With multiple police abuse scandals and an impending potential teachers’ strike, this has turned out to be a kidney stone of a year for Mayor Emanuel. But the silver lining of Rahm’s reign has always been smart transportation policies, and our city racked up a remarkable number of wins in that department in 2015. Let’s take a look back at some of the key local walking, biking, transit, and public space stories of the past 12 months, in roughly chronological order.
This spring, the Chicago Department of Transportation expanded the Divvy bike-share system from 300 stations and 3,000 bicycles to 476 stations and 4,760 bikes. The coverage zone grew from 19 percent of the city’s geographic area to more than 38 percent, making our network the largest in North America based on number of stations and coverage area, although New York and Montreal’s systems still have more bikes. Next spring, Divvy is scheduled to add 70 more stations, expanding coverage to new areas on the west side, plus Oak Park and Evanston.
While the city celebrated the achievement of Emanuel’s goal of installing 100 miles of protected bike lanes on October 10, it didn’t actually reach that milestone. The mayor’s 2011 transition plan, which established that target, defined protected lanes as being separated by traffic by a physical barrier, such as a line of parked cars.
But the biggest transit story of the year was the debut of the Loop Link downtown bus rapid-transit corridor, which is still a work in progress. The $41 million project dramatically reconfigured Washington and Madison in the Loop, repurposing mixed-traffic lanes to make room for red bus-only lanes, raised bus-loading platforms, giant rain canopies with tons of seating and, on Washington, a protected bike lane. The route, which is used by six bus lines, also includes bus lanes on Clinton and, eventually, Canal.
