Michigan Ave. but it never works like they expect it to bcuz all the traffic Michigan Ave sees……especially when you got cars parked up in a “No Parking/Standing Zone”

[strictures]

Since Elkmn brought up TSP, the one place it's definitely needed is for the 155 Devon, after it makes the left turn off of Devon onto NB Sheridan & then has to wait several minutes at the NB Sheridan Road cutoff. 

[Busjack]

I haven't surveyed Chicago and the nearby suburbs, but (as indicated by my discussion of E 55th St. a long time back, I think there are enough bus and bike lanes, and where they are especially needed, such as Devon itself, or 79th between Vincennes and Stony Island, you would need either to ban parking or turn them into transit malls (worked real well on State St. 🤪). What you all are talking about is parking enforcement and traffic signal timing and TSP, things that are horribly behind the times in Chicago.

[YoungBusLover]

I would most definitely dedicate the cities resources to reconfiguring these bus lanes to work more efficiently in areas where traffic is the most congested. 

Areas that could use such reconfiguration are listed below.

#8 Halsted : Between Madison and North Ave. The bus lane between Erie and Grand Milwaukee going SB is a tight squeeze for any bus to maneuver through with heavy traffic sitting in the lane. 

All routes that Utilize Michigan Ave between 35th and Oak Street. Either bus lanes from Roosevelt to Wacker Drive would be created or at the very least priority signaling at Key intersections that are prone to heavy PED traffic that causes the right lane to become congested because I'm sure we've all experienced the turn at Wacker and Michigan waiting for the 2 and 146 going SB to complete the turn without any cross traffic, same goes for the 20 going NB just to name a few.

#53A South Pulaski Between 43rd and 87th. Some Peak Priority Zones could be established.

#79 79th Street between Cicero and Racine.

#87 Between Commercial and State Street

 

[Elkmn]

12 hours ago, Mr.NewFlyer1279 said:

there is already a bus lane along Michigan Ave.

Wait what where

[NewFlyerMCI]

6 hours ago, YoungBusLover said:

All routes that Utilize Michigan Ave

It'd require a strong effort in planning and design, but the Mag Mile should seriously be considered for center-running bus lanes similar to Boston or SFO. It certainly meets the frequency threshold, since even just the Sunday schedules for the 3, 146, 147 & 151, that still averages out to about a bus every 5 mins, and that's the lowest level of service provided (during the day at least)

[Busjack]

59 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

It'd require a strong effort in planning and design, but the Mag Mile should seriously be considered for center-running bus lanes

Actually, you're about 50 years late on that one in Chicago. I'm sure that as a vestige of the streetcar days (streetcars obviously couldn't pull to the curb) there were safety islands in the street. On State, there were safety islands to the right of each center lane with certain buses running only in the center lane, and others in the curb lane, meaning that there were effectively 2 NB and 2 SB posted stops on each corner. Washington had a bus lane and safety island in the middle. When Dearborn was more congested with 42 Halsted-Downtown, 44 Wallace-Racine, and 45 Ashland -Downtown buses, there was a safety island in the middle. I remember waiting on State for a bus and getting slush sprayed on me--not pleasant.

The Loop Link on Washington seems like a better idea, at least for the passengers. I don't know what Boston has, but if you are suggesting a center busway with protected platforms, there was the consultant's plan for Ashland BRT (discussed in this topic), which immediately ran into a brick wall of community opposition basically because left turns would be banned for long stretches and anyone using Ashland (after taking out the left lanes and putting bump outs in the right lanes) would have to make 3 right turns in the neighborhood.

Better Streets for Buses might have some solutions, and some are suggested in the South Halsted Corridor Study, but, other than those ideas, I don't see much.

[strictures]

20 hours ago, Busjack said:

I haven't surveyed Chicago and the nearby suburbs, but (as indicated by my discussion of E 55th St. a long time back, I think there are enough bus and bike lanes, and where they are especially needed, such as Devon itself, or 79th between Vincennes and Stony Island, you would need either to ban parking or turn them into transit malls (worked real well on State St. 🤪). What you all are talking about is parking enforcement and traffic signal timing and TSP, things that are horribly behind the times in Chicago.

There's no room for a bus lane on Devon unless all parking is banned from the street.  Devon has a single traffic lane in each direction, plus a few left turn lanes at Clark & at Western.

[YoungBusLover]

12 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

It'd require a strong effort in planning and design, but the Mag Mile should seriously be considered for center-running bus lanes similar to Boston or SFO. It certainly meets the frequency threshold, since even just the Sunday schedules for the 3, 146, 147 & 151, that still averages out to about a bus every 5 mins, and that's the lowest level of service provided (during the day at least)

At the very least CDOT could upgrade the traffic signals for vehicles making right turns going EB or WB from Michigan. The biggest issue is the PED cross traffic that just brings the right lanes to a stand still. Double parking is another issue that CPD doesn't seem to address enough along Michigan or State Street either.

A right turn arrow traffic signal would get rid of the bottlenecks here at Michigan and Wacker. Similar to what is currently in place at Randolph.

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, strictures said:

There's no room for a bus lane on Devon unless all parking is banned from the street.  Devon has a single traffic lane in each direction, plus a few left turn lanes at Clark & at Western.

That was my point.😝

[Elkmn]

This is a very ambitious idea, but would it be worthwile to make devon only for vehicles related to businesses and buses between ridge and california? Of course, making arthur and rosemont bidirectional would be necessary to handle the diverted traffic and because of this loss of traffic, it would be feasible to widen sidewalks and allow for more outdoor seating.

[jajuan]

42 minutes ago, Elkmn said:

This is a very ambitious idea, but would it be worthwile to make devon only for vehicles related to businesses and buses between ridge and california? Of course, making arthur and rosemont bidirectional would be necessary to handle the diverted traffic and because of this loss of traffic, it would be feasible to widen sidewalks and allow for more outdoor seating.

Rosemont and Arthur are too narrow to take on the level of traffic you're speaking about trying to move off Devon. The bulk of the traffic that hits Devon is car traffic, and Rosemont and Arthur are both quiet residential streets. So even if they were wide enough to take on heavy car traffic you're speaking about moving off Devon, the opposition from residents living along those stretches will be an instant roadblock that I can tell you would be tough to get around. Heck, whenever the Devon bus needs to be detoured anywhere between Ridge and California, CTA sends them along Lunt despite Pratt being closer and wider because of a decades long opposition to transit buses running on that stretch of Pratt from those neighborhood residents on Pratt. Notice virtually all CTA bus usage of Pratt be it regular routing of the 155 or construction or summer festival detours of the 96 is east of Ridge. If area residents can keep CTA buses off a stretch of Pratt for decades, I highly doubt dumping heavy car traffic off Devon onto quiet residential streets in that area would get anywhere.

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, Elkmn said:

This is a very ambitious idea, but would it be worthwile to make devon only for vehicles related to businesses and buses between ridge and california? Of course, making arthur and rosemont bidirectional would be necessary to handle the diverted traffic and because of this loss of traffic, it would be feasible to widen sidewalks and allow for more outdoor seating.

In addition to what @jajuan said:

• Arthur doesn't go to Ridge. One would have to use Damen, which there is barely wide enough to allow one car  through.
• in a neighborhood as densely populated as that, no way to distinguish "business users" from anyone else, and trying to do so wouldn't eliminate congestion. What's to stop me from saying "I'm Dr. Patel and I'm going to Patel Brothers' Market."  "I'm going to see my cousin who lives above Zabitha Halal Meats."?
• Devon is the only street between Peterson and Touhy that bridges the North Shore Channel. Funneling all the traffic to that bridge on Kedzie won't work either, and the bus would never be able to get out of the terminal.

[Elkmn]

fair enough, that was a short sighted thought.  maybe a better place to try a "bus only street" would be on clark and/or dearborn in river north, as LaSalle and State have enough room for the extra traffic. (they could probably make all the streets with buses bus only besides LaSalle and LaSalle could handle all those cars). 

[Busjack]

9 minutes ago, Elkmn said:

fair enough, that was a short sighted thought.  maybe a better place to try a "bus only street" would be on clark and/or dearborn in river north, as LaSalle and State have enough room for the extra traffic. (they could probably make all the streets with buses bus only besides LaSalle and LaSalle could handle all those cars). 

As I mentioned a few posts up, a transit mall on State St. FAILED. It was an idea subsidized by the feds in the late 70s. Heck, there was a transit mall on Halsted around 63rd and all that's left in that area is an unused bypass road. Malls lead to the destruction of business, and thus are opposed.

The problem on Clark St. is between LaSalle Dr.and Rogers Ave., and there is no room to do anything about that.

[jajuan]

On 4/10/2024 at 7:37 PM, Elkmn said:

fair enough, that was a short sighted thought.  maybe a better place to try a "bus only street" would be on clark and/or dearborn in river north, as LaSalle and State have enough room for the extra traffic. (they could probably make all the streets with buses bus only besides LaSalle and LaSalle could handle all those cars). 

In addition to what @Busjack said, Dearborn already has a red bus lane in the downtown area up to Wacker Drive. So buses aren't running into very many problems until they get to LaSalle Drive and the vicinity of the zoo. Heck the only bus lanes that were really able to be placed on Clark outside of down is a small stretch between Devon and Ridge and a tiny stretch between Drummond and Wrightwood (if they still exist) if I remember correctly. And the latter mentioned near Wrightwood aren't much use because the roadway is so narrow and flows through a couple of curves, the lanes aren't very visible because they're not red paved like lanes farther north and what markings there were denoting a bus lane were fading, and the lanes are occupied most of the time by parked cars.