The City is launching a pilot project to allow pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers to safely share the entire length of Greenleaf Street from McDaniel Avenue to Lake Shore Boulevard, beginning Monday, July 19 and ending on Monday, Aug. 16.
During this time, the City will place “local access only” signs at major intersections and “slow down, share the road” signs at minor intersections. This pilot project discourages cut-thru traffic on Greenleaf, providing all modes of transportation access to and from commercial and residential areas in Evanston.
Because the streets on either side of Greenleaf do not cross the railroad tracks just west of Chicago Avenue, it’s a long and traffic-heavy way around to cross the tracks at Main or Dempster for those who live near Greenleaf and need to get to the other side. So if this does get made permanent, I’d recommend more car-dominant treatment of the block between Chicago and Sherman.
As a bicyclist who lives 3 houses south of Greenleaf on Hinman, I bike it frequently: down to the beach as well as up to the Channel parks. Except for pickup and drop off times at Nichols, I have found it to be quite safe and free of traffic previous to the current test. And sidewalks appear to work well for pedestrians.