Michael McCarthy
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michaelmcc.com
Michael McCarthy
@michaelmcc.com
320 followers 240 following 370 posts
urban planner from Chicago
Medill/Northwestern and UIC MUPP
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jumpscare
your firefox has been updated
December 20, 2025 at 1:29 AM
michaelmcc.com
Ravenswood/Lawrence Divvy station is broken for the umpteenth time @davidpowe.bsky.social
We noticed that you may have had issues with your last ride. All fees are waived. Please try another bike nearby!
December 19, 2025 at 6:56 PM
michaelmcc.com
“Agnes, it’s me Billy”
December 12, 2025 at 5:38 AM
michaelmcc.com
For all the gripes about poor snow removal from protected bike lanes, I haven’t heard of any problems with regular plows and raised crosswalks. This is on Ravenswood at Berwyn Monday night.
Nighttime photo of a raised crosswalk across Ravenswood at Berwyn leading into a tunnel under the UP-N Metra railroad embankment. Accumulated snow is visible on most surfaces and around sidewalks but plows have cleared the street and the raised crosswalk down to pavement.
December 11, 2025 at 5:52 PM
michaelmcc.com
I wouldn’t make the mistake of riding contraflow. Leland is just ice forcing you into a head on crash with a speeding SUV driver. Pretty much the whole lane is ice.
December 6, 2025 at 7:40 PM
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I don’t even know what to say @chi.streetsblog.org this is northbound Broadway at Sunnyside
December 6, 2025 at 7:28 PM
michaelmcc.com
Notably, AASHTO guide now tells engineers to design for the “interested but concerned” cyclists rather than those who are highly confident. This is related to research showing sharrows are sometimes less safe than nothing, this pushes more comfort and connections.
Graphic showing 4 types of cyclists with varying levels of comfort on the road. Non-Bicyclist: Uncomfortable bicycling in any condition, have no interest in bicycling, or are physically unable to bicycle. Interested but Concerned: Often not comfortable with bike lanes, may bike on sidewalks even if bike lanes are provided; prefer off-street or separate bicycle facilities or quiet or traffic-calmed residential roads. May not bike at all if bicycle facilities do not meet needs for perceived comfort. Somewhat confident: Generally prefer more separated facilities, but are comfortable riding in bicycle lanes or on paved shoulders if need be. Highly confident: Comfortable riding with traffic, will use roads without bike lanes.
December 6, 2025 at 4:24 PM
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Obligatory “Bruh you’re from Evanston” meme (that “Chicago” church is in Evanston)
December 5, 2025 at 7:57 PM
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Protected intersections are now standard features in the MUTCD (US DOT) and AASHTO (State DOTs) guides. We’re not experimenting anymore because traffic engineers deemed these safer for everyone. Here’s a page of MUTCD and guidance from Ohio: tooledesign.com/insights/202...
December 5, 2025 at 3:47 PM
michaelmcc.com
Yeah even if they wanted to it’d be pretty tough to clear down to the sidewalk now. The piles along the curb that haven’t been compacted could possibly be chipped away at least for enough space to let someone board a bus. The newer apt building at Magnolia did a fine job.
December 5, 2025 at 2:45 PM
michaelmcc.com
This corner of the cemetery is the worst spot, exacerbated by street plowing and a very narrow corner. Everything else is compacted and ice, I nearly slipped twice trying to avoid the ice patches.
December 5, 2025 at 2:39 PM
michaelmcc.com
CDOT hasn’t attempted to clear the new Clark protected bike lanes (SB Clark at Lawrence and NB Clark at Winnemac shown)
Photo of a new concrete protected bike lane on Clark at Lawrence in Chicago, with snow piled high in the bike lane and orange barrels present from recent construction. Photo of a new concrete protected bike lane on Clark at Winnemac in Chicago, with snow piled high in the bike lane except for one manually cleared section a few feet long
December 5, 2025 at 2:27 PM
michaelmcc.com
Got some daylight photos of said bus stops and an ADA ramp
Photo of Lawrence Ave in Chicago with a snow and ice covered sidewalk and bus stop in the foreground. A red fire hydrant is barely peeking out underneath the snow. Photo of Lawrence Ave in Chicago with a snow and ice covered sidewalk, ADA ramp at a crosswalk, and bus stop in the foreground. The snow makes it impossible to deploy a bus ramp to the sidewalk, making this stop inaccessible. Photo of Lawrence Ave in Chicago with a snow and ice covered sidewalk and bus stop in the foreground. Two people are waiting for the bus.
December 5, 2025 at 2:19 PM
michaelmcc.com
CDOT is taking plow the sidewalks a bit too far
Photo of a residential street in Chicago with snow piled on the parkway and front yard. A section of sidewalk has been removed to be replaced and appears as an open patch of dirt with an orange traffic cone placed in the center.
December 5, 2025 at 2:14 PM
michaelmcc.com
Nextdoor would love #PlowtheSidewalks
December 3, 2025 at 3:19 PM
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Yeah these are great, the whole thing is level with the sidewalk
November 7, 2025 at 6:00 PM
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No love for HoDar and L.E. Jack? www.chicago-l.org/operations/l...
October 31, 2025 at 8:57 PM
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Happy Halloween! 🎃
Git command line reporting 666 insertions and 666 deletions in a file
October 31, 2025 at 2:02 PM
michaelmcc.com
Now the city is claiming they can’t open a jpeg in 2025. (Deep breaths, these people are just operating within a bad system.) No wonder they don’t fix any bugs.
Email exchange from me: Please see my last email, I did include a screenshot and said I tried calling and no one answered. Attaching the error screenshot here again for your reference. This is kafkaesque. Response from 311 support: Hello, Thank You for contacting the City Of Chicago Customer Support Center. Per the information provided i am not able to open the attachment sent please provide a screenshot in PDF format so we can esc to our level 2 department.
October 30, 2025 at 5:20 PM
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How do I report a bug? Call us on the phone between 8:30 and 4:30. Will you fix it? Probably not given this
Kanban board with cards for app problems. Under won’t fix are: As a resident, I want access to a help link for problems that the website can't answer, so I can get them resolved. ke insight my request service As a resident I want the City to use 311 data to identify long-term needs of neighborhoods and develop a plan for how to address them so I can believe in the equity of city services delivery. As a resident, I want confirm a service request has been fulfilled, so I can verify, or dispute & get it complete to my satisfaction.
October 30, 2025 at 3:52 PM
michaelmcc.com
I just figured out the CHI311 app wont accept (newer?) iPhone camera images. I can only replicate this vague error when attaching a photo from iPhone 16. Makes the whole thing pretty useless.
Error message that says Request Create Error There was a problem creating your request, please try again.
October 30, 2025 at 3:45 PM
michaelmcc.com
I went to post on Instagram and realized I never installed it on my new phone and maybe I want to keep it that way
Sunrise at foster beach over Lake Michigan
October 10, 2025 at 12:18 PM
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They should make a bike emoji that’s visible at night
Dark mode map of AirTag locations with 3 blue and black bike emojis on a dark grey background
October 10, 2025 at 12:34 AM
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Screenshot of a Lauren tweet: i'm not falling for that hot take. that's clearly someone with a fetish for getting yelled at. i refuse to participate in that kind of perversion
October 9, 2025 at 9:47 PM
michaelmcc.com
hey meta I can’t read either screen right in front of me
October 9, 2025 at 5:26 PM