Eyes on the street: Curb protection is bustin’ out all over

5:51 PM CDT on April 19, 2023

A CDOT crew member uses forklift to transport a curb for bike lane protection on Broadway in Uptown. Photo: CDOT

Ah, springtime, the season of bird, bees, blossoms, and new bikeways.

After a long winter of no bike lane installation, Chicago Department of Transportation crews are busy making good on CDOT's promise to upgrade all existing "protected" bike lanes with precast concrete curbs by the end of 2023.

Blue: Existing “protected” bike lanes consisting of paint and posts, in some case parking protection
Purple: Existing bike lanes protected with concrete or plastic curbs and/or end caps
Red: New or upgraded bike lanes with concrete curbs and/or end caps to be built by the end of 2023

Northbound Broadway bike lane being ‘shored up.’@greenfieldjohn @aka60643 @bikegridnow @bikelaneuprise pic.twitter.com/c5Sv3GNHTs
— Billyjoe (@Billeeejo) April 17, 2023

In recent days the department has installed curbs on the existing bike protected lanes on Broadway between Wilson and Montrose avenues in Uptown. They're also making concrete improvements to Milwaukee Avenue bike lanes between Division Street and Chicago Avenue in West Town. And CDOT has crews out on Kinzie Avenue in River North for the next couple of days curb where there was utility work in 2022 which prevented installation, according to spokesperson Erica Schroeder.

Concrete Curbs going in on the 800 Block of North Milwaukee Avenue. One of the few times where construction noise doesn’t bother me! Current work happening on the southbound lanes. It appears that the northbound lanes are being prepped for work, but unclear of the scope. Stay… pic.twitter.com/5ULaIemyKz
— Mike Keating | Injury Attorney (@mikekeatinglaw) April 19, 2023

The Wing Stop “parking lot” on @MilwaukeeAvBike is getting curbed! Thank you @ChicagoDOT pic.twitter.com/3D2sZ14pvs
— Dadej Pogačar (@krislucius) April 19, 2023

Best of all, as Streetsblog Chicago cofounder Steven Vance recently discovered, brand-new curb-protected bike lanes have been installed on Wells Street between Taylor Street and Roosevelt Road in the South Loop. Take a virtual ride on them in this handlebar-view video Steven shot.

New curb-separated bike lane on Wells St from Steven Vance on Vimeo.

Currently these lanes terminate at a construction wall under elevated Roosevelt. But eventually these new lanes will link up with raised bike lanes that are being built as part of the new Wells-Wentworth Connector road, part of The 78 megadevelopment project between the South Loop and Chinatown.

Raised bike lanes on the Well-Wentworth connector, as seen from Roosevelt Road, looking south. Sign poles have been installed in the bike lanes. Photo: John Greenfield — The raised bike lanes (dark gray pavement) on the Well-Wentworth Connector, as seen from Roosevelt Road in February, looking south. Sign poles were mistakenly installed in the bike lanes, but The 78 developer promised they'd be moved. Photo: John Greenfield

Schroeder said CDOT should have the spreadsheet of recently installed or planned bikeways on the bottom of the Chicago.gov/bikes page updated soon, which will be a handy list of 2023 upcoming installations.

John Greenfield

In addition to editing Streetsblog Chicago, John has written about transportation and more for many other local and national publications. A Chicagoan since 1989, he enjoys exploring the city and region on foot, bike, bus, and train.