Eyes on the Street: New Buffered Bike Lanes on South Damen

The Chicago Department of Transportation continues to build new bike lanes, and upgrade old ones, in order to get the maximum number of miles in before it’s too cold to lay thermoplastic. Yesterday, I cruised over to South Damen Avenue, where the department recently striped buffered bike lanes on the three-mile stretch between 63rd and 87th streets.

Stretches of South Damen have had non-buffered lanes for years, although there were a couple of gaps in the bikeway, in sections where the local alderman had formerly opposed adding bike lanes. One nice thing about this recent project is that it fills in the gap between 71st and 79th streets. The BBLs also connect with recently striped buffered lanes on Marquette Avenue (6700 South), as well as the Major Taylor Trail, which has a trailhead at 87th and Damen.

North of 63rd, the bikeway is still an un-buffered lane – hopefully CDOT will upgrade this in the future. South of 63rd, the old lanes have been ground out, and the BBLs have been striped on the existing pavement, which is in decent shape.

On the northern stretch of the new bikeway, the buffer is located on the left side of the bike lane, which helps keep cyclists away from moving vehicles. South of 83rd, the buffer is on the right, which helps prevent doorings. However, when I rode the BBLs in the early afternoon, there were few cars in the parking lanes.

Although no mixed-traffic lanes were removed for the project, and the travel lanes were only narrowed by a few inches to make room for the buffers, a neighboring homeowner I spoke to was unhappy about the upgrade. “Look at those bike lanes,” he groused. “Now they’re almost as wide as the car lanes.” Next, he launched into a diatribe about the city’s speed camera program.

However, a cyclist I saw on Damen told me he’s a fan of the new BBLs. “It’s good for us riders,” said the man, a retiree who told me his last name is Carter. “It feels safer now.” He pointed to the buffer on the left side of the bike lane. “That white line is like the yellow line in the middle of the road – cars aren’t supposed to cross it.”