Eyes on the Street: The Randolph Protected Bike Lane Starts to Take Shape

The Loop Link bus rapid transit corridor on Washington Street includes a concrete-protected bike lane between the island bus stations and the curb. But the construction of the raised, curbside bus platforms and dedicated bus lanes on Madison Street involved the removal an existing bike lane.

The Chicago Department of Transportation plans to replace the Madison bike lane with a new protected lane on Randolph Street. But long after the Madison lane – the Loop’s only westbound bikeway – was removed, the Randolph lane still isn’t open. As a result, westbound cyclists are riding in the red bus-only lane on Madison. While that’s not an ideal situation, it doesn’t seem to be significantly slowing down CTA buses.

The good news is that the protected infrastructure on Randolph is finally starting to materialize, although the bike lane probably won’t be open for a few months. CDOT recently completed a Dutch-inspired intersection treatment at the northeast corner of Randolph and Canal Street, with concrete refuge islands to help protect cyclists and pedestrians from motorized traffic.

A refuge island is now being built by the mid-block crosswalk between City Hall and the Thompson Center, west of Clark Street. But there is currently utility work going on Randolph in the Loop, which won’t be done until late August or early September, according to CDOT spokesman Mike Claffey.

After that work is done, Randolph will be repaved and the white striping and green bike lane installation will be completed, Claffey said. CDOT expects the bike lane to be operational before the end of the construction season in late fall.