I don't want to go overboard beating the drum against Alderman Brendan Reilly's proposed biking ban on the Chicago Riverwalk, as well as the current situation, in which signs and security guards are inaccurately telling cyclists that it's illegal to ride there. But I feel the need to debunk the common misconception that the path was never intended for biking. For example, here's a tweet from this morning by AARP Illinois state director Bob Gallo.
In reality, city officials and riverwalk planners have stated on many occasions that bicycling would be or is permitted. In some cases they specifically promised that the riverwalk would include bike facilities. Here are some examples.
1. The city's pitch to the federal government for a $98.66 million Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan for the westward riverwalk expansion stated that the facility would include "bicycle and pedestrian facilities" and would "enhance safety... with bicycle paths and pedestrian trails along the continuous promenade." Note that the path was promoted and funded as a transportation amenity, not just a place to stroll aimlessly and sip wine, which raises the question of whether the project would have received the loan if it had not been described as a cycling route.
2. At a 2013 community meeting prior to construction, CDOT planner Michelle Woods fielded a question on whether the plan incorporated bicycling. "What I anticipate is that early in the morning, commuters that use the Lakefront Trail will probably use [the riverwalk] as a bicycle path, which frankly I am fine with them doing," Woods said. "What I’m encouraging bikers to do is, once they come to the west side of Michigan [from the Lakefront Trail], is take the driveway from the old ward yard [up to Wacker at Wabash Street]. That’s a nice easy transition area to the street grid." Unfortunately, the reconfiguration of the older eastern section of the riverwalk earlier this year eliminated that ramp, which many Active Transportation Alliance employees had been using to bike from the riverwalk to their office nearby at 35 East Wacker.
3. Bicycle rental companies were part of the riverwalk's 2015 vendor lineup. When the new sections of the riverwalk debuted in 2015, the city announced that vendors would include WanderBikes, offering guided electric bike tours and rentals, and Bike and Roll Chicago, offering bike rentals, guided walking, bike, and Segway tours.
4. Gina Ford, a landscape architect at Sasaki Associates, which helped plan the riverwalk, told me in a June 2015 interview that the promenade was designed to facilitate cycling. "As a design response, we did a couple of really subtle things. Rather than making most of the turns exactly ninety degrees, most of them are slightly more obtuse of an angle," she said. "If you look at the inside corners of the Cove [section], and the inside and outside corners of the Marina [section], both of those have slightly bigger angles than ninety degrees."
5. CDOT acknowledged the riverwalk is a bike route as late as December 2018, when construction started on the reconfiguration of the eastern portion of the path. The news release announcing the work noted that this section of the promenade would be closed to all users, and it provided a construction detour route specifically for cyclists.
6. The city's Chicago Bike Map has depicted the riverwalk as an off-street bike/pedestrian trail for years. Despite recent events, CDOT is not planning to delete the riverwalk from the 2019 edition, which will be released at next month's Bike to Work rally, according to spokesman Mike Claffey.
7. The city's official Choose Chicago tourism bureau currently has a "Spend a Day on the Chicago Riverwalk" webpage up that encourages visitors to rent a bike and take a cruise on the riverwalk (just about the only downtown location where it's possible to bike on the riverfront.) "Want to trade walking for wheels? [A rental company] offers way more than just cruisers and mountain bikes... Take your pick, then take off on a ride along the Chicago River."
