The day after the giant pierogi dropped in Whiting, Indiana, I wrapped up Streetsblog Chicago's Bike Lane Fest 2024, a quest to visit every new or upgraded bikeway the Chicago Department of Transportation completed last year.
The map above, which guided my month-long explorations from Rogers Park to Austin to the South Chicago neighborhood, was based on CDOT's 2024 Planned Bikeways Installations Tracker spreadsheet. But in my rush to visit all the bike lanes listed as "installed" or "underway", I never got around to mapping out the planned-but-yet-to-be-created bikeways classified as "upcoming," i.e. to be installed in 2025.
I had some spare time today, so I went ahead and filled that gap by adding a new map layer for the "upcoming" lanes." You can click on "upcoming" in the sidebar of our map to see them.
Obviously, the mileage of "upcoming" bike lanes is much smaller than that of bikeways installed in 2024, and most of these facilities would be north of Madison Street. However, it's likely that in the next few months, CDOT will announce additional new bike lanes, in more parts.of the city
You can see how the upcoming bikeways will connect with completed ones by viewing CDOT's interactive Existing Bike Network map, which was updated last month.
Here are some quick thoughts about a few of these planned installations.
The new protected bike lanes and off-street trail on 111th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue will connect with existing PBLs on Doty Avenue, and make it a little safer to ride between the Pullman neighborhood and Big Marsh bike park. (Unfortunately, 9th Ward Ald. Anthony Beale recently had CDOT partially remove curb protection from Doty.)
The new Neighborhood Greenway on 32nd Street in Little Village will allow two-way biking on the one-way eastbound segment near Piotrowski Park, connecting it to non-protected bike lanes on Central Park Avenue. It will further expand the neighborhood's fairly extensive NG network.
The new Cortland Avenue Neighborhood Greenway will connect Austin's Amundsen Park with existing bike lanes on Laramie Avenue. This entire stretch is already two-way.
Several new bikeways are planned on the Far Northeast Side, including improvements to Ravenswood Avenue, providing a connection to the new Peterson/Ridge Metra station.
Got anything else to say about the plans for the upcoming bike lanes? Feel free leave a statement in the comment section.
Check out Streetsblog's Map of 2024 CDOT Bikeway Installations, with "completed," "underway," and "upcoming" bikeway layers clicked, above
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