At a recent public meeting, the City presented a proposal to tear down the elevated-freeway-esque Western Ave. viaduct (CDOT website). The viaduct is nearing the end of its useful life (it's old and falling apart) and the City needs to decide what to do with it. The presentation posted on the CDOT website shows two options currently under consideration for the viaduct: replacing it with a new viaduct or with a normal at-grade city street that would be friendlier to pedestrians, bicyclists, and storefront businesses.

The City is apparently mulling over the idea of tearing down the elevated-freeway-esque Western Ave. viaduct (Tribune story). There's a public meeting about this tonight. If you can make it to the meeting, please let us know what happened by posting in the comments section or posting your own blog entry about it for those of us who can't attend.

WESTERN AVENUE IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

The Chicago Department of Transportation will be hosting a Public Meeting to introduce the Western Avenue Viaduct Study and encourage input from the community during the initial study phase. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 7:00pm at the DeVry University Chicago Campus (3300 N. Campbell Avenue, Room 200).

www.flores1stward.com

See what it's like when streets are filled with people and the street becomes your playground. From 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, Aug. 1, the Active Transportation Alliance's Open Streets event will give friends and families the chance to enjoy the streets the way they want: biking, dancing, playing, walking and more! The free event combines last year's two Sunday Parkways events into one huge eight-mile event spanning from Logan Square to Little Village, passing through Humboldt Park, North Lawndale and Garfield Park. There is no event registration. Participants can join in at any point along the route and step off the route at any of the parks or community-run activities. Plan a picnic or brunch at your favorite spot along the route and encourage your friends to turn out to join you!

More info.: http://www.activetrans.org/openstreets

David Lee Csicsko is a Chicago artist who recently won the commission for the new public art installation at the rebuilt Belmont CTA station following a competitive public selection process. The station and artwork are expected to be completed by the end of this year (view work-in-progress on the right). His Belmont 2000 work, which was originally intended as a temporary installation, had been on display at the old station since 1999 and was removed for the station construction.

What's the name of your new Belmont CTA piece, and how does it relate to the transit experience and to Lakeview?

As part of the second annual Low-Car Diet, Zipcar is challenging people in 13 cities to give up their cars for one month and learn what car-free living is all about. To help wean them off of their driving habit, Zipcar is of course offering them a car sharing membership, as well as transit passes and bikes in some of the participating cities. In Chicago, 30 residents are taking part in the challenge, ditching their cars from July 15 - Aug. 15.

Visit http://www.zipcar.com/lowcardiet and click on the '08 tab to read about the experiences of participants from last year. The results showed a 71% decrease in miles driven among the participants, which would support the claim that people who use car sharing end up driving less.