When providing public comment during the portion
of a meeting, set aside for that purpose.
Or three, when asked to rise
and be acknowledged by a member of the city council,
profane, threatening, harassing, abusive,
or defamatory behavior
or speech, which in the judgment of the meeting's chair
or the sergeant at arms, may lead to a breach of the peace
or disrupt The orderly conduct
of the meeting is not permitted, disruptive or distracting.
Actions such as the stomping of feet, waving of arms,
throwing any item, whistling, booing,
shouting, or other loud
Attention. Attention.
Gavel, gavel chain Rattle chain rattle.
The meeting of the Committee on Pedestrian
and Traffic Safety is now called to order
for October 8th, 2025.
We will now have a roll call to establish quorum.
Chairman Lasa, present Vice Chair Cruz.
Honor Way on her way, Altman Hopkins.
Thank you. Alderman Robinson.
Alderman Yancy Alderman Chico
will be joining us in a moment.
Thank you, sir. Alderman Quinn. Alderman Moore.
Alderman Burnett. Alderman Curtis.
Alderman Irvin, alderman Knutson, alderman Lawson,
alderman Martin and Alderwoman Mana Howorth.
We have eight members present.
We have a quorum, uh, alderman Cheek.
Hey, and Alderman Hopkins. Good to see us.
Sir Alderman Hopkins. Present with us
for purposes of quorum.
Do we have any non-members present now?
At the moment, Altman Chico has requested
to participate in the meeting remotely.
Pursuant to Rule 59,
alderman Chico has confirmed signs of life.
Uh, can I have a motion to allow Alderman Chico
to participate remotely?
Alderman Yancy. So moves. All those in favor say aye.
All those appeals say nay and the opinion of the chair.
The ayes have it. Alderman Chico is present here today
by video conference and will be counted
accordingly for the roll call.
At this time, we will begin the public common period out
of respect for everybody's time.
Each speaker is limited to three minutes
speakers in accordance with rule 58 of the state council.
Rules of order. Please refrain from profane language,
obscene conduct, or disruptive comments.
Our first speaker is George Blakemore.
Good morning to the empty seats.
I can't believe it.
This meeting is only a hearing
and it's no, uh, vote will be taken.
But where are the people?
The people make the world go round.
While I'm speaking now, Mr. Quinn
and this other gentleman, uh, uh, uh,
carrying on a conversation, Mr.
Lord. They have these misfits down here,
have no respect for their jobs.
And I'm not going to beat up on our electric officials,
you people out here and Facebook land.
Tweet yourself, text yourself, email yourself off
of this democratic plantation.
It's something evil here. It's something un-American here.
And what do you call it?
The democratic machine is not gonna flip red.
Nothing going to change.
It's a culture of corruption here.
The seats are empty here. Why?
The people are not here
because of the misfit altimas.
Why do you call a misfit?
Because they're not in the job of liberating
and helping people.
They're selfish. They're corrupt,
and they all are Democrats.
No checking balance here. It's no checking balance here.
Something is evil here. Something's un-American here.
And look at Mr. Lawless over here talking while I'm talking.
I've been coming down here for years.
I used to go through this swinging door
and I used to be see right over there
where the people could see me.
And when they would to ignore the public. Burke was his.
Even though Burke was corrupt, they had order here.
They never had these meetings at the same time
and at the same place.
Who does this Miss Big Ultimate look at Mr.
Laws. See, the whole thing is, is not set up right.
He would have to turn around to see me.
I used to go through this
and they would have a court report,
and Burke would say, bam, bam.
Order here. I never heard.
Uh, uh, these chairman discipline, these members of the,
of the committee, they're completely out of control.
It's one of the most corrupt cities in the United States.
Why do you say this?
Because the amount of elected officials who've been indicted
and don't get him, he's elected official.
You, the people are the cause of this. You are sour.
And Dr. King said, so is what?
Thank you. Our next, uh, noting Altman Irvin
with us for purposes of quorum.
Good to have you, sir. And also non-member Ronnie Mosley.
Um, our next speaker is Lynette Thomas.
Good morning chair and members of the committee.
I am I come here today with no allusions
that this committee didn't know what was happening.
You knew you approved the budgets,
you watched despair in black neighborhoods while signing off
on rapid built in immigrant corridors.
This isn't about fear, it's about facts.
It's about how black residents were erased from the city's
infrastructure agenda.
While billions in services investment
and beautification were dropped into neighborhoods tied
to the New Americans plan.
You built pop-up city services expanded.
CTA stops near shelters, redirected traffic
and patrols, all while black seniors begged
for sidewalk repairs.
And our children crossed unlit
intersections to get to schools.
You later closed. Let's talk about those schools.
You didn't just close them, you
converted them into shelters.
And you didn't do it in Lincoln Park.
You didn't do it in Wicker Park. You did it in South Shore.
Roseland, Woodlawn, back of the yards,
all predominantly black, all already underserved.
And now you expect the very people you excluded to fund it.
CTA is in deficit. CPD is in the deficit.
CPS is in the deficit. And the answer is raise taxes.
Let's name what you want.
Black families are being forced
to subsidize the infrastructure for others',
people's arrival while ours is being dismantled.
And in housing slumlords like PKO, now halted
and Taylor change names to escape citation,
and you help them do it.
These landlords leave tenants in mold, mice
and raw sewage, while the city fast tracks approvals
for developers building shelter space for migrants.
How is this justice? Here's the part
that should outrage every taxpayer in the city CPS
reallocated funding for English language learners, money
that should have gone to special education,
black student support services and trauma recovery programs.
We are watching migrant children receive immediate
language services, full-time caseworkers,
trauma informed counselors, while black students
with IEPs can't even get a working aid
or compliant service minutes.
So here's my demand today.
Stop lying to the public about where the money went.
Say it plainly. Migrant spending calls budget holes,
and now the people left behind are being asked to pay more.
Call out CPS for robbing special education dollars
and giving them to ELL programs while black children fall
farther behind in the loophole that allows slumlords
to rebrand and re-offend under new business names
with city support.
This isn't about division,
it's about deliberate abandonment.
You can't keep telling us we're broke while building a whole
new city around us.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you. And our final speaker today is Molly Brown.
Thank you. Uh, hi. My name is Molly Brown.
I live on the near north side in the second ward,
represented by a committee member Alderman Hopkins.
Um, I'm here representing myself as a private citizen
and my two kids age nine and 12.
I'm worried about the ability of our kids in the city
to walk and bike to school safely today, actually happens
to be international walk and bike to school day October 8th.
Uh, I'm, uh, I'd like to speak
to the CDOT traffic crash report on the agenda today.
Specifically the section about school zone improvements such
as curb bumpouts, and raised crosswalks.
In last year's report, it stated
that CDOT analyzes crash data to identify schools
with the highest number of severe crashes,
but it did not include any of this data I'd like
to request in future reports.
Perhaps there is more today, but I don't know.
Uh, but I'd like to request
that there's greater transparency in
reporting on these stats.
Additionally, there is great need for this work
to take place at many more schools in the city.
Uh, the c.website states
that these projects have been completed at 10 schools.
While there are roughly 1000 public charter
and private schools serving youth in grades K
through 12 in the city of Chicago.
Um, I'm also here today because I'd like to see swift
and transparent action in response to KSI events
that happen adjacent to schools.
Perhaps many of you saw on the news that three weeks ago,
a 9-year-old boy was hit
and killed by a driver as he tried to cross the street
directly in front of McNair Elementary School
in the Austin neighborhood.
Anakin's life might have been spared.
His name was Anakin Perez.
His life might have been spared if there was a mid-block
raised crosswalk in front of his school.
Or better yet, a school street where no
through traffic is allowed during school arrival
and dismissal times, school streets are becoming commonplace
in cities around the world, including Paris,
Seattle, and New York City.
I'd like to urge the alderman
and CDOT representatives here
to seek swift responsive action at schools like McNair
to put in infrastructure improvements
or implement a new school street
to help a grieving community feel like such a terrible event
might be avoided in the future. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Brown. This concludes
the public common period.
Our first order
of business is the Rule 45 report from September,
which was sent out via email
and distributed to committee members.
Can I have a motion to approve the September Rule
4 45 report?
Wo mana Howorth.
So moves all of those in favor of passing the report.
Say aye. All
of those opposed say nay in the opinion of the chair.
The ayes have it also welcoming.
Our latest committee member Alderman Red Burnett.
Good to have you with us for purposes of quorum, sir.
Uh, we are going to go out of order to begin
with the routine items
before the committee, starting
with a direct introduction ordinances
on pages two and three.
Can I have a motion to recommend approval
of all direct introduction ordinances on pages two
and three by the same roll call vote as was applied
to determine quorum alderman laws
and so moves, hearing no objection.
So ordered. Let us turn to pages four through seven
for the recommended portion of the agenda for item four.
On page four, we received a substitute ordinance
that makes changes to the language per CDOs recommendation.
This substitute was emailed and distributed today.
Can I have a motion to accept this substitute ordinance,
Alderwoman ma howorth.
So moves, hearing no objections. So ordered.
Can I have a motion to recommend approval
of all recommended items on pages four through seven,
including the accepted substitute for item four on page four
by the same roll call vote as was applied
to determine quorum old woman Manina
hoppen Worth knocking it out.
So moved, hearing no objections. So ordered.
We will now turn to pages eight through 17
for the no recommendation portion of the agenda,
which are items that received no recommendation
from city departments.
These ordinances were submitted
as overrides are on the agenda at the request
of the al person or do not require departmental approval
for item 13 on page 16.
And item five, on page 17,
we've received substitute ordinances that make changes
to the language per CDOs recommendation.
These substitutes were emailed
and distributed today can have a motion
to accept these substitute ordinances.
So moved. Alderman Hopkins hearing no objections.
So ordered Item 14 on page 16 will be held in committee.
So can I have a motion to recommend approval
of all no recommendation items on pages eight through 17,
except item 14 on page 16,
and including the accepted substitutes for item
13 on page 16.
And item five on page 17 by the same roll call vote
as was applied to determine quorum Alderman Lawson.
So moves, hearing no objections, so ordered.
We will report these items out at the next
regularly scheduled city council meeting.
Returning to page one of the agenda,
we will now have a subject matter hearing on the 2024 crash
report from the Chicago Department of Transportation
pursuant to Municipal Code of Chicago section nine dash 16.
We have with us today Veg Krishna Murthy,
managing Managing Deputy Commissioner
and David Smith, assistant Commissioner from the Chicago
Department of Transportation to present, uh,
on the annual hearing, on
to do the annual hearing on the report.
Gentlemen, good to have you with us. Take it away.
Good morning. Uh, Good morning.
I'm Vic Krismer, managing Deputy Commissioner cdot.
Thank you chairman and members of the committee.
Good morning. Uh, today, uh, I wanna just share a few
remarks, uh, before Dave gives the presentation.
And, um, we certainly know
that in the years we've been coming, um,
to do these presentations, um, we have a lot of work
that we've accomplished, which we wanna speak to.
And we, as we heard this morning, a lot of work yet to do,
um, over the years the issues we're facing, right?
There are, um, generational issues around
how we design the streets, operate the streets,
design our entire transportation system.
And I think CDO has always used data.
We've always been on top of what we can do with design tools
and certainly always working with city council
and dialogue with, um, members of council, members
of your community who know where there are issues
and, um, have insights about what we need
to do in recent years.
Uh, what we really want to touch on in the presentation is,
um, the idea of transformation, right?
That, uh, we are more able now
to deliver investments in a way
where the whole is greater than the sum of parts.
We've, we've always done bump outs,
we've always done pedestrian refuge islands,
and yet we are now able to bring them together in new ways
where those investments are delivering more
and having an outsized, uh, impact in terms of the, uh,
trends and statistics we see regarding to safety.
Um, that requires partnership,
that requires systematic investment,
that also requires targeted investment.
And it really is those three poles, um, that we're trying
to bring together because we recognize that on the one hand,
um, a safety tragedy can happen anywhere at any time.
And on the other hand, there are very clear patterns
and trends in terms of the places, the people,
and the conditions where those things are more likely.
And so we have to kind of come at this from both sides.
Uh, and that's indeed what we've done, uh,
and are trying to do by bringing together both our safety
work and our Complete Streets investment framework.
Uh, so that those infrastructure investments really are
trying to cover both where there's the most need,
but also be systematic
and comprehensive when we can to get in front
of their being need by addressing root causes that, um,
underlie crashes.
So, uh, I'll pass that over
to our assistant commissioner David Smith, who
manages the Complete Streets Program for the presentation,
and look forward to, uh, dialogue with you this morning.
Thank you.
Alright, uh, thank you. Good morning everybody.
Uh, David Smith, Chicago Department of Transportation.
Uh, I'm gonna walk through this presentation, which is
really pulls out a subset
of information from our annual traffic crash report,
which will be, uh, published within the next week or so, uh,
and has a lot of really incredible information around
the trends of traffic safety, what we're seeing in Chicago,
um, celebrating the successes
that we've had over the last couple years,
but also acknowledging
that there's still a lot of work to do.
Uh, the report gets into a whole lot of details around
where crashes are happening, uh, when they're happening,
what type of contributing factors are associated with,
with the traffic crashes
and offers up, uh, a whole host of solutions
that we know work.
Uh, we are implementing these types of
what we call complete street improvements
in every neighborhood across the city.
And we're seeing the same successful results when we
implement these, uh, types of improvements, uh,
no matter the neighborhood and no matter the street.
Uh, so within the presentation, I'll pull out some of the,
uh, key data points from the report.
I'll talk about, uh, sort of what, uh, VIG touched on is
how we deliver these improvements
and why we're seeing that success.
And then highlighting a few projects from across the city
that really embody, uh, the, the results that we are seeing.
Uh, so the really at the top line,
and I think a, a number that is worth, uh, being proud of,
uh, again, acknowledging that there's a lot of work to do.
But when we look at the most serious traffic crashes, ones
where somebody has lost their life, we have
reduced the number of people killed in traffic crashes in
Chicago by 30%, uh, over the last few years.
That, uh, is compared to 2021, which was the height
of traffic crashes
during COVID VID The entire country saw really SA
significant spike in the number of traffic crashes.
Chicago is no different, uh, since then,
what has set us apart has been our investment in
complete streets, infrastructure, traffic safety
policies and strategies.
And we're seeing a 30% reduction in the number
of people killed on our streets compared to, uh,
9% nationally.
When you compare Chicago to our peer cities,
major cities across the uni United States,
we're really leading the way.
Uh, when it comes to safe streets.
This 30% reduction over the last four years
or so equates to hundreds
of lives saved, um, on our streets.
Breaking down the, uh, traffic crash data.
This is showing, uh, the number of traffic fatalities
that have occurred in the city, uh, excluding expressways.
So just on our city streets from 2019 through today
in 2024, uh, the downward trend, uh, continued.
Uh, this is broken out by people, uh, outside of a vehicle.
So somebody walking, biking on a scooter, uh, versus people
inside a vehicle, either drivers or passengers.
What we're seeing so far in 2025 continues
to be incredibly promising today, uh, through September
compared to 2024, just comparing last year to this year,
year to date, we're also seeing,
we're seeing a 25% reduction in traffic fatalities this
year compared to last year.
This is really, really positive.
The number of people, uh,
killed while walking this year is the
lowest in over a decade.
Uh, people inside of a vehicle,
the lowest in the last five years or so,
and the total number of, uh, people killed 71,
which is 71 2 high, uh, is the lowest number
in over a decade.
The goal is to get to zero.
Uh, we're working really hard at that,
that trend is going in that direction,
and we want to do everything that we can in partnership
with city council, with community members, um, to
accelerate that trend down to zero.
Uh, additionally, in addition to traffic fatalities,
we look really closely at, uh, serious injuries.
And we are seeing, uh, in 2024,
what we saw is the lowest number
of serious injuries resulting from a trash traffic crash,
uh, since 20 12, 20 12.
And as a whole, uh, the per the, the ratio
of serious traffic crashes that are happening is continuing
to go downward, uh, since, uh, the height of COVID.
So what that means is that it is becoming more
and more, uh, unlikely
that if you are involved in a traffic crash,
that you'll be seriously injured or killed.
Uh, and when we look at the results
that we're seeing all across the city, uh, it really is,
there's a lot to talk about, uh, on these maps.
This is a heat map
of serious traffic crashes from all across the city.
And you can see in 2021, uh,
really there's three primary hotspots
that stick out downtown, uh, the west side,
along the Eisenhower, Garfield Park, Austin neighborhood,
uh, and then, uh, south between the two expressways
around the greater grand crossing, uh, community.
Fast forward to 2024,
where we've had significant investments in all
of those communities through a variety
of infrastructure programs.
And we're seeing a sign, you're seeing that map get, uh,
less red and less hot, particularly in those areas.
And this is a really good thing, showing
that when we invest in this type
of infrastructure systematically across the city,
even in the, the areas where traffic crashes are the worst,
we can really see significant improvements.
And just to highlight, or to call that out as one example,
in East Garfield Park,
we've seen a 70% reduction in serious traffic crashes just
over the last couple of years.
That's coupled with, uh, various, uh,
traffic safety investments, uh,
throughout the, the neighborhood.
Uh, when we look at the, uh, our roadway
and where crashes are happening, uh,
jurisdiction is an important one.
Uh, and the thing to highlight on this map is the,
the top line state jurisdiction.
Streets, uh, streets within the city of Chicago,
under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Department
of Transportation, make up less than 10%
of our mileage of our street network.
But 44%
of our fatal crashes are happening on those 9% of streets.
So that disproportionality is one that is important
and really highlights the need for, uh, a strong partnership
with the state of Illinois.
As we take on, uh, the issues of traffic safety.
The good news is we do have a strong partnership with the,
with, with idot.
Uh, in the last couple of years, we had, um,
some really nice policy, uh,
and legislative wins with the state.
And that work continues, uh, to identify how we can partner
and bring safety improvements to, uh, idot routes.
When we go through the data, the, the key issues that are,
um, persistent across the board
is we've broken down into these three categories, uh, scale,
reckless driving and inequities.
So the first one, scale is really about the speed
at which people are driving.
Speed is the number one contributing factor
to serious traffic crashes.
Over 70% of traffic fatalities involve somebody exce, uh,
exceeding the speed limit.
And in most cases, that is, uh, dramatically in, uh, uh,
exceeding the speed limit.
And when it comes to size, we're talking about the size
of vehicles, which there's not a lot that we can do
as a city to control that.
There's a lot of, that's primarily federal regulations.
But what people are seeing is,
and what I think people recognize is that the size
of vehicles, the weight
of vehicles has been increasing dramatically.
So that means that, uh, you don't have to be driving
as fast in order to kill somebody
or to seriously injure someone as the vehicles get larger.
So it really puts an emphasis on why we need
to be investing in this type of infrastructure.
It's all the more important today than, uh, compared
to past years because of, uh, the size of the vehicles.
When we look at roadways, wider roadways, uh,
16 times more likely to have traffic fatalities.
This comes back to the, uh, coordination
with the state of Illinois.
Many IDOT jurisdiction streets are, uh, just wider in nature
or have more lanes.
And so that partnership is really, uh, really key.
Reckless driving, uh, continues
to be a really significant challenge.
It was really bad during, uh,
COVID when there were very few trips taking place.
Uh, and some of those, some of that behavior has continued.
About 85%
of traffic fatalities in the city involves
some type of reckless driving.
That could mean blowing through red lights
and stop signs, uh, leaving the roadway, driving, uh,
you know, somebody driving incredibly fast,
going off the roadway, hitting a light pole,
killing themselves or a passenger in the, in the car.
Uh, that type of behavior.
About 25% of the fatalities involve, uh,
disregarding stop signs and traffic signals.
Uh, and then persistent inequities is something
that we see black and Hispanic Chicagoans much more likely
to be killed in a traffic crash.
Uh, and then there is an age, uh, inequity as well
with residents, uh, older, uh, and younger.
And we really do take a, uh, data-driven approach to
how we develop our programs and our projects.
And we select locations
and we coordinate with, uh, city council on those locations.
And we have various levels of looking at the data,
and we want to partner with the committee, with, uh,
everybody in the council, um, to figure out
how we can invest, uh, in a way that is effective
and efficient and smart within every single
neighborhood and across the city.
And so, we look at data from a citywide perspective.
Part of what will be included in the upcoming report is, uh,
a new high injury network.
We've identified hun 100 miles
of major roads across the city
that make up a disproportional, uh, percentage of serious
and, uh, fatal traffic crashes.
But that's not the only analysis that we do.
And it's, those aren't the only types
of streets that we look at.
We look at, uh,
traffic safety issues at the neighborhood level.
Uh, we look at residential streets, which do account for,
um, a significant portion of injuries and serious injuries.
Uh, Ms. Brown spoke about, um, a child who was killed
outside of a school on a residential street, uh,
just in the last couple of weeks.
So it's really critical
that we are looking at traffic safety at both
of our major arterial streets,
but also at the community and neighborhood level.
Uh, and we do do a lot, uh, around schools and parks.
Some of the information, uh, that we had, uh, that
that was posted around the schools
and park zones is a little misleading in that, uh,
we have a, a lot of delivery mechanisms
and programs where we are investing infrastructure, uh,
lowering speed limits, installing speed humps traffic,
pedestrian infrastructure, um, around schools
and parks throughout the city.
Um, so how are we delivering this?
Um, we, at cdot, we,
we take a Complete Streets approach.
We implement Complete Streets infrastructure
through every single program, uh, across the department.
And when we do this, we are really focusing on making sure
that our streets are accessible and safe for everybody.
Uh, no matter your ability, your age,
or your mode of transportation,
and those types of projects can look very different.
It can look like, uh,
retrip a roadway in a new configuration
or fixing an intersection in a different configuration.
It can look like a protected bike lane
or pedestrian improvements like shown
here on the, on the screen.
This is, uh, the Belmont Corridor in Avondale.
Um, but the key thing to remember is
that while these projects look different
and have different elements, they all benefit
every single user on the street.
And we'll walk through some examples of that.
But when we install, for example, a protected bike lane,
it's not just about providing space
for somebody to ride a bike.
It's not just about making somebody on a bike
feel safer or be safer.
It's about making everybody who's
using the public way safer.
And we see this time and time,
and again, when we make our street, when we make our streets
and our public spaces safe
and inviting for those who are most vulnerable,
whether it be people outside of a vehicle or senior citizens
or children, we make the streets safer for everybody.
And the types of improvements that we are delivering,
we've categorized these into three main, uh, groups,
core elements, a DA compliant curb ramps.
Um, there's been a ton of work happening around, uh,
accessible sidewalks
and accessible intersections over the last, uh, decade plus.
Um, looking at, uh, crosswalks, we move into our
enhanced elements, refuge islands,
pedestrian curb extensions, raised crosswalks.
We'll get into some numbers here in a, in a minute.
Uh, and then our network elements, our modal elements, so,
uh, bus lanes, bus stop improvements, the cycling network,
these types of improvements are delivered
through every project that we do as a department, uh,
depending on what that program is
or what that project is, depending on the, the budget,
the timeline, that sort of helps us figure out
how we can deliver these types
of improvements most effectively across the city.
Just to highlight, uh, a little bit of
the three examples that are shown on here, Laramie
and Gladys, this is the Laramie Corridor in, uh, you know,
the West Humboldt Park neighborhood.
Um, a lot of traffic crashes, some really serious, uh,
concerns around traffic safety, multiple parks
and schools, the green line at Laramie
and Lake, we implemented a whole series
of pedestrian curb extensions
and, uh, bus in lane, bus stops,
and bus stop improvements outside of the parks
and the schools and the transit station.
Through these improvements,
what we did is reduced the crossing distance
for a pedestrian by nearly 50%.
So we took away half of that risk
or exposure to moving vehicles, uh, all along the Laramie,
uh, corridor, the middle picture,
this is a raised crosswalk connecting a school
and a church, uh, on the Grandville Corridor, uh,
in the 48th Ward.
A really exciting project, uh, really, um, focused on,
uh, improving safety for everybody,
improving school operations, um,
and making the street more usable for everybody
and rebalancing the street.
With our Grandville Neighborhood Greenway Project,
we've seen a 60% increase in the number
of people biking on the street since it's been completed.
We've also seen a 70% reduction in the number
of car trips happening on that street.
And we've done that through a series
of traffic calming infrastructure, one-way designations, uh,
and other regulations throughout the street.
And then, uh, on the right, 79th
and Prairie, the 79th corridor east of the Red Line, uh, in,
primarily in the Sixth Ward, we implemented a series
of over 40 pedestrian curb extensions, improved bus stops,
pedestrian refuge islands, improving connections
to Ruges Elementary, the Red Line Station, local businesses.
This 79th Street corridor was one of the highest, um,
pedestrian crash streets in the entire city.
And so we were able to bring a whole series of systematic,
uh, um, improvements along the entire corridor.
And we are truly delivering all of these improvements
through every single program, whether it's
a complete streets, uh, standalone project,
the menu program, uh, our arterial resurfacing program.
I think something that sets Chicago apart from just about
every other city in the country, is
how we are delivering these types of improvements
through our resurfacing program.
This has been a big change over the last 15 years,
and has been a really, uh, incredible way
to make our city safer at the scale that we needed at,
uh, to highlight a couple of statistics from, um, 20, uh,
25, um, you know, over 6,080 DA curb ramps,
just this, uh, year,
almost a hundred pedestrian refuge islands, you know,
750 curb extensions throughout the city,
over 50 raised crosswalks.
That's more than double what we did in 2024.
So this is a type of infrastructure improvement
that we're gonna see a lot more of, uh, in the coming years.
It's incredibly effective.
Uh, it's something that, uh, a type of improvement
that people in every neighborhood
where we've done these really, really appreciate it.
Uh, and I think that we're gonna continue to see that type
of infras infrastructure, uh, explode.
Uh, and then, uh, just to, to finish off the presentation
and get into discussion, just highlighting some successes,
uh, from, uh, the last year, the Halstead corridor,
south Halstead Pershing to 59th, part
of an arterial resurfacing program.
We incorporated pedestrian cycling improvements.
What we've seen immediately
after the installation of these improvements,
77% reduction in driver is exceeding the speed limit.
Again, that's a good thing for everybody,
no matter how you're getting around.
Uh, on, in, on, uh, long Avenue.
Uh, in the 30th ward, a residential street,
which had a history of crashes
and cut through traffic, um, within a very, uh,
really a matter of months, there were, uh,
a teenager killed while riding his bicycle on Long Avenue.
Months later, a a teenager seriously injured while,
while riding his bicycle on the street,
we implemented a series of traffic calming, uh,
and one-way designations along the corridor.
97% compliance with the new posted speed limit
of 2020 miles per hour, uh, 50% increase in,
in biking on the corridor, uh, Clark Street,
in the River North community,
reducing the crossing distances significantly
through a series of pedestrian and bicycle improvements, uh,
and making the street a lot more
accessible and safer for everybody.
Damon Avenue on the south side, Garfield to 47th Street,
again, a res arterial resurfacing program, very similar
to the Halstead Corridor.
Again, 60% reduction in the number
of drivers exceeding the speed limit.
When we implement these types of, uh, concrete improvements,
it really does work, and it works immediately,
and it continues to have an effect, um, that,
uh, grows over time.
Indiana, uh, in the Bronzeville community, Garfield
to 31st and fourth ward
and third Ward, uh, arterial resurfacing project
that's wrapping up construction.
Significant reduction in, uh, the distance that somebody has
to cross the street over reducing that by over 50%.
This is a street with a history of traffic crashes, uh,
people driving, uh, really recklessly, uh,
leaving the roadway, driving into buildings, um,
some really significant improvements being delivered
through our resurfacing program.
And then finally, a project that is, uh,
just getting kicked off on the Southwest side
on Archer Avenue, between 47th Street
and Western, a series of pedestrian improvements, uh,
left turn lane and vehicular improvements,
protected bike lanes.
Uh, when this project is completed in the spring,
almost every single pedestrian crossing will have a curb
extension, a refuge island, or a traffic signal.
So, um, the, the improvements that we're making
as a city is its direct result of the investments
that we've made in the infrastructure.
It's a direct result of the policies and,
and programs that we've established within the city
council and within cdot.
And it's a direct result of the partnership
that I think is stronger than ever between city agencies,
city council, uh, and community groups.
Um, so with that, I think we will turn it over, chairman,
for any questions or discussion.
I, I appreciate the presentation very much to see
where we are and where we're going.
I see Altman Hopkins, I would ask point of privilege just
for three quick questions.
Uh, number one, I wanted to speak to the point
that Ms. Brown brought up related to school safety zones.
And just to call out
and remember, Anakin Perez, who died on Walton,
he was nine years old.
He had a lot to offer the city
that we're never gonna get a chance to see.
Um, and the, the question that I raised is,
everything that we talked about is phenomenal and effective,
but we know that from the point of the design,
the implementation, particularly when we're talking about
concrete, we can be looking at 6, 12, 18 months
when we see an incident like that.
Is there any kind of, from either an infrastructure
or personnel perspective, a rapid response that can say,
we see this, we recognize this, here's how we're able
to respond in the interim,
where while we're planning something more substantial?
Yeah, the, the thank you chairman, uh,
absolutely there is, uh, we're looking at
that particular location.
Uh, but one example just off the top
of my head would be the Long Avenue Corridor, uh,
that I highlighted there, uh, following, uh, some in, uh,
some crat traffic crashes along the corridor.
We came in and implemented a series
of pedestrian improvements
through our rapid delivery program.
We then followed that up through design, engineering
and planning and programming.
The, um, six months later, nine months later,
we had the street completely resurfaced.
We installed speed humps throughout the whole corridor over
a mile, um, uh,
some bike improvements, signage improvements.
So I think that's a great example of
responding to a crash quickly.
We do, we coordinate with the, uh,
Chicago Police Department major accidents every
month, uh, in real time.
We're getting, uh, information on traffic crashes,
the most serious ones.
And we're looking at those locations
and, um, working through, whether it be re-piping a roadway,
um, improving some signage or replacing some signs,
or our rapid delivery program
where we're doing pedestrian bumpouts, left turn traffic,
calming, those types of improvements, uh,
that is happening throughout the year.
I appreciate hearing that.
I want to ask then about the, the infrastructure,
particularly the Complete Streets infrastructure
that we're hearing about, where, where
that investment comes from,
because we know that we have municipal, state,
federal dollars that come into our infrastructure, all
of which with varying levels of condition.
And as we're seeing currently varying levels of risk,
even in the utilization when we're looking at Complete
Streets, what, what tends to fund the work
that we're looking at up on the screen here?
Sure, chairman. Um, we're certainly, um,
as see dependent on all levels of government to,
to do our work, federal, state, and local,
and county as well.
Um, what has been most transformative is the local
investment through the infrastructure
bond in the last four years.
If you look at those, um, declines
and the bar charts that David was showing,
that really lines up with when we started the Complete
Streets Local Bond program
and the Complete Streets, the supplemental, uh,
local resurfacing.
Um, two reasons for that is, um, when we
spend our own money, we have our own destiny.
We set our own design guidelines, which we've presented on
before, and we have our own delivery processes.
Um, we are trying to work with the state,
with the federal government as well, but their processes
and standards are different,
and they may not be attuned to the speed
and local context that we see a crash in the neighborhood,
or the knowledge that, um, we get
through City Council of Community.
So those local dollars have really allowed us to be, um,
a lot quicker and a lot more systematic in the work.
Um, this goes back to, I'm sort of filibuster,
but what I meant earlier about, um, transformation
and a whole grade of some of parts, um, you know,
some federal and state programs, I think, um,
maybe take data too far.
And what I mean by that is, though, but where's the crash?
It was on this corner of Pulaski and 49th.
Well, okay, we can invest on that corner,
but there's nothing different about the other three corners
in that that intersection works as a system.
So through the local money, we're able to respond to that
and do comprehensive investment and look at an intersection
or look at, uh, as David spoke to Laramie, it's the whole
of Laramie needs transformation.
It's not that Potomac is different than
Iowa, then the next street.
Um, whereas some of those federal
and state programs really try to take it down
to maybe a corner or a particular crosswalk.
And I understand they're trying
to spread money across the whole state
or the whole, um, country,
and are trying to get that fine grain.
Um, but we may not be able
to have the transformative effect if we're, um,
down to that level.
So in our local programming, we're looking more at,
you know, if we're gonna come and do work, let's try to be
as comprehensive as possible,
because that's where we're gonna get the benefit.
And the, um, design standards
and investment framework we've created
for our local money enables that to happen.
No, appreciate it. Uh, noting also Vice Chair Cruz with us
for purposes of quorum.
Final question and then we'll go to Alderman Hopkins.
Salt Star committee member questions.
Could you go to the City, county
State Road slide?
So, on one level, it's helpful
to see us very much disproportionately
the impact from city Roads.
Fantastic to see the number of
the way state roads contribute
to serious crashes.
This looks like a very similar number that we saw last year,
continues to be concerning.
Um, I wondered if you, you could speak to,
'cause you, you glanced at this,
and I'm sure it'll be teased out further in the report.
Policy changes happening at the idot, the state level
that can facilitate infrastructure improvements.
I'm thinking particularly about the truck turning radius
one, but maybe you can speak a
little bit more in detail to that.
Sure. Um, so yeah, in the last couple of years,
there has been a lot of work at the state level
and in partnership with, uh, the city
and the state around regulations related
to truck and design.
How we, how we de what type of vehicle we use
to design an intersection.
And along with, um, regulations to restrict
large trucks, tractor trailer trucks from being on streets
where, uh, they shouldn't be primarily residential streets,
you know, u the truck drivers using those streets
as a cut through or something like that.
So, um, we, we have the ability to, uh,
restrict trucks on streets where it makes sense.
Uh, in partnership with idot, they have a, uh, a,
a statewide database
where these regulations can be uploaded.
They're now uploading these onto a database
that goes directly to the trucking industry
to better communicate to them, uh,
where they are not permitted to be.
And we have now, through a memorandum
of understanding that was created in the last couple
of years, we're now able to more easily
restrict trucks from turning on
and off of state jurisdiction streets from local streets
or from residential streets.
What that allows us to do, if we can, now
that we can formally restrict those truck movements
or more easily do it with the state, it allows us
to design the intersection in a way that allows for
fire trucks or school buses to make those turns.
But we don't have to account
for a 65 foot tractor trailer making those turns
because we don't have to account for those
tractor trailer trucks that shouldn't be there
and generally aren't there.
Uh, we can now make the intersection a lot smaller
and a lot safer for those who are most vulnerable.
So we can then now do things like we do on our,
the, the city system.
Mm-hmm. Pedestrian refuge islands, curb extensions.
If we have to design
for a 65 foot tractor trailer truck at every, you know,
intersection, we're not able
to do those types of improvements.
So that's been a big win,
and we're continuing that partnership.
We meet with the state regularly, uh, to
further enhance
and expand the memorandum of understanding to figure out
how we can streamline processes
and move this type of infrastructure that we know is
so successful, move it faster than it has historically been
on the state system.
There's a lot of meetings happening with this, a lot
of coordination, and I think it's very promising, um,
looking into the future.
Thank you so much, Dave. Uh, we'll go to Altman Hopkins,
followed by Alderman Lawson and to Alderman. Nancy,
Sir. Yeah, thank you
Chairman. Uh, very good presentation.
Uh, a lot of encouraging, uh, data in here,
which is makes us feel good
that we're moving in the right direction.
Uh, no one would suggest we're done.
Obviously there's a lot more work to do
and this highlights, uh, some of the areas to do it.
Um, but just looking at the data, you know,
it seems challenging to try to parse out what's, you know,
locally unique versus the macro national trends.
You know, for example, in 20, in, in 21, we saw
that across the country, you know, that was,
uh, heart of the pandemic.
Uh, you, you need to be a psychologist
or a sociologist, not a traffic engineer to explain that.
'cause it was just human behavior. We were all going
through, you know, unprecedented times.
Um, so on the downside of that is we've,
we've gotten past that.
You know, it's similar to national crime trends
where there's a uniformity across the
country that's happening here.
So when you look at an outlier, uh,
a significant outlier like the,
the numbers from East Garfield Park,
that is simply remarkable, you know, uh, to have that 71%,
uh, you know, decline in, in major incidents and injuries.
Um, but if you're gonna take credit for that,
and I'm not suggesting you shouldn't,
you really have to show your math.
You know, you're gonna have to do a much more detailed dive
into the specific driving forces.
It would've been nice to have it in this presentation,
but I know you probably didn't wanna get too sidetracked.
Um, so if you have it, great, you know, share it with us.
If you don't, I would urge you to do it.
Exactly what's different today in East Garfield Park
between 2021 and now, where are the bumpouts?
How many of them, where are the, uh, you know,
raised intersections and signage and signal timings
and pedestrian timers, all that.
Let's take a good close look at that, um, to,
to really show the dramatic impact
that it can have when you have that focused approach
and you're willing to spend some money
on the built environment.
Um, I think that's important. It's a success story.
And if we're gonna repeat it, um, you're gonna have
to push back on some of the, uh, you know, uh, opponents
who are gonna suggest that it's not working
or, you know, it's a, you know, explained away
by other factors, uh, national trends and others.
So, uh, that's my request to you on that.
Um, in a, in a similar vein, uh, what stood out
for me was the remarkable number here that, uh,
residents 65 years
and older are nine times more likely to incur a fatal, uh,
injury as a pedestrian.
Now, some of that's gotta be explained by the fact
that a 65-year-old is, you know, medically more vulnerable
to not recover from blunt force trauma injuries.
But that can't explain such a large deviation
in the data nine times.
There's more going on there.
I'd like to take a deeper dive into that too.
Uh, and, and look at that,
because for one thing, uh, a 65-year-old,
unlike my 9-year-old,
is not gonna be running out in the street
to chase a soccer ball.
You know, uh, they're probably much more likely
to not jaywalk, right?
Uh, at, at that point in your life,
you know, better, I would assume.
And I'm assuming that most of these incidents,
if you look closely at them,
occur at intersections in controlled environments,
whether it's stop signs or traffic lights or whatever.
So what else is going on there?
Is it, is it the, uh, time needed?
You know, a 65-year-old is gonna be moving slower.
So if it takes a, you know, 20-year-old, 20 seconds to cross
that intersection, it's gonna take a
65-year-old, 30 seconds.
That's 10 seconds more
of exposure time when something bad can happen, extrapolate
that across all the incidents
that could be driving some of that data.
But again, it, it puts the burden on us to figure out
what the built solution is.
I have several specific examples in my word that I can think
of where I know I've got a senior population,
a higher than average age in that area,
and there's some intersections that they cross routinely.
I've done a lot to try to make them safer.
I would like to do more.
I'd very much like to incorporate, uh, some,
uh, control devices.
The, the amber LED flashers, uh, at those
nons signaled intersections that can be activated.
You see them in other jurisdictions.
We don't have many in Chicago. There's a few.
Um, but I think they're indicated in some other areas
that don't have them, particularly in my ward.
Um, I put up those center lane signs all the time.
They're not illuminated. They are reflective.
Um, and they get knocked down.
You know, they'll last an average of a week
before somebody runs 'em over.
And I try to replace 'em as fast as I can.
Um, but it's getting frustrated.
And I'm doing it at those intersections.
I'm doing it at intersections
where I know there's a nearby senior population.
They're, they're, you know, uh, high use, uh, crossings.
They're between signaled intersections
where a 65-year-old doesn't wanna go a half a block out
of their way and then a half a
block out of their way, the other way.
They're gonna cross their midblock. So we need help.
Uh, you know, I can't spend menu on something
that isn't on the menu.
And those, those amber, um, uh, intersection, uh,
warning lights, I, I don't think are on menu.
Uh, if they were, I'd be buying more of 'em.
So something like that seems like it's, uh,
it's low hanging fruit, uh, that if, if, uh,
I had the ability to do that, um,
I could help drive down some of these numbers even sooner.
So, uh, take that back to, uh, to the department
and, uh, let, let's talk more about this
because, uh, you know, I, I really wanna partner
and try to reduce, uh, these numbers even further.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
and thank you for a good presentation.
Jens, did you want to respond to those comments?
Sure. And brief. Um, first of all, um, alderman, thank you
for your very, um, um,
robust comments there and thoughtful comments.
Um, please do, we'll connect about those specific locations,
um, because we do wanna work together on
what tools we have in the toolbox.
Um, you're on the right track.
I would say more generally, like
what is going on with older adults?
What is going on with race?
Um, we are probably at the stage where we, we know the trend
and we have to do that deeper work to understand.
Um, you laid it out very clearly, like with traffic safety.
Um, there's an environment, there's behavior,
and then maybe a X factor.
And those x factors, we, we do need to understand better.
Um, so we'll certainly work together on those locations.
Uh, as far as what's going on in East Garfield Park, um,
I do believe it's a combination of factors, right?
The traffic, um, as you say, traffic safety
and other forms of safety tend
to move together nationally and historically.
Um, but we are still sort of seeing a divergence, right?
That the amount that we're, um,
luckily making some progress on traffic safety is maybe
greater than those other things.
Um, so happy to document those more and,
and follow up, say, do you have anything to add?
Thank you.
Derman Lawson, Uh, thank you chair.
Um, and thank you, uh,
deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner.
I think I got that right. Um, I would just wanna echo the,
uh, comments of my colleague, Goldman Hopkins.
'cause I, I agree with a lot of what he is saying, um,
specifically on the piece to show the work, right?
So if we're investing in infrastructure in every ne,
we're doing it in every neighborhood,
and a lot of it's coming out of our menu,
and we'll talk about that in a minute.
Um, it's much easier for us to continue to spend if we know
that near misses have gone down or crashes have gone down
or what, whatever data we have.
And if they go down on my stretch of Halstead,
they may do the same on someone else's.
So, um, that, that's actually very empowering for us.
Um, I have a lot of seniors.
65 is on the young end for most of 'em.
Uh, we're talking about an 80-year-old.
Uh, in a lot of cases they're walking to Mariano's.
And, and I think there's certain corridors
that we should be looking at, like we do schools
and parks, um,
because, uh, there's, there's a, a great need.
I think you have a higher pedestrian population, probably,
certainly in our neighborhoods.
Um, we see that. Um, and they're out of the daytime too.
It's not like they're there during the night.
They don't go out at night and they don't,
they don't go out at rush hour.
So let's have continue that conversation.
Um, the numbers on serious traffic injuries
for bikes and scooters are going up.
It looks like. Um, I know we have a lot
of more people riding certainly e-bikes and scooters.
You should have seen Wrigley last week.
Um, but that number alone, right?
If I'm reading this right, yes.
There, so it was, you know, high, it's where we are
pre COVID and then it went down and now it's crept back up.
I know usage is up,
but that just may be, it may be an asterisk
or it may be, you know, if we've seen three times more
people utilizing the divvy program, may maybe speak to
that if you can.
Yeah. Um, great observation.
That's something that we actually have been talking about
and looking at as well, a couple of points.
One, um, you touched on more people riding scooters.
Riding bikes cannot underscore that enough.
Chicago has seen a greater increase in the number
of people biking than any other large city in the
United States over the last couple of years,
more than double, uh, since pre pandemic.
And we see that from all over the city,
people riding their own bikes for a variety of trips.
But we also see it
through our data collected through the divvy program.
Divvy is continuously breaking its own records in terms
of ridership just had its, I believe August was the,
the highest ridership month in the,
the existence of the system.
So the number of people biking
and getting around on scooters has grown dramatically.
Well, as you mentioned, the number here is, you know,
relatively flat from 2022 compared to 2022.
Um, at the same time, what we see when we look at,
um, traffic fatalities is, uh,
that number going down.
So in 2024 it was four, uh, compared to a series
of three years where it was 10 and 11.
So we're seeing this thing happen
where in tra people outside of the vehicle, that number
of traffic being killed is going down.
And ma that's what is making up for a large share
of the decrease in traffic fatalities,
where when we look at serious injuries,
that number is being driven by the number of people,
people inside of the vehicle.
And that's something that we're digging into right now.
But I think it is telling
and that it is, um, reflective of
successes in the types of crashes that we are reducing
and also speaks to the significance of reckless driving.
And some Alderman Hopkins touched on the
psychology of people.
And, and that issue is a very big issue.
Um, so we want to get more into that.
Um, sure.
So I, I will tell you, um,
Illinois Mason Sonica is in my ward.
Um, they have seen a, a big increase in scooter injury,
typically not involving a vehicle involving a, a,
a tight turn, a pothole.
Um, and,
and I'd be very curious to look specifically at
scooter incidents.
You know, they're, they're, some will be minor,
very few will be life threatening,
but some can also be very
serious 'cause there's no helmet there.
If I may, he's not on the desk right now. Right.
But I, I would recommend, uh, connecting with David Poe,
Da David and I have a great relationship.
I co would imagine that you did.
We actually, Jim and I,
and Alderman O'Shea actually had a meeting on this.
Yeah. And they have just about a dozen
action steps related to scooter safety
Right now. David and I talk
about adding more scooter corrals
around Wrigley every other week.
'cause we cannot, there's
so much micro mobility happening right there.
You know, Wrigley has a bike check that's really well used.
CTA is packed and I'm, I'm, there are thousands
of e-bikes there last week.
We'll see what I bump into today, this afternoon, right?
So we know that demand is there, you know,
and some of that is either it's a driver education piece
or an equipment piece, or our own infrastructure,
because I, I, I know colloquially I'm hearing
that there's a lot more, um, that come into Masonic.
Um, so, uh, I, I will,
I'll be quick with just a couple other things.
Trucks, um, how are we enforcing anything with trucks
outside of a police officer giving a ticket
or a red light or speed camera?
What, what kind of actual enforcement happens if they don't
follow what rules have been set up?
I think you, you hit on it, alderman.
Um, it is at the moment very, um, resource intensive
to right to the way the municipal code is structured
with our truck restrictions.
Um, is there is an allowance
for someone making a legitimate delivery, right?
If there's a, um, business or something, right.
That they're making that last block.
Um, so our, our means are very much
resource intensive right now.
We're trying to do more, as David said, with design that
to indicate right at the beginning
of the entry point to the neighborhood.
Right? You mentioned Halsted might not be a good place
to churn down because the environment
that you're gonna reach some other barrier
and get stuck uh, which we do see that happen.
Um, so we are trying to make it more obvious, um, both
through signage and design.
Um, but the enforcement piece is
very resource intensive. So,
So let's work together on, uh, leading into tech
for enforcement on these trucks.
Um, you know, I'm gonna talk about my
other, our other favorite subject.
This is Lake Shore Drive. We'll get there in a minute.
Um, but right, there's, you know,
a truck is gonna go over the curb
and take out a, uh, a pedestrian
before, you know, they're gonna go out
of their way in a lot of ways, right?
Or they're gonna turn left when they're not supposed to.
Um, so, and, and,
and again, the police aren't,
there are no tickets being written.
Those numbers are gonna be embarrassingly low for us.
Um, and so we've gotta find a, a better way
to have an electronic enforcement on all sorts of things,
but specifically trucks.
Um, which brings me to Lake Shore Drive.
I saw three of them yesterday. Uh, big ones on my way home.
People get stuck. 18 wheelers get stuck under the,
the Irving, uh, park overpass all the time.
Um, and specifically on state roads,
the biggest one being Lake Shore Drive.
I'm very curious what percentage
of the fatal crashes on state roads happen on Sable Lake,
stro Drive, if you can get that number to us, um,
through the chair, because I think it's probably higher than
it should be, because again, you have a place where
speed is unchecked.
Um, fortunately you don't have pedestrians or cyclists, uh,
but that doesn't mean we don't have fatal
crashes that are way too often.
And, and it's part of a broader strategy
where the police are not gonna be writing
tickets for this stuff anymore.
They're like, you know, I've got one that likes to write
for blowing a stop sign near a school, and I love 'em.
Um, but that, I mean, it's an anomaly, right?
And we've gotta find better ways
to enforce this to keep people safe.
'cause for all the design that we do, um, there,
we're still gonna have a lot of bad actors.
Um, so then my, my, my final question, I swear, uh,
chair is who's paying for this, right?
So it's city money that is the most effective,
but there's my menu.
There's arterial resurfacing.
I think there's some other pots of money.
Things come out of, um, you know,
I had a conversation about raised crosswalks
with my two colleagues and who's paying for what, right?
And it's all a little different no matter where you go.
And the timing is different too.
So, um, if you could break that down, right?
So if you're doing an arterial resurfacing,
obviously you're getting a lot more there.
The cost is a lot higher.
If I'm doing a detached bump out without a
resurfacing, that's 10 grand, right?
Um, but I think when we do look specifically at schools
and parks and maybe senior areas that if that can't come out
of menu, probably alone, there could be some
combination there or something.
But right now, at least for me,
I feel like I'm the only one paying for it
unless you guys are doing every resurfacing
or at Greenway, um, real otherwise, right?
It's all outta mind. Um, so I'd be interested to see that
and how we can work more closely together going forward.
Um, are we doing assessments for each school and park?
Because I know we're, we, we're sort of piecemeal 'em
and they're not all the same,
but they all have an own issue.
But is that something I could
say, like, Hey, you guys come out.
I mean, I could do that for a lot of things,
but is there like a team that is specific to schools?
So through our, within our division
of project development at cdot, our Complete Streets team,
our traffic design and traffic studies team,
we're looking very closely at schools.
We'd be happy to meet with you Alderman
and hone in on schools parks, look at the data,
we can isolate that and really figure out, you know,
a strategy over the coming several years of how to invest
whatever res all the resources we have,
whether it's city funding, right menu, uh,
you know, resurfacing, all of that.
Um, that is something that we, we do do,
and we would be more than happy
to partner with you on it. Well,
In some places it's a, it's an easy fix, right?
It's a couple bump outs and some signage and others.
I know we're doing some stuff at net nettle, metal
Horse's always gonna be a top top for me, Broadway.
But that's something that we would very much.
But even though there's, like, I've got one near the
ballpark, um, they have started putting just cones in the
intersection, just sort of bump to do their own bump out.
And that visibility makes a difference.
Um, you know, making some things like that more permanent,
you know, again, some of it's very quick and easy fixes.
Some of it is, you know, we're changing the direction
of the street, you know, or, or, or removing parking
or adding, you know, more infrastructure.
So, um, let's keep talking about it
and let's, let's keep selling this so that we can see more
of this in our neighborhoods year after year.
Okay. Thank you all. Thank you, chair. Thank
You, sir. Uh,
moving to Alderman Yancy.
Is it afternoon yet? Good morning, everyone.
Uh, thank you for this, uh, timely presentation.
Um, I'd like to speak to some work
that CDO did along 71st Street, uh,
as a traffic calming measure, which was, uh, uh,
which we're hoping helps resolve some
of those longstanding issues along 71st Street.
So thanks for that. Uh,
I just wanna talk a little bit about, uh,
lake Shore Drive on the south end too.
So we get a ton of calls into the office, um, especially
from about 71st
and South Shore Drive up until it, uh, connects
with Lake Shore, or do the Lake Shore
Drive at about Marquette.
And I know that there's, you know, the challenge with
that being a state road,
and we've also got parks along that side as well.
So I was wondering if you can help, um, think through
what a solution would be to prevent, you know, the,
you guys talked about speeding and such,
but that's a stretch of, uh, 41 that still has stoplights,
and we have people who run those on a regular basis as well.
Um, good morning, Alman. Absolutely.
Well, happy to follow up with you.
Um, you know, as David was saying, the, the challenges
with our big arterial streets is we're trying to find
that fine balance of, um, vehicular movement
and providing mobility options while at the same time, um,
if everyone followed the rules,
we have a easier time, right?
So implementing those, uh, design solutions that, uh,
allow our transportation system
to move while at the same time we don't want
to create any undue harm.
So, uh, we'll follow up with your office for
that, I'm sure. Yeah.
I get the sense that this is gonna,
something like this would require, of course,
the coordination of this state, um, to make this happen.
And do you have any, um,
What's the word I'm looking for?
Can you offer some hope, right? Mm-hmm.
That this won't be a particularly difficult process.
And I'm thinking of, you know, we've got
Obama Presidential Center coming on board next summer,
and we've got all this work that is happening just south
of me related to the Quantum
Project and the Advocate Project.
So we're expecting a significant increase in traffic coming
that way, and I'm just hoping
that we can figure out something, um, uh,
that meets all the needs that we need to meet, uh, to meet,
but more importantly, provide safety for pedestrians.
Uh,
Thank you.
I appreciate that tremendously. Uh, old woman man.
Haworth.
Thank you, chair. Thank you for being here, Dave,
and Big, um, first I wanna,
I wanna say that I appreciate that bike maps that you, um,
provide to our office.
It's maybe the number one thing that,
that leaves when people come in.
Um, and also
because of my awareness of the ability for me to move
around the city more on a bike, I, I felt enough courage
to, to travel from Edgewater to Garfield Park Conservatory,
which was a really, I thought, a, a pleasant ride.
You know, if you take Lake Shore Drive
and, you know, ignore the scariness between Lake Shore Drive
and Michigan Avenue on Randolph,
and then head to Lake Street
and then go straight, um, it was, it was really pleasant.
And I, and I had a lovely day there.
Um, also wanna appreciate the new speed humps.
Um, and I, I ride from City Hall to, um,
to south to the lakefront, um, going north
and the saw new soil speed humps are
so much better than the one, the old ones
that we have in Edgewater, which are very jarring.
And if you had, um, groceries that would be really hard
to handle or, or a child on your bike.
So I appreciate that.
Um, I, I, uh, also wanna thank you for all the
improvements that we've seen in Edgewater, including the
Berwyn Greenway, which is not quite done,
but we wanna connect it, um, further west to,
to the lakefront and the improvement
that we've seen on Sheridan Road has been appreciated
by both pedestrians and, and cyclists.
And also the, the new Greenway project
that we saw saw from Kedzie
to the lakefront across three wards.
Um, it was really astounding to see the, the packs
of people of walking
and riding their bike on Grandville.
Um, not necessarily together, but
because there were so many of them, it, there, there were,
um, it was noticeable.
Um, I wanted to say also that, um,
I'm also concerned about the number of scooters and e-bikes.
Uh, I want to say that, um, we have a very dense ward, too,
similar to Alder Lawson
and Hopkins, especially around Sheridan Road.
So our concentration of,
of older adults is, is on Sheridan Road.
And we're working, I know closely with you
to figure outweighs to divert bikes off of their,
to safer pathways.
Um, and I, and I know that divvy is a part of cdot, right?
So can you, can you explain to me what is,
what is Div's responsibility in helping to educate new,
um, new users on the road who are not necessarily,
um, old enough to drive a car,
but they do use these EE devices?
So can you explain a little bit
how, how, how does that work?
What's our responsibility there?
Sure. Thank you. Good morning, AWO.
Um, in particular with scooters,
as the chairman was mentioning, we have, um,
looking at this very deeply, um, within the scooters,
there's the privately operated by scooters that people buy
and own and, um, use themselves.
And then the ones, uh, part of the lime,
which is the city's licensing program,
and then the ones which are part of Divvy, which is the, um,
city's, uh, partnership through Lyft
to operate micro mobility system.
Um, I've done a lot of work recently in, in,
in shrinking the rules around scooters, uh,
for the licensing program, particularly
around sidewalk riding detection.
Um, because we know that, uh, that the
scooters on the sidewalk creates conflicts was pedestrians.
Uh, so there we've, um, promulgated new rules that came
as effective earlier this year, uh, that the scooter,
you know, has to make a beeping noise and slow down
and do really active things, um,
when the riding behavior is not matching
what the intended behavior is.
Um, that's being rolled out through this fall with,
through the, um, scooter partners.
And, you know, we, we hope
that's gonna make a meaningful difference by giving,
using the technology to give some feedback in real time.
Um, because, you know, with education, there's
education you can do sort of upstream,
but if you can intervene right when you know a behavior is
happening that, and give that encouragement
of this is not the right way to use the scooter, uh,
it can be a lot more effective.
Okay. Yeah. I, I would like to
have more conversations about it
because, um, I, I, I see the, um,
this 20 24, 24 crashes by street jurisdiction.
And though, you know, we have
fatal crashes at 46%, we have 71% KSI crashes.
And as a physical therapist,
you know, you don't know what that means.
Um, uh, it wasn't serious enough to have a death,
but, you know, where is that injury from head to toe?
You don't know. And when we're talking about really young
kids, um, whose responsibility is that and
after an injury is their record, um,
these are things that I, I would like
to understand a little bit more.
They don't have a license, so
how do you hold these riders accountable,
especially when they're young, um,
and also impacting the older adults that use our sidewalks.
Um, I also wanted to thank you.
Um, I'm, I'm glad to have a news speed camera on Broadway.
We were the number two in the city of, of the,
of the cameras on Broadway, right by the Broadway Armory,
right by Swift School, right by Sun School.
And, um, really astounding numbers, you know,
within the first 30 days.
Um, but my, my choice is not to have to charge people
to use our public roads.
We just want them to use it responsibly.
And so wondering, you know, I'm glad
that we're getting three new refuge islands a little further
north of that, that took a long time to get,
because I understand, um, the relationship with idot, the,
these conversations have been really, um, deeply ongoing
because of, of turning and trucks on and on.
Um, but how is it that we can
take that information?
And also, again, my choice is not to have to charge people
for using our, our roads.
Is there a way to make Broadway, which is very wide,
but right in front of the Armory, uh, what kind
of other traffic calming measures are available
right there as an example?
Because once again, I, I don't wanna have to charge people,
but if they're not, how can we help them
pay attention better?
Sure. Um, yeah, thanks Alderwoman.
Um, on Broadway, you know, you take a look at the street,
and I think it speaks to some of the stats
that we had in the presentations.
It's a wide road. It's multiple lanes in each direction.
Um, and when we have those streets,
what we see is a higher likelihood of people speeding
and a higher likelihood
of people being killed on the street.
And so, in addition
to things like pedestrian refuge islands on Broadway, um,
we'd be more than happy to work with you work
with our partners at the state,
but on other segments of Broadway to the south
that are city jurisdiction, we've reconfigured the roadway
so that it's not multiple lanes in each direction.
There's pedestrian curb extensions,
there's protected bike lanes.
And that has had a really, when we do that, you know,
you look at some of the stats from these project highlights,
you know, on Halstead Street
and others, 60% reduction in speeding,
70% reduction in speeding.
Where we've had, we have, uh, locations where
we have an overlap between a Complete Streets project
and an automated enforcement camera.
And we're seeing the number
of people speeding go down significantly
when we change the infrastructure.
So, uh, it's complicated on Broadway given the jurisdiction,
but I think it is promising where things are at, uh,
with idot, and that's something we'd be happy to, you know,
continue to work with you on, to expand
that infrastructure on Broadway.
I think there are, uh, there are definitely things
that we can do that will have an impact on reducing speeds,
making it easier to cross the street
and making the street just a more enjoyable place to be on.
Thanks, Dave. I I appreciate that.
You know, um, just a block north of there, we had an,
an older gentleman who was just trying to get
to the library, and there was a hit and run there.
And then just to the south of there, we had Sophia
who was killed on Broadway, um, south of Foster.
And because of that, we, we made changes,
but we don't wanna have to have somebody die
or have the serious injury before we make changes,
and we don't wanna have to charge people
to use our public ways.
So, um, I'd like to continue working with you on that.
Um, I guess the, just one, one more thing, I,
I also appreciate you coming to the ward.
That means a lot to me to speak directly to my constituents
who have real concerns about how, how, how we're getting
around and how we're keeping each other
safe, uh, through infrastructure.
Um, but one of the things that came up, um, is how,
what's the strategy to keep
people safe at intersections
because of turning either left turns or right turns?
Is it, um, like how do you decide what to do
and when do you implement these changes?
Again, I hope it's not because somebody dies.
Um, we, we want all of our intersections to be safe,
but what is it that we can do for most, um, hot,
our hotspot intersections in terms
of protecting pedestrians when drivers are turning left?
I think there's a real benefit in
having our intersections in our streets
speak a common language to everybody
and to look very similar.
And so I think it really comes down
to implementing the things that we know are working,
and that is bumping out the corners to physically slow down,
turning motorists,
and to improve the visibility of pedestrians.
Um, things like, um, looking at the lane designations,
there's a lot of intersections where the number
of lanes differs then at
that intersection than it does at the middle of the block.
Hmm. So really assessing and,
and recapturing that space,
making the street more consistent so that when you get
to an intersection, it doesn't just widen out
and create all this more space, but taking back that space
and allocating it to those who are outside of the vehicle
or to, to vulnerable users.
Um, so we're doing this.
We don't wanna wait till a crash happens.
Um, we're doing this very consistently throughout, uh,
throughout projects.
We look at a program that we created a couple years ago
that we call left turn traffic calming.
We now have this, this was a pilot program, gets into some
of the rapid delivery to permanent.
We've now done this at well over a hundred
intersections in the last couple years.
What we've seen across the board is a 25% reduction in
traffic crashes when we do this.
And that's very consistent.
So there are things that we, the things that we are doing,
they're working and we really need to
continue the partnership with city Council, with communities
to deliver at scale.
And we're doing that through programs
and processes, making sure that all
of our programs are doing these types of improvements.
So I think the, the thing that we need to work on together,
uh, between CDOT and the council is how do we continue that
and how do we accelerate it even more?
To vi's point, we, this has to be a systematic set
of improvements so that it's not just,
we're not just chasing down one intersection at a time,
but we're really looking at entire corridors so
that our intersections speak a common language.
And that common language is, you know,
safety and accessibility.
If you go to, if you just Google Chicago Vision Zero, like
that phrase at all of this work pops up
and they have a whole section on that left turn,
left turn calming efforts.
They really work. The one at the work you guys did at
Division Airland and Milwaukee has been fantastic.
Great. Um,
and then I, I have a question about
intersection scrambles.
Do you, do you understand what I'm saying here?
I'm, I'm envisioning Bryn Mawr and Broadway, um, and,
and Ridge, and people want to know, is that like, what,
what's the, how, how do you become a candidate to have a,
a pedestrian scramble at any intersection?
Do we have one of those in Chicago?
We have one. Uh,
Uh, sure. I can
speak to this briefly.
Um, we, we have one at Jackson and State.
Um, I think the pedestrian scramble is one
of the tools we have in the toolbox, um,
but also, uh, has to be applied very judiciously
to make sure we are achieving our goals related to, um,
improving pedestrian movement, improving safety.
Um, the like basic challenge
with signal timing is, is there's one pie of time
and it's how do we slice the pie, uh,
because, you know, there's only 3,600 seconds in one hour,
and we're trying to allocate, especially at the complex, um,
Ridge Broadway, um, Bryn Mawr or Damon Milwaukee North.
How do you allocate time in the most, um, in the way
that most reflects our values?
So the scramble has certain use cases, um,
that we would be happy to work on a case by case basis
to really look like what are the movement patterns,
which legs are people trying to cross?
And, um, you know, what are the, the, the tradeoffs really,
because with all these things, as Dave mentioned,
it really is about tradeoffs.
Um, but finding the ones, the tradeoffs that most align
with our values is, is the key.
So, um, I'd recommend we work with your office, uh,
chairman, I know you have an interest in this as well,
to really evaluate it and,
and give you guys the best information possible
on pros and cons.
Yeah, I, I, I am not sure I,
what I, what I wanna say is I'm glad
that the city is prioritizing, um, all ways to get around.
Um, uh, I have a car, I have a bike, I like to walk.
Um, and, and we have to have a balanced approach
and we have to prioritize those
that are the most vulnerable, including, um, people
who are using assisted devices or visually impaired.
And, um, so, so what I, again, how,
how are we living in our values in terms of infrastructure,
um, and the changes that we're making at our intersections,
especially, I'd like to continue that conversation with you.
Okay. Thank you, chair. Thanks Dave. Thanks Vic.
You so very welcome. Last call. Last call.
Okay. Uh, with there being no further business
before the committee, alderwoman,
Mina Hop Penworth moves to adjourn.
All those in favor signify by saying aye a. Love it.
We are adjourned. Thank you all.