Back to transportation service, that is.
Before it was the Bloomingdale Trail – associated parks comprising The 606 – it was the Bloomingdale Line, an elevated railroad route along Bloomingdale Avenue to serve industrial customers in Humboldt Park, Logan Square, Bucktown, and Wicker Park.
It was abandoned in the early 2000s. I don’t know when the last customer received a delivery via the line. It reopened to use for transportation on June 6, 2015, or 6/06. Now that same embankment transports pedestrians and bicyclists, in addition to providing new recreational and public space.
I’ve ridden and walked on it four times now since the opening and there are people all over the place on it. I tweeted as much last night.
It's nothing short of amazing that there isn't an introductory period for #BloomingdaleTrail: people are just using it, as if always there
— Steven Vance (@stevevance) June 12, 2015
On Monday, two days after opening, I filmed this 14-minute video of the entire west-to-east length and condensed it to 4 minutes.
Bicycling west to east on the Bloomingdale Trail from Steven Vance on Vimeo.
The solution to its crowding problem (I guess one of those “good problems to have”) is more. More car-free spaces. More low-stress transportation spaces. Space for walking, and space for cycling. Which we currently don’t have on the ground.