Shane and I went to Chicago for a long, long weekend a couple of weeks ago. As usual, I started comparing Chicago to Hartford, which doesn't really make sense because Hartford is small and Chicago is medium-large, and the things that work in Chicago are not always possible in Hartford.

For example, I don't think we're going to get an easy-to-use subway ever.

When I scaled back my comparisons, I realized that Chicago does a few things right that could definitely be implemented in Hartford. They all have to do with transportation and traffic.

Here goes:

Pedestrian Traffic is Traffic
In Chicago you don't have to push a button for a walk signal, hoping you've timed it right so you don't have to wait through two cycles of lights before you can cross the street. At major intersections in Chicago, walk signals are automatic. When traffic is moving north/south, the walk signals on the north/south sidewalks go on. Drivers making turns respect the walk signals, for the most part, and groups of pedestrians can cross the street without fear of unpleasant impact.

Where I work I have to cross the intersection of Farmington and Flower Streets. I'm an old lady when it comes to crossing the street. I dutifully wait for the walk signal because I'm afraid if I don't, and someone in a car collides with me, we'll find out that I didn't lawfully have the right to be crossing the street without a signal.

But still, even with the walk signal, people in cars continue to take rights on red and a pedestrian has to be very cautious when crossing the street.

I think there are two things going on.

1. I don't think people really know the rules of the road anymore. Everywhere I drive, whether within the Hartford city limits or not, people turn right on red when oncoming traffic as the right of way, no one uses their turn indicators, people drive through stop signs or don't know how to wait their turns at intersections with stop signs.

2. We're all about cars here. Bikes and pedestrians are perceived as anomalies. Some communities don't even have sidewalks. Drivers aren't totally at fault in some of the scary incidents I've witnessed. Pedestrians cross in the middle of blocks, darting out from behind parked cars. Cyclists blast through red lights or ride on the wrong side of the street. But for the most part, drivers are at fault when a pedestrian has to stop short or jump out of the way, or a cyclist has to slam on her brakes because a car is cutting her off.

Another thing about walk signals in Chicago: they last long enough for people to actually cross the street. In Hartford, you're lucky to get about a third of the way across the street before the "don't walk" light starts flashing. Downtown I've witnessed women with children in tow trying to run their kids across the street because the traffic light is about to change. No pedestrian should be in that situation.

Let them walk, let them live.

Bike Racks are Everywhere
Ten steps east of our hotel, I saw something that made me stare in amazement. I don't know what it's called officially, so I'll call it a "bike garage."

Across the entrance to an alleyway, there was a padlocked gate. Inside were several bike racks. As I spent time in Chicago I saw the bikes come and go throughout the day and night, and watched folks walking out of the "garage" with their briefcases or walking in with their bags of groceries. I have no idea if this was resident parking, or commuter parking that you can rent if you work downtown, but the parking was safe and plentiful. Safe, plentiful bike racks - Hartford don't got 'em. We could use some.


"Bike Garage" on West Kinzie, Chicago

One of the places that Chicago chooses to locate its bike racks is at train stations. While I saw only a handful of cyclists with their bikes on the train, I saw tons of bikes racked outside the stations. Although Hartford doesn't have trains, it might be useful to get creative about how people can store their bikes safely at major bus stops. Many of them have commuter lots for cars, right?


Bike racks at Damen Street station, Chicago

A final point about bike racks in Chicago: they were located in what seemed to be pretty random places. But they were located consistently; you could always find one, no matter where you were. When we were on Devon Street, an area also known as Little India, we saw a lonely little bike rack on the corner of the street.


Bike rack, and Shane, on Devon Avenue, Chicago

No one was using this little bike rack, but it was there to be used. And why wasn't anyone using the bike rack? Maybe because everyone was walking or taking the bus, which brings me to my final point.

Buses Run All the Time
It seems as though you can get anywhere on a bus in Chicago. On main streets, buses stop every five minutes or so during the day, and every 15 to 20 minutes at night. And they don't just go up and down a single street. They fan out into the neighborhoods so that there are bus stops in closer proximity to residential areas. Zig from a main street onto a less-trafficked street, zag back out onto a main street.

People got on and off the buses at pretty much every stop.

The killer thing about buses in Chicago, though, is that they run all the time. We went out one night to Second City (super fun!) and although we had planned to take the train, the concierge at our hotel told us we'd get closer to the theater if we took the bus. So we did. And here's the cool thing: the buses were packed with people going out for the night! How could you tell? Many were dressed up, in groups, talking and shouting and laughing.

And at two in the morning when we were heading home? We took the bus. And it was packed, again with dressed up people, in groups, talking and shouting and laughing. We'd all been drinking a bit, but we weren't driving. We were safe on the bus (well, hopefully the driver hadn't been drinking), and didn't need to worry about driving ourselves, or evading other drivers who'd been drinking too much.

Hartford might give late bus schedules a try. It's hard to get home on a bus after a late night of working, let alone a late night of drinking. I know I'd feel safer on Hartford's "drinking nights" and "drinking corridors" (Farmington Avenue, Park Street, Albany Avenue) if I could take the bus. And it would make us a more sophisticated, forward-thinking city if we could do so.

Kind-of like Chicago. Except smaller. And Hartford.