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Sections of Ravenswood Ave. Suddenly Redirected

By Mike Fourcher | Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The 5000 N. Ravenswood block's new Do Not Enter signs. Credit: Teresa Fourcher.

Last Friday, with apparently no notice to local businesses and residents sections of Ravenswood Avenue were changed from two-way to one-way southerly streets.

“As a business owner, you’d think we’d be notified. How difficult would it be to send a letter?” said Rick Linder, who manages a group of buildings on the 5000 N. Ravenswood Ave. block.

It’s all due to a traffic ordinance passed out of the City Council on April 13, a mere three weeks before outgoing-Ald. Eugene Schulter (47th) was to leave office.

Current Ald. Ameya Pawar’s staff says they were unaware of the coming traffic change and had to ask the City Clerk to search for the ordinance.

“We’ve gotten a few calls,” from affected residents, said Deputy Ald. Charna Epstein.

According to the ordinance, the affected streets and changes are:

  • N. Ravenswood Avenue (west) from W. Irving Park Road to W. Berteau Avenue (4000 to 4200) – Southerly
  • N. Ravenswood Avenue (west) from W. Montrose Avenue to W. Leland Avenue (4400 to 4700) – Southerly
  • N. Ravenswood Avenue (west) from W. Winnemac Avenue to W. Foster Avenue (5000 to 5200) – Southerly
  • W. Leiand Avenue from N. Ravenswood Avenue (east) to N. Clark Street (1800 to 1500) – Easterly

This writer is disappointed by the change, because it eliminates our ability to shoot up Ravenswood from Montrose for parking when we’re going to Margie’s Candies.

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  • Anonymous

    Seems like there were several last minute changes implemented before the alderman change-  (This being one, and I have seen others about parking restrictions changing….) very disappointing. 

  • Anonymous

    You could still shoot up Ravenswood (east) from Montrose and if you wanted to be closer to Margie’s you could shoot down Ravenswood (west) from Sunnyside, right?

    • Anonymous

      Yep. It’s not as cool as grabbing the first spot you see just off Montrose though. Hey, I’m lazy in my car, OK?

  • David Barnett

    These changes were presented at last spring’s community meeting about the Metra-related construction (not that I have seen any evidence of said construction since that March 29 gathering). The single-track plan was abandoned as unworkable. That means, they are adding a third track for the section which is being addressed.  For safety, they wanted to reduce traffic flow to one direction on the west side of the track.  The drawings shown at the meeting are available to review at http://www.centersquarejournal.com/news/metra-public-meeting. They clearly indicate the changes to one-way streets.

    This change was clearly dictated by the Metra work and, to my knowledge, is not related to any parking restriction changes that the alderman put through. But, I agree if would have been nice if letters had been sent to people who live or work on the affected streets as not everyone attended the March meeting.

    But as far as easy access to Margie’s, walking from a parking space farther away is probably a good way to help burn up some of the calories one is about to consume there!

  • William Karnoscak

    There are lots of free spots available on Ravenswood West, just south of Montrose.  They’re marked for permit parking during business hours, but after that, no restrictions to the best of my knowledge.

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