SBC Bike Lane Fest 2025-26: Mid and Near South Side, including Washington Park, Grand Boulevard, and Douglas, plus downtown
Hey there, Chicago bikeway enthusiasts. This week in our city, superb autumn weather has been the gift that keeps on giving. So I went out again this afternoon to check off some more items from the SBC Bike Lane Fest 2025-26 to-do list.
As I’ve said before, while relatively few bikeways were installed on the South and Southwest sides during the last two years, most of the facilities that were built are robust protected bike lanes. I rode on a few of them this afternoon.
If you’ve been keeping tabs on my recent bike lane explorations, you already know how this series works, so please feel free to pass over the italics below, which is merely copied from Tuesday’s post about the Far Northwest Side.
This website’s Map of 2025-26 CDOT Bikeway Installations, shown below, is based on the Chicago Department of Transportation’s Bikeways Installations Tracker spreadsheet. That document has not been refreshed since July 17, 2026, but I’m generally trying to stop by the sites of projects that are listed as “Upcoming Construction” or “In Construction,” as well as ones that have been “Installed,” to check on their current status.
In addition, you can take a look at CDOT Existing Bike Network Map, to get a sense of how the new facilities fit into the network. However, that map shows all bikeways that have been installed in modern history, while SBC’s map just shows the newer ones.
Today I covered the area bounded by the Dan Ryan Expressway, Garfield Boulevard / 55th Street, Lake Michigan, and Ida B. Wells Drive. One project within this zone that I previously covered was new protected lanes on 18th Street, including Chicago’s first protected intersection, which Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) unfortunately made the Chicago Department of Transportation partially dismantle. All the facilities I looked at today were recently installed or upcoming protected bike lanes, shown in green here.
Here’s what I covered today.
PBLs on Ellsworth Drive in Washington Park
Here’s the ride north, about a half mile from Garfield Boulevard to 51st Street.
Northbound PBL on Indiana Avenue
This runs a full three miles from Garfield to 31st Street, so the robustly constructed concrete-protected lane is a good example of what I’d like to see more of: protected lanes that actually take you somewhere, rather than being just a few blocks at a time.
At 4:25 in the above video you can easily hear my side of an exchange with a 3rd Ward aldermanic challenger who called to me from across the street. Turn the volume up loud to hear her part of the convo.
Candidate, holding clipboard: “Excuse me, do you live in this area?”
Me: “Uh, no, I used to live nearby.”
We were at 46th Street and Indiana in the Grand Boulevard community. 35 years ago I lived four blocks away at 49th Street and Michigan Avenue, in a vintage two-flat owned by the family of Ald. Dowell’s Midcentury predecessor Archibald Carey Jr.
Candidate: “Oh, I’m running for alderman, that’s why I asked.”
Me: “OK, I’m sorry, I can’t sign your [petition to get on the ballot]. Good luck.”
Candidate: “You have to live in this area.”
Me: “All right.”
Candidate: “Have a blessed day. I’m Qushona Harris, by the way.”
Me: “All right, good luck with it.”
Candidate: “Yes, thank you.”
(Streetsblog Chicago does not endorse candidates.)
On the other side of the political spectrum, at 5:50 in the clip, you’ll see a raccoon relaxing on the bike lane’s concrete island.
And here’s the north end of the protected lane, at Indiana and 31st Street.
PBLs on Wabash Street on the Near South Side
This new one-mile stretch of protected runs between Cermak Road and Roosevelt Road, where it meets up with the existing PBLs on Wabash between Roosevelt and Harrison Street, installed in 2024.
Harrison between Franklin and Canal streets
While the CDOT spreadsheet said protected lanes were “upcoming” on this segment as of mid-July, so far there are only painted curbside bikeways.
Update 10/23/26, 12:30 PM: I wanted to make sure Streetsblog has documented all recently installed Chicago bikeways south of the Eisenhower Expressway. (Check out our previous coverage of the Archer and Kedzie Avenue protected lanes in Brighton Park and Little Village.) Since the new non-protected bike lanes on Damen Avenue between Blue Island Avenue and Cermak Road in Pilsen would have been a few miles out of the way yesterday, I asked on Facebook if anyone could snap photos of them for me. Thanks to Kathe Meyers for providing these images!
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“
• “SBC Bike Lane Fest 2025-26: Far Northwest Side, including Albany Park, Forest Glen, and North Park”
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