Okay. Good afternoon. The meeting of the Committee on Pedestrian
and Traffic Safety is now called to order for April 7th,
2026. We will now have a roll call to establish
quorum. Chairman Lasparra?
Here. Vice
Chair Cruz? Here. Alderman Hopkins?
Alderman Robinson?
Alderman Yancy?
Alderman Chico?
Here.
Alderman Quinn?
Alderman Moore?
Alderman Curtis?
Alderman Burnett?
Alderman Irvin?
Alderman Knudsen?
Alderman Lawson?
Alderman Martin?
Alderwoman Mana Happenworth?
All right.
Alders Hopkins, Yancy, Moore, and Irvin.
I'm sorry. Do we have any
non-members present? No. There are eight members
present. We have quorum. Alders Hopkins, Yancy,
Moore, and Irvin have requested to participate in the meeting remotely
pursuant to Rule 59.
Alderman Hopkins, are you online?
Alderman Yancy?
Good afternoon, Vice Chair.
Alderman Moore?
Alderman Irvin?
Good afternoon. I am here.
Was that Irvin?
Irvin. Okay. Thank you, Chairman. Yeah, Irvin. Yes.
Can I have a motion to allow Alders Yancy and Irvin to
participate remotely?
Alderperson Mana Happenworth so moves.
All those in favor say "Yay."
All those opposed say "Nay." In the opinion of the chairs, the aye have
it. Aldermen Yancy and Irvin present here today via
video conference and will be counted quarterly for the roll call.
At this time, we will begin public comment period.
Out of respect for everyone's time, each speaker is limited
to three minutes. Speakers, in accordance with Rule 58
of the City Council Rules of the Order, please refrain from
profane language, obscene conduct, and disruptive
comments. So our first speaker is...
And I'm going to call them by three so you can know and line up.
We have Brendan, Jim, and Neil. Those are our first
three speakers.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Brendan Igleheart, and I'm a constituent of
Alderman Burnett's. Until a couple of months ago, I was a constituent of Alderman
Villegas's, and still own property in his ward.
In my previous residence in Villegas's ward, I lived on
Grand at Grand & Wood, which is right near the Output Bar in that area.
So I'm speaking as a resident directly affected by the Grand Avenue Safe Streets
project that is planned to continue
soon. So I guess I'd like to start by saying I strongly support that project as a
constituent of these two aldermen, as currently written, participated in a number
of the public meetings on that project a few years ago, and have been active in
engagement with the neighborhood as we get closer to the completion of the strip
where I was living. So I guess speaking from my lived experience as a
resident there, I'll give you some perspective on why that project is very
important to me.
So at our residence there on Grand, our primary bedroom was on Grand Avenue,
and as the weather gets warmer like it is now, except for today,
reckless driving becomes even more noticeable in that area, and people essentially
treat Grand Avenue like a highway.
So the street design, as it currently stands, allows and encourages
speeding and reckless driving, and in my experience, there were times of the
day and evening where the majority, so greater than 50% of people,
would be speeding or driving recklessly down that stretch of Grand Avenue.
The problem, though, is year-round, but it's especially noticeable in warmer months
when more people are outside. So in terms of impact to my family
directly,
because of the street noise and driving, we would have to sleep with earplugs every
night. We used a very powerful white noise machine, and also ultimately bought
noise-canceling curtains, which fun fact, are something that you can buy, in order
to allow us to get some semblance of a good night's sleep while living on that
stretch, and it was a constant quality-of-life
issueThe other thing I'd like to address in my testimony
is that there is currently no safe route from that area to the downtown and
lakefront area. So my family owns a car, but we also use biking as
a primary mode of transportation around the city of Chicago.
And in current state, if you're trying to get downtown from that stretch of Grand,
you can either cross at Ashland on Grand, where there is a stoplight, but there is
no bike lanes in current state. And so you're basically on
a very busy stretch of Grand trying to cross Ashland safely to get to where you
need to go. The other alternative is to take Hubbard, and that's something that
I've heard in a lot of meetings is a good alternative for people trying to get
downtown. But if you have ever tried to cross Hubbard on Ashland,
it's incredibly unsafe, and even as an experienced biker in the city of Chicago,
one wrong move and I would be dead. And my understanding is that there's been a
number of serious accidents that have occurred in that area because of the current
infrastructure.
I know I'm winding down my time here, so I guess just overall, again, strongly in
support of the plan as written, as a constituent of both Alderman Burnett and
Alderman Villegas, and I really hope to see that project come to fruition for
my family and other families in Chicago. Thank you.
Thank you, Brandon.
Thank you, Vice Chair Cruz and members of the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety
Committee. My name is Jim Merrill.
I am the managing director of advocacy at Active Transportation Alliance.
Over the weekend, there was a fatal hit-and-run crash in
Chicago Lawn in the 14th Ward. An 18-year-old man,
Damien Gomez, making a delivery by bicycle, was killed when a driver
ran a red light. A 22-year-old passenger in the vehicle was
also critically injured.
The driver fled on foot after the incident.
Sadly, hit-and-run crashes are all too common in our city.
42% of all fatal crashes in 2023 were
hit-and-runs, according to the latest data from CDOT.
It's a topic worthy of the attention of this committee.
Whenever a person walking or biking is killed in a crash, Active Transportation
Alliance reaches out to aldermanic offices to offer our support for
addressing underlying causes of crashes,
which we know is largely unsafe roadway design.
Often,
this outreach receives no response.
So I'd like to reiterate the invitation to work with us to create safe streets for
all roadway users across our entire city.
This isn't some mystery. We know what is causing serious injuries and
fatalities on our roadways. Travel lanes that are too
wide and encourage speeding, lack of pedestrian refuge islands or
protected bike lanes. These are all things we know how to fix.
And it's happening right now on Archer Avenue, Grand Avenue, and the Portage
Park neighborhood, among other places.
And I want to thank the alders supporting these important projects.
Excessive speed is the number one cause of fatal crashes.
Narrowing travel lanes and eliminating unnecessary lanes
naturally encourages drivers to slow down
to safer speeds without having to rely on enforcement.
This approach has the added benefit of creating more room on the roadway for
things like pedestrian refuge islands and protected bike lanes, which
CDOT's data have shown will save lives.
I know this committee has heard concerns from drivers about these kinds of
changes, but by slowing down car traffic, we greatly reduce the likelihood of
serious injuries and fatalities like the ones we saw this past weekend.
And we can do it without seriously impacting the time it takes to get around by
car. Drivers racing between red lights only endanger themselves
and others. A calmer, more orderly roadway can be just
as efficient at moving traffic while improving safety and quality of life for all
residents. Thank you for your time, and I hope we can work together to make
Chicago safer for everyone on our roads.
Thank you, Jim, for the work you do.
Neil?
And then after Neil, we're going to have Sam,
Martha, and Nikki.
Hello, my name is Neil Markland. I'm a resident of the First Ward.
I live near the Western Blue Line stop.
But I want to come out today, just voice my support for the Grand
Street Complete Streets project.
Right now, it's
pretty hard to get over there to that area of Grand Avenue.
I've been to Uncle Mike's Filipino restaurant, and
then also the Center of Order and Experimentation across the street,
as well as Publican and Output. Yeah, so those
businesses are great and I like visiting them, but it is very difficult to get over
there.
From where I am, the easiest way to get there is by bike, and I can take the
Wood Street Greenway, which is more of a north-south route to Grand Street.
But as far as the east-west route to get on Grand Street, there's none that
exists right now.
And yeah, if I was coming from downtown or anything like that, I wouldn't even know
how to get to that part of
Chicago because there's not really any safe routes, as Brendan mentioned,
with Hubbard not having stoplights, and then Kinzie kind of
dies right before Ashland. So,
yeah, putting those bike lanes on Grand Street will help others discover
other businesses along Grand Street.
If you notice, the four businesses I was talking about, they're all on one block
between Damen and
I think Wood Street, I forgot. But basically, I went to Uncle Mike's, and I was
walking around Uncle Mike's, and that's how I discovered those other businesses.
But if I wanted to go discover other businesses further down Grand,
closer to downtown, I've heard there's a lot of pizza places opening
around there, but I have no idea because I can't get over there safely.
So yeah, this is very important that these projects
get support and get built so that more people can discover them
and have safer options to get to these businesses.
And I know there's some talk about
parking and stuff like that, but not many Chicagoans own
car--A lot of Chicagoans I do know, they don't really own cars.
They use transit mostly and biking.
And those that do use cars, they still have to deal with the parking and all that
stuff. So this would make it easier for people with those
limited options to get to these businesses and
support local businesses. So,
I'm just going to say again, I'm really happy about the Grand Street project,
and I hope more of them get built around the city.
Okay. Thank you for your comments.
Before we
keep going, we're noting Alderman Hopkins and Alderman Curtis
for quorum.
And then our next speaker is Sam.
Hi, my name is Sam Kovnar. I live in the First Ward.
I wanted to talk a little bit about the planned protected bike lanes on Grand.
I know the project is moving along,
and I know we've been also hearing a lot from a small vocal minority
of non-residents who are opposed to the project.
So I wanted to provide some perspective as someone who lives in the community and
who bikes. And for context, I live on Augusta Boulevard,
near the western end of the protected bike lanes installed a couple of years ago.
I ride my bike almost every day, even in the winter.
Just not because I love biking, but it's just the most convenient way to take care
of daily errands around where I live in Ukrainian Village.
I was born and raised in the Midwest, and as they say, there's no bad weather, only
bad clothing. The primary obstacle to my riding is not the cold or the
snow, it is safety. And the bike lanes on Augusta make a lot of my routes
possible. When you combine the quiet neighborhood streets of West Town with the
strong backbone of protected bike infrastructure, you really open up the
neighborhood to people getting around on their own two wheels.
And of course, without a bike, I would be another car clogging up the teeny tiny
Mariano's parking lot or struggling to find a parking spot on Milwaukee Avenue.
Like Grand, there was much controversy when the bike lanes were installed.
Now, however, they are a key part of the fabric of the neighborhood.
Every day while walking my dog, I see delivery workers on delivery bikes, parents
with their kids on cargo bikes, and commuters on e-scooters and road bikes.
The first phase of the Grand Avenue project was built
through a mostly unactivated corridor.
A lot of it is used by Metra's rail yard, and despite that, CDOT's
own data supports that phase one is already outperforming expectations.
Within the area covered by the first phase, there were on average, before the
project, four severe crashes per year.
Since the installation of the first phase two years ago, there have been zero.
There's been a 13% decrease in traffic injuries across all modes since project
installation, including cars,
and there's been a 52% increase in bike ridership
along Grand from the summer of installation to 2025.
In comparison to the adjoining segment, to the plan
phase two area,
the phase one area has 1.7 times fewer injuries, 3.3
times fewer pedestrian injuries,
compared to the next segment of the project that'll be hopefully completed
within the next year.
Phase two of the project has the potential to be even more impactful for reducing
speeds and opening up Grand Avenue for pedestrians and cyclists.
I'm really looking forward to what phase two of this project will do for mobility
and safety in the area, and I'm looking forward to biking safely along Grand in the
future. Thank you.
Thank you, Neil, for your comments.
Noting Alderman Moore present for quorum, and our next speaker
is Martha.
Hello, my name is Martha Vitalens.
I'm a resident of the 27th Ward and have been for three years.
With some redistricting, I've been in various wards in the area for seven
years prior to that. I'm also a full-time cyclist for
season. I also used to work for a micro-mobility company, but represent myself.
I have also biked 100% of the streets in West
Town and so have a vested interest in the safety of those streets
by having experience on all of them.
I cycle everywhere that I go. I don't drive a car anymore.
Most of my friends also don't drive a car.
Grand Avenue has the potential to be such an
important stretch for every type of modality, and currently it really is
set up for cars, and I don't believe that it's even set up safely for cars in its
current state. We've seen various improvements to both Chicago
Avenue, with the bike bus lane, as well as Augusta, with the protected
bike lanes, and I believe that Grand Avenue has similar potential.
I think that adding protected bike lanes specifically will help to make
it safer for pedestrians, cyclists, residents, and drivers.
There will be more of an indication of where cyclists are supposed to be, which is
currently a challenge. With the state of the streets on Grand Avenue, it's also
incredibly dangerous to ride a bike down that stretch anyway, so
looking forward to general safety improvements on that stretch.
And then additionally, even though Grand is such a major thoroughfare
that connects you to so many areas of downtown, to West Town and Humboldt Park,
because the speeds are so high from vehicles,
I tend to avoid it, and that also leads to avoiding local businesses on that
stretch, of which there are many that I haven't explored at all.
There have been a handful that I'll sometimes walk to.
Having lived in the area and seen how the improvements on Chicago Avenue and
Augusta specifically have impacted my ability to get further west as
well as to downtown, I believe that Grand Avenue can be greatly improved with
the Complete Streets project, and specifically the protected
bike lanes. Thank you all so much for your time.
Thank you for your comments. Next is Nikki, but before we go to
Nikki, I want to note Alderman Robinson present for quorum.
I want to say 100% attendance, you all.
All right.
And next is Nikki.
Hi, my name is Mickey with an M, Mickey Ortiz, and I am a
third-generation resident on Grand Avenue in the 27th Ward.
I represent that-
"Supposed" local minority
opposed to the bike lanes. Rather than take time from the
obvious that protected bike lanes do not belong on Grand Avenue because you
are eliminating our parking and hurting our businesses,
I am calling out the mayor and his lack of transparency across the city in
relation to this project. We want the mayor to stop this and meet with the
constituents. A meeting took place three years ago,
but construction didn't begin three years ago.
Since then, we have had a speed camera, a bike path on Hubbard, new
residents,
and businesses closed.
Grand Avenue is the main artery to Navy Pier, and soon, the
main artery to the casino.
What has been failed to mention is the congestion created when United Center
releases its patrons.
Approximately 20,000 people pour into our streets after
a sold-out event.
Ogden gets backed up to the Kennedy, and Damen is used to connect to
Grand, Ogden, then Kennedy.
We want a CDOT survey like Portage Park received.
From Jefferson Park to Bronzeville, we want Johnson, Laspada,
and CDOT to meet with the constituents. Thank you.
Thank you, Mickey.
Next speaker is George Blakemore.
These streets
are not designed for cyclists.
Oh, in Europe,
the streets are wide. They were designed for
cyclists,
Amsterdam and England and all over in Europe.
But this is America,
and these streets, you can't make it happen.
It's not safe.
And it's
terrible. You bullies are bullying the people,
the cyclists.
And you put cement here, and you can't
park.
And it's a health hazard.
It's the transportation. It's just terrible.
These streets was not built for
cyclists. Now, if all you yuppies
want it to be Europe, this is not Europe.
And we have bike trails for you on the lake.
Keep your a off the streets.
You have created havoc, the cyclists,
and the people are outraged
about what's happening here.
Outraged.
But I want to thank you all for being on time today.
But the people are not here to protest.
And it doesn't save lives. It creates death.
It's a death trap. It's not economic.
The business people, people don't park.
And right up here on the Gold Coast,
I think this is Clark or Dearborn, one of those streets,
they have these cyclists, and you look
around and there's no parking.
And
business is the lifeblood of the city.
And when you
interfere with business, you are not tending
to your biz.
So this is why it's very important for a mayor, Mr.
Blakemore Calvin, to come to these meetings,
to speak out against this insane
mess that you have with these cyclists.
So you want to be a little yuppie, go to Europe.
We have trails for you.
Stay off of these thoroughways. You're creating
havoc.
And now I'm ringing my bell.
I'm exposing it.
Ring your bell. Ring your
bell. That means
I'm doing what I have to do. So thank you.
Thank you for your comment, Mr. Blakemore.
All right, this concludes the public comment period.
Before we continue, I want to express my heartfelt
condolences to Damien Gomez family, a
young bicyclist that was hit and killed this past weekend.
Now we will continue with our agenda.
Our first order of business is the Rule 45 report for
March. We will send out via email and distribute to the committee members.
Can I have a motion to approve the March Rule 45 report?
Alderperson Martin so moves. All those in favor passing the report say
yay.
All those opposed say nay. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes
have it. We're going to
go out of order to begin with the direct introduction ordinance on
page two. Can I have a motion to recommend the
approval of all direct introduction ordinances on page
two, by the same roll call vote that was applied to
determine quorum?
Alderperson Knutson so moves. Hearing no objections, so order.
Let us turn to page three through
16 for the recommended portion of the agenda.
Can I have a motion to recommend approval of all recommended
items on pages three through 16, by the
same roll call vote that was applied to determine quorum?
Alderperson Lawson so moves. Hearing no objections, so
order.We will now turn to pages 17 through
20 for the no recommendation portion of the agenda,
which are items that have received no recommendation from city
departments. These ordinances were submitted as
overrides and are on the agenda at the request of the
alderperson, or do not require departmental approval.
For item eight on page 20, we receive a
substitute ordinance that makes a change to the language per
CDOT's recommendation. The substitute was
emailed and distributed today. Can I have a motion to accept the
substitute ordinance?
Alderperson Martin so moves. Hearing no objections, so order.
Items two and six on page 20 will be
held in committee.
Can I have a motion to recommend approval of all no
recommendation items on pages 17
through 20, with the exception of items two and
six on page 20, and including previously accepted
substitute, but the same roll call vote as was applied to determine
quorum?
Alderperson Martin so moves. Hearing no objection, so order.
Returning now, we're going back now to page one.
We will now have a subject matter hearing on the
closure of Austin Avenue pedestrian bridge in the
45th Ward, pursuant to Alderman Hopkins' ordinance
02025-0021022,
and municipal section
2-102-110.
We have Arsalan Khan, assistant chief engineer with
CDOT here to present.
Go ahead,
CDOT.
Hello, everyone. My name is Arsalan Khan.
I'm the-
Hold your mic up.
Is it on? Can everybody hear me?
Yeah. Now we can hear you.
Hello, everyone. My name is Arsalan Khan.
I am the chief bridge engineer at CDOT since January of last year,
and I'm here to present about the temporary closure for
repairs for the Austin Avenue ped bridge.
Give me one second. Do we have a presentation for this matter?
Yes, it's in my screen here.
Okay, there we go.
Okay.
Perfect.
There we go.
So yeah, this is about the Austin Avenue ped bridge repairs.
With this, I'll just share in shortly a project map,
some project information, impacts to the public, and project duration,
and our congestion mitigation plan.
So this is located
just north of Austin over the Kennedy and the CTA
tracks.
Sorry. Let's see.
The scope of work here is just to fix a
bearing and
fix the center diaphragm and the deck right over
that center pier. And as you can see, this center pier is in the
middle of the CTA tracks,
so that will require a lot of CTA coordination, and all the work
will have to be done at night in order not to impact CTA service.
Impacts to traffic. The bridge will be continuously closed for approximately
two months,
starting in mid-May.
The pedestrians will be detoured along northbound
Avondale to Nagle to Bryn Mawr to Northwest Highway, and then
southbound Northwest Highway, Bryn Mawr, Nagle
to Avondale. And in the next slide, I will provide the
detour map.
The vehicular traffic impact. The only vehicle impact will
be nightly single lane closures in the
Kennedy. Temporary single lane closures at night on the Kennedy.
This is a layout of the pedestrian detour.
And with that, I'll conclude my presentation and
look for any questions.
You said this project begins mid-May?
Mid to late May, depending on when we can get CTA permits.
Okay. Are there any questions regarding this closure?
Alderman Hopkins?
Can you discuss both the communication
effort for impacted pedestrians, primarily,
for notification purposes, and also the
signage for the pedestrian detour?
What does the signage program look like right now?
When the project starts, when the closure happens, we'll add some signage for the
pedestrian detour. And in terms of the communication efforts, we have reached out
to the wards and to Metra and other
affected folks with this.
Once we have an exact date, we will reach out again with that exact date of when
that closure will be.
Okay. For the signage, because the sign shop is backed
up, as we all know, will
we be able to use existing detour signage for way-finding
purposes? And also because relative complexity and
length of the pedestrian detour, I would suggest at either end,
you have something similar to that graphic so people
know what the entirety of the detour route is, so they don't have to just
go from arrow to arrow to arrow in their mind as they set out,
especially for the first time, they're going to have to do this detour.
You want them to have some concept of what the length of the
detour is, and that would have to be something printed by the sign shop.
Obviously, if we can recycle some, fine, but that's going to have to be printed.
So,
has any order been placed, or what does the timeframe look like,
given the backlog in both staff and materials in the sign shop?
I will confirm, but I believe we're letting this project through a contractor, so
the contractor, we can have any signs fabricated through that contract.
But I will confirm and let you know through the chair.
Okay. And then also for the single lane closure overnight, we're experiencing that
already with bridge work, vehicle bridges on the Kennedy, so this is going to
add to that.
Is there any effort to coordinate with IDOT and their current ongoing
bridge work for the Kennedy? And do you have a general
idea of what the timeframe would be, not so much for the shoulder closure, but for
the lane closure? That'll have a specific impact in
both directions of the Kennedy, I'm assuming.
And will you be doing single lane closures on both inbound and
outbound traffic at the same time, or will that be alternating back and forth?
I will have to confirm that with the plan details and the project manager.
I will get back to you on that, Chair.
Okay. You get back to the chair with that inquiry.
Yeah.
Okay, that's all I have, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Thank you. Other questions? Alderman Curtis?
Thank you, Chair. I have a question.
I understand you only been in that
position about maybe almost a year now, right?
Year and change, yes.
Is there
anything being put in place so we don't run in the same situation
with the bridges, with all of them closing at the exact same
time?
Even if the public and city council would know
at least a year ahead of time for each bridge.
I can speak to that. Bill Higgins, Assistant Commissioner at CDOT.
Yes, part of the reason we're here today presenting is
due to the ordinance that was passed to require this kind of presentation.
This first few months of that, we'll be doing spot
presentations like this as things come up.
In the future, we're planning on doing a year
comprehensive presentation showing all the projects that we're going
to be looking at for the whole year, so that there's plenty of ample notice
about that. But in the meantime, we'll be presenting
piecemeal as we're rolling into this new requirement, and
coordinating with the wards on an individual basis when there's any impacts.
Thank you.
Thank you, Alderman Curtis. Any other questions?
When are you expecting to be done with this project?
I think you mentioned it, but what
is the worst case scenario?
I think two months is our worst case estimate.
It is two months?
Yes.
Okay. All right. Perfect. And we look forward to the information regarding the lane
closure so that we can share with the rest of the members.
Yep.
Okay, perfect. All right. We will report these items out next
quarterly meeting, scheduled by City Council meeting.
So, I want to say thank you to CDOT for being here.
With there now being no further business before the committee, can I have a motion
to adjourn?
Alderman Hopkins so moves. All those in favor say aye.
We are adjourned. Thank you all.
Thank you.
Appreciate
it.