Originally Posted by
Road Fan
I grew up 15 mi south of there, in Rogers Park, and to pedal that stretch of Sheridan, from Devon Avenue all the way up to Highland Park or Lake Forest was one of my favorite regular rides. Sheridan is a 2-lane road lined mostly with houses (GREAT houses!). The ravine follows a dip in the land, has a significant grade, and is twisty and blind. I felt it was navigable as a kid if I stayed at the right side. If modern roadies are trying to ride two-up, that would block traffic badly on a narrow road with blind corners. It was 35 mph speed limit on approach, and 20 mph in the ravine. I'm surprised I still have a drivers license, with the way I treated that road while on my motorcycle!
I don't know the legal basis for banning bicycles from Sheridan, but those suburbs are some of the wealthiest in Chicagoland, and are right up there considering the rest of the US. Money talks, as we know.
Yes, money does talk, but I'm suspecting it is a genuine safety concern here. I have heard that people drive particularly idiotically through the ravine. if that's true, and the road is narrow and blind, then it may just be a practical matter. Add driveways to a narrow, twisty road, and you've go a bad mix. Then again, if the spd limit really is 20, maybe it ought to just be enforced. In that case, a cyclist could hardly be deemed to be holding up traffic.
As for the legal basis for banning bikes from roads, I think communities have the right to do so as long equivalent (get from a to b) routes exist. It's similar to banning trucks or other street-legal vehicles. Ridge in Evanston, has a no-bike section. There are other, more bikeable N/S roads nearby, and you wouldn't (well, I wouldn't) really want to ride on that section of Ridge anyway. But, what if you live along that stretch and commute by bike?
I am fine with an artery here and there being a no-bike zone, but it would really be better to include bikes in planning. Banning bikes is really more of a post-hoc fix for bad planning. When Ridge was torn up and resurfaced, they left the lanes (2 each direction) very, very narrow. You would necessarily obstruct traffic if you rode it during traffic, as the lanes are barely a car wide and there is no shoulder.
Thanks for satisfying my curiosity as to the infamous ravine.