As in 2023, the Chicago Department of Transportation has been busy installing new bikeways across the city this year. As of this writing, the city’s website that tracks the installations lists 42 completed segments this year so far, with 20 more underway. Two of them are part of my return commute from a workplace in Englewood to my home Logan Square, and they're a welcome bit of infrastructure on a ride that includes the some of the best and worst aspects of biking in our city.
One of my favorite routes traces the boulevard chain from 24th Street, through Douglass Park, north on Central Park through Garfield Park and straight on till sunset (which is earlier and earlier these days). This takes me through the new concrete curb protected bike lanes on Douglas Boulevard. (In 2020, Douglass Park got a second "S" in its name to honor abolitionist Frederick Douglass, but the road is still named after the Illinois politician Stephen Douglas.) The bike lanes cover the enitre length of Douglas Boulevard, just under a mile from Sacramento Drive in Douglass Park to Independence Boulevard.
Douglas Boulevard has been part of my preferred bike route even when the bike lanes were only marked with paint. It’s a wide street flanked by mature trees with a wide linear park running through the center of the boulevard. Car traffic is relatively light even at rush hour. The new bicycle protection makes this an even more pleasant route.
Formerly, the non-protected painted lanes were situated between the mixed-traffic lane and cars parked along the curb. Parking has since been relocated to the left of the bikeway to add protection. When the protected lanes debuted last year, they were only delineated with flimsy plastic bollards, so the recent addition of concrete curbs adds physical protection. The bike lanes are painted green near intersections to further alert drivers to the presence of folks on bikes and scooters.
My least favorite moment traveling westbound on Douglas Boulevard is when the bike lane switches from the north side of the street to the south side, west of Kedzie Boulevard. While it's nice to ride along the shady median, to switch lanes, bike riders are forced to cut across traffic and potentially in front of left-turning drivers. The traffic light at Kedzie facilitates safe crossing of Douglas for patient and cautious riders like me, so this is a somewhat minor gripe.
The eastbound bike lane on Douglas Boulevard makes a similar jump, from the south side of the eastbound road west of Kedzie, to the north side flanking the median east of Kedzie. A new Divvy bike-share station is now conveniently located where the eastbound protected bike lane on Douglas meets Albany Avenue, at the border of Douglass Park.
My commute also passes by the western end of the concrete-upgraded protected bike lanes on Franklin Boulevard, which run three-quarters of a mile north of Douglas Boulevard between Central Park and Sacramento avenues. So I recently took a little detour to ride those lanes as well.
The layout of Franklin Boulevard is sort of the reverse of Douglas. It’s a wide street with centralized eastbound and westbound mixed-traffic lanes, with service drives separated by green medians. Bike lanes run along the medians and are now protected by wide, precast concrete curbs and plastic bollards. Pedestrian refuge islands help shorten crossing distances at Drake Avenue.
Both the Douglas and Franklin protected bike lanes are solid steps towards building a connected, protected bike network, following the system of boulevards that link Chicago’s magnificent parks. They’re also relatively low-hanging fruit: the roadways are wide with ample room for spacious bike lanes and thick concrete curbs.
Next time I’ll ride Homan Avenue, which is on the new protected bike lane list from Jackson Boulevard to Chicago Avenue. It's a more direct route home for me, although historically a much less pleasant one. We’ll see if it can lure me away from the beauty of Chicago's Boulevard System, aka "The Emerald Necklace."
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