Just over a dozen residents turned out for a neighborhood meeting this evening to discuss a plan to add accessible bus stops along Dodge Avenue between Oakton and Main streets.
The project is designed to test eliminating the long-time Evanston practice of letting riders flag down buses anywhere along their route and instead create fixed, handicap-accessible bus stops with concrete pads and posted signs.
The plan discussed at the Levy Center session would create stops roughly every eighth of a mile between the two major streets a half mile apart.
Issues involve how to clear enough space for a bus to pull over to the curb while eliminating as few on-street parking spaces as possible and at which of the intermediate intersections to locate the stops — given that there are seven side streets running east from Dodge and only five that run west.
A diagram showing how one of the proposed new stops could be configured.
In addition to improving accessibility, the changes are projected to lead to faster bus service, with drivers having to make fewer stops, and improved traffic flow, because buses won’t have to block traffic to pick up riders.
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