SBC Bike Lane Fest 2025-26: Far South Side, including Roseland, Pullman, South Chicago, South Shore, and Greater Grand Crossing
As I discussed in the intro to Streetsblog Chicago’s 2025-26 Bike Lane Fest series, a quick glance at our map of recently installed, under construction, or upcoming facilities shows lots of new bikeways on the North and West sides, but relatively few on the South Side. However, there have been some major protected bike lane projects (green lines) on South Side streets like Kedzie and Archer avenues; Wabash Avenue and 18th Street; Indiana Avenue, 71st Street, Commercial Avenue, and 111th Street.
(Our map is based on the Chicago Department of Transportation’s Bikeways Installation Tracker spreadsheet. That document was last updated last July 17, so some additional projects have been completed since then. View CDOT’s interactive Existing Bike Network map here.)
Still, if you compare the South Side portions of our 2024 bike lane project map with the 2025-26 one, it’s clear that significantly more bikeways were planned south of I-55 / the Stevenson Expressway for 2024 than in 2025-26. That’s despite the fact that we’re comparing a single year of projects to two years.
At last week’s ribbon cutting for the Winnslie Parkway Expansion, I asked Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner William Cheaks, who was appointed last April, about the South Side bikeway situation. Agency spokesperson Erica Schroeder also participated in the conversation.
John Greenfield: Is there any background you’d like to provide that help people understand the discrepancy [in the mileage of bike lanes installed on the South Side in 2024 versus 2024-25]?
Commissioner William Cheaks: Well, I don’t really think that there’s a discrepancy. Our department is looking at making a connected network for people to navigate throughout various communities. So that takes time. It’s not going to happen overnight, but we do have bike lanes that are being planned right now…, and in coordination with the aldermen and the ward offices, we’ll see those bear fruit.
JG: You folks did a lot of outreach on the Northwest Side and the West Side and the Southwest Side [through the Neighborhood Bikeway Network program] that helped lead to increased bikeways and complete streets projects in those parts of town. Are you doing something similar on the South Side and the Southeast Side?
Erica Schroeder: We can give you more information on what specific outreach we’re doing on the South Side for various projects. But getting to the commissioner’s point, sometimes when you look at the yearly updates of upcoming projects, it’s not always the same chunk of time. New bike lanes come online through the design and engagement process. It comes and goes in different ways. So we’ll definitely look at the whole city holistically.
CWC: Yes.
[End of interview.]
Last week, I spent a little time on the Far South Side, checking out a few new protected and raised lanes. Here’s the territory I covered.
2-way protected / raised bike lanes on 111th Street in Roseland and Pullman
Raised bike lanes on Commercial Avenue between 90th and 87th Streets in South Chicago
Non-protected and protected lanes on 71st Street between Jeffery Boulevard and Cottage Grove Avenue / South Chicago Avenue in South Shore and Greater Grand Crossing
Here are some previous Bike Lane Fest 2025-26 posts:
• “It’s time for Streetsblog Chicago’s Bike Lane Fest 2025-26”
• “Take a virtual walk on the Winnslie Parkway Expansion, and ride on the Ravenswood Avenue Greenway“
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