[B’ Spokes: It would be interesting if our new bike/ped master plan (due 2014) included items like this:]
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By Bridget Doyle, Chicago Tribune reporter
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The hundreds of recommendations include better-marked crosswalks, the establishment of pedestrian islands in the middle of multilane streets, better signals and beacons, and pedestrian countdown timers at crossings. Other long-term improvements discussed in the plan include staggered midblock bump-outs on residential streets to slow traffic.
Continental-style crosswalks were among the first changes, CDOT Commissioner Gabe Klein said, largely because the department began to weave in the new pedestrian plan in time for already-scheduled construction projects.
The crosswalks have big rungs across the walkway for higher visibility and are made of a reflective material, Klein said. More than 100 such crosswalks were installed in 2012, Klein said.
Pavement markings — on crosswalks and stop lines for vehicles — are faded across Chicago, and Klein said millions would be spent this year repainting such markings so they are visible to drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists.
"Our goal is to bake these new standards into everything that’s being done in public right of way," he said.
The plan also establishes what the agency’s announced "Zero in Ten" goal: reducing pedestrian fatalities in Chicago to zero in the next 10 years.<br>
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https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-chicago-pedestrian-plan-20120906,0,2929678.storyoldId.20120914152832915
Biking in Baltimore