About 20 residents who attended the transportation focus group for Envision Evanston 2045 comprehensive plan weren’t shy about sounding off on where the city could do better.
The conversation got to the point where planners had to speed through some discussion questions and skip almost half altogether.
“You are a very invested group, I have to say,” said planning consultant Mitchell Silver, who served as one of the focus group’s co-facilitators.
The transportation group was among several focus group Envision Evanston consultants held at the Evanston Public Library’s main branch on Friday. In his introductory remarks, Silver said he wanted to make sure that Evanstonians of all ages got to submit feedback. He also said the team wants to drill down beyond lofty goals.
“You can’t just say we will have a robust transportation system,” he said. “It sounds wonderful – how are you going to do it? I’m here to help you where the rubber meets the road.”
Evanston service gaps
When asked about the pressing challenges facing transportation in Evanston, residents pointed to many Pace and CTA buses not running on Sundays and the service on routes “dropping off” after 9 p.m.
One resident mentioned complaints from Evanston Township High School students that Pace and CTA direct service from the school stops before many activities end – a long-running issue that surfaced during the last major public transit restructuring in the area.
Residents also pointed to the absence of elevators at most Evanston L stations, as well as gaps in the bike lane network, narrow sidewalks and treacherous crossings at major corridors like Green Bay Road.
Several said that a major corridor like Main Street has no bike lanes or east-west bus service.
“Around Main Street, there’s no safe bike corridors [even though] there are several elementary schools, the middle school, Robert Crown [Center] and ETHS [on or near it],” said resident Jason Orloff. “My kids are the only kids I know who aren’t afraid to bike in Evanston.”
Resident Sharon Perrino said she wanted to see existing laws for biking on sidewalks enforced or have a state statute that would give enforcement some teeth. She said she injured her left wrist when a cyclist who was biking on the sidewalk struck her. What would’ve been a minor injury when she was younger, Perrino said, could affect the quality of life for her as a senior citizen.
Environment Board Co-Chair Matt Cotter argued that it was a symptom of a bigger issue.
“Why do cyclists need to go [on the sidewalk?],” he mused. “Because I don’t think that’s natural. I feel, naturally, people wouldn’t want to do that. [But] with the bike infrastructure, the bike network, they’re forced onto the sidewalk because they don’t have a viable alternative to bike.”
Perrino responded that, as someone who lives near downtown, she doesn’t believe that was the case, saying that she personally saw cyclists not use bike lanes on Davis and Church streets.
Resident Alex McKeag said simply painting lanes on the road isn’t enough; the city should put in protected bike lanes, which have concrete barriers to separate them from car lanes. Lanes like this already exist on downtown portions of Davis and Church Streets.
“Not all bike lanes are created equal,” McKeag said. “It has to be safe, it has to be comfortable. Just putting in a bike lane that’s not protected, it’s not going to cut it.”
He also pointed to another benefit of protected bike lanes: traffic calming. Narrower streets with fewer lanes naturally force cars to slow down, which reduces fatal traffic accidents.
Climate Action Evanston board member Jessy Bradish suggested Chicago Avenue was a logical place to put bike lanes.
Lack of information of current infrastructure was raised as an issue. Bradish said that, as an experienced cyclist, she knows about viable options to bike around Evanston, but anyone new to the city who relies on GoogleMaps wouldn’t know they’re there.
She ended up using a map of Evanston to draw her own bike map and highlight some issues she felt needed to be addressed.
Other issues
When asked about specific service gaps in Evanston’s existing transportation network, residents pointed to a shortage of public transit options in southeast and northwest Evanston, especially on Sundays.
Resident Terry Wendt said there wasn’t bus service to Old Orchard Mall, even though there are four different options.
Throughout the planning process so far, Envision Evanston consultants floated the idea of the city encouraging the creation of multiple commercial-residential-transit hubs that would encourage economic development outside downtown. Silver, the group’s planning consultant, said he asked all focus groups to weigh in on whether that’s a good idea and, if so, what spots they would recommend. Chicago Avenue, Main-Dempster corridors, Green Bay Road and Dodge Avenue were suggested.
When asked about their experience walking and biking, there was broad agreement it wasn’t always safe, in part because of aggressive drivers and uneven sidewalks. The latter was singled out as a concern for seniors.
Residents were also asked for their “quick thoughts” on how land use should be coordinated with transportation. A resident named Bevin, who declined to give her last name, said traffic considerations get in the way of a public good, citing the defeat of the Kensington School daycare proposal as an example.
“I would say data and study is key to it all,” said resident Jeff Smith. “We have to know and we can’t live in willful ignorance of how people actually use transportation. We need to figure out where people are really going, because you can’t make decisions based on ideology and wishful thinking.”
Cycling, transit issues focus of Envision Evanston focus group is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.