Church & Dodge Redesign a Missed Opportunity for Bike/Ped Safety
What are the most important considerations in re-designing traffic flow as part of Evanston’s Church & Dodge Transportation Improvement Project? We at ETA call for protected bike lanes, safeguarded sidewalk space, and enhanced bus stops—all of which will benefit the community as a whole. Unfortunately, current plans presented at the Sept. 24th Open House move in the opposite direction.
Today, cyclists going eastbound in the Church St. bike lane are protected on raised concrete. The proposed plan at Church & Dodge would eliminate this protection and replace it with painted lines on the street where there is also a bus stop. We believe this presents a dangerous condition with cyclists forced to merge into mixed traffic, including garbage trucks going to the waste transfer facility and buses. The same problem exists elsewhere in our bike network—that is, painted bike lanes easily obstructed by road vehicles—but we believe it would be particularly dangerous near the high school. It would discourage cycling, especially among ETHS students, and increase the chance of injuries and fatalities. This design choice contradicts community feedback provided during engagement surveys and meetings that showed protected lanes and bus bulb outs with significant support, and would be a clear downgrade from what already exists today.
There are also no significant improvements along Dodge where dangerous roadway congestion occurs impacting drivers, buses, cyclists, and pedestrians during every pickup or drop off period at ETHS. Cyclists will continue to have no safe, protected route along Dodge north of Lake St. Presenters at the meeting suggested cyclists use the sidewalks instead, which would put our pedestrians at risk and is not an adequate design solution.
Our Recommendations:
In the short-term for Church & Dodge, ETA is seeking the addition of an ADA-accessible bus shelter and maintaining concrete protection for cyclists at this location. We can simply keep the existing raised concrete and stripe it for eastbound cyclists only (saving the city money!) or if we must, create a new shared bus stop/protected bike lane in its place, pictured at right. These have been constructed in other North American cities including Toronto and Chicago. Providing level boarding and a sidewalk waiting area for bus riders while still protecting cyclists in a dedicated space away from traffic along the curbside. It is our hope that if a trial succeeds here, a similar design could be implemented elsewhere in our city where buses load/unload in bike lanes. Based on the current plans we believe this can be added without any changes to lane widths, parking spaces, or curb placement, maintaining the design that has been worked on thus far.
Long-term, ETA sees opportunity for Dodge Ave to have a two-way cycletrack on the west side of the street. This would provide better access to James Park, Dawes Elementary, Valli Produce, and ETHS which are all to the west of Dodge, and would allow for street parking on the east side to be returned to the curb- addressing concerns from local residents. In addition, it would eliminate current wrong-way cycling (aka “salmoning”) along Dodge. Two-way cycle tracks also allow for year-round protection due to City of Evanston maintenance capabilities as opposed to the current seasonal bollards. This would also allow the protected lanes to be expanded further north from Lake Street where current lanes become paint-only (and then disappear altogether) due to narrowed ROW. Ultimately, this would look similar to Sheridan Rd- We have a successful model to point to in front of NU. ETHS students deserve a similar solution.
The City of Evanston has pledged to develop a safe, world-class transportation network for all users. This includes an emphasis on Vision Zero, protecting pedestrians, transit users, and cyclists as they are more exposed than motorists. Evanston has also committed itself to CARP, the Climate Action and Resilience Plan, to reduce carbon emissions from transportation. That goal is achievable only if we improve bike lanes and pedestrian infrastructure.
