Chicago & Midwest + Downtown + Finance | March 16, 2023

City Council Enacts Ordinance to Boost Traffic Safety, Speed Up Public Transit

The Chicago City Council enacted the Smart Streets Pilots Ordinance, a new measure establishing two downtown pilot programs intended to improve traffic safety, enhance protections for pedestrians and bicyclists and speed up public transportation.

The ordinance will allow the city to use existing infrastructure and new technology to enforce parking violations, such as cars parked in bike lanes, bus-only lanes, bus stops, and crosswalks, and enable camera-based management of parking in commercial loading zones.

Similar programs exist in cities around the country, including those already operational in New York City, San Francisco and Seattle, while Los Angeles and Washington, DC have programs in the planning stages.

The city will now begin the process of identifying camera vendors and potential camera locations. The pilots will operate until June 2025 within the boundaries of Lake Michigan to Ashland Avenue and from North Avenue to Roosevelt.

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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