This post includes reporting by Cameron Bolton and commentary by John Greenfield.
There's an old saying, "Half a loaf is better than none." It expresses the attitude that it's wiser to accept only a portion of what you wanted, than to get nothing at all. When it comes to the proposed protected bike lanes on Pratt Avenue in suburban Lincolnwood, home to the beloved Chicagoland bread roll supplier New York Bagel & Bialy, we're using the latter baked good to make that metaphor.
Safe Streets advocates were hoping that the village would get concrete-protected lanes on Pratt, which would shield bike and e-scooter riders from reckless, intoxicated, and distracted drivers. In August, it looked like the project was completely cancelled. But last week it was determined that the avenue will get paint-only, non-protected bike lanes. That beats a whack in the head with a plastic pipe, but it's still a less-than-ideal outcome.
Here's what went down. On August 5, the Lincolnwood board voted to cancel plans for concrete-protected lanes on Pratt between Lincolnwood Drive (near Cicero Avenue and the Edens Expressway) and McCormick Boulevard (next to the North Shore Channel Trail). That decision was due to pushback from some residents, who were worried that the new curbs might make driving slightly less convenient, and that the safety infrastructure would make the street look unattractive.
"I'm very opposed to any kind of concrete [bike lane] barrier," said one woman at the August meeting, who described herself as an "avid cyclist," a term that's often a red flag when used at bikeway proposal meetings. "That would be a huge mistake aesthetically."
The August 5 vote meant that the village would be required to give back millions of dollars in Illinois Department of Transportation Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program grants that had been already awarded for the project.
But what was especially frustrating about the decision was that Lincolnwood rejected an initiative to improve safety for all road users, during a summer when the near-north suburbs experienced a bike crash epidemic. In July, drivers fatally struck three bicycle riders in nearby Morton Grove and Skokie. And that month in Lincolnwood, a turning hit-and-run driver failed to yield to a male bicyclist crossing Touhy Avenue from the North Shore Channel Trail, injuring them.
But there was a new hope in late September, when the Lincolnwood public works department announced a new Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss the bike lane proposal once more. The hearing took place last Tuesday, October 15, at the suburb's council chambers, 6900 N. Lincoln Ave. View the agenda packet for the event here.
At the meeting, the board discussed three possible outcomes. Option #1 would be to move forward with the initial proposal to install concrete barriers. The public works department staff said that layout would be similar to existing protected lanes on Howard Street between Waukegan Road and Caldwell Avenue in Niles.
Option #2 would be to paint bike lanes without physical barriers. "Staff recommends moving forward with Option #2," said the meeting materials, an viewpoint obviously influenced by the negative board vote at the August 5 meeting. "This does not jeopardize allocated funding for bicycle lane installation or the resurfacing of Pratt Avenue."
Option #3 would be to not move forward with the Pratt project at all, and relinquish the IDOT/ITEP grant money.
Like at the August 5 hearing, community members were allowed to provide testimony. Some of the speakers reiterated the concerns that were previously voiced. One longtime Lincolnwood resident said she was opposed to the mixed-traffic lanes on Pratt being slightly narrowed to accommodate the protected bike lanes, which would have helped calm traffic. "I just don't see how the poor people... with their driveways on Pratt are going to back out, do garbage pickup, and do snow removal," she said.
At the August meeting, public works staff explained why these things wouldn't be major issues.
Another person who spoke before the board said he lives on Pratt and is also an avid bicyclist. He too opposed installing concrete barriers and flexible plastic posts for driver convenience and aesthetic reasons. But he said he is in favor of Option #2. "Thank you very much for... incorporating bicycle safety by having a painted line, and considering the restrictions and the complications that the residents have come forth with."
It's true that a painted bike lane is better than nothing. It reminds drivers to watch out for bicyclists, and encourages motorists to give vulnerable road users some space.
But the downsides of non-protected bikeways were laid bare in Chicagoland on October 23, 2023. That's when an allegedly intoxicated car-driver fatally struck ceramicist Donald Heggemann, 59, who was biking north in a striped bike lane at 5115 N. Damen Ave. in Chicago's Lincoln Square community area. If the bikeway had concrete protection, it's possible that Heggemann would still be alive.
Another meeting attendee, who said he doesn't live in Lincolnwood but bikes through it, pointed out the difference between paint-only and protected bicycle lanes. "Protected bike lanes are a much better, safer option," he said. "Studies show that those are safer for [drivers] and pedestrians [because they calm traffic and shorten crossing distances], and [bike riders]." He urged the board to keep that fact in mind, both on Pratt and when considering bike lane proposals in the future.
At Tuesday's hearing, the Lincolnwood board ultimately voted to move forward with the non-protected bike lanes option. According to the public works department, the village's Pre-Final Plans for the project are due to be delivered to IDOT in March 2025, with bidding from construction firms taking place in September 2025. Assuming the contract is awarded by October 1, 2025, resurfacing and striping can take place in October 2026.
Again, it's preferable that paint-only bikeways will be installed on Pratt Avenue in Lincolnwood, rather than nothing at all. But it's still disappointing that concrete-protected lanes, which would have been much more effective for preventing serious and fatal crashes, were cancelled due to griping from the windshield POV / Not In My Back Yard crowd.
View the agenda packet for the October 15 event here.
To watch a video of the meeting, use these steps:
- Access the Village website at https://www.lincolnwoodil.org/.
- Hover over the Village Government tab.
- Under Media Center, click on the On Demand tab.
Update 10/21/24, 1:30 PM: Lincolnwood Public Works Department Staff Engineer Rachel Mieritz suggested including the following update. "The [Pratt] bicycle lanes are the first step to adding east-west travel in Lincolnwood," she said. "The bicycle lanes will connect to the Pratt Avenue Pedestrian Bridge over the North Shore Channel. The Pratt Avenue Pedestrian Bridge project is still in design but is projected to be built in the next few years."
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