SBC Bike Lane Fest 2025-26: West Side, including Austin, Humboldt Park, East Garfield Park, and West Town
“Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it’s been”
– “[Bikin’]” by The Grateful Dead, 1970
Another year, another Streetsblog Chicago Bike Lane Fest. Actually, we skipped last year, so this one covers projects from 2025 and 2026, but you get the idea.
As always, it was a pleasure to check out virtually all of the bikeways installed during that period. This time, that took me from Pullman to Forest Glen, and from Brighton Park to Rogers Park.
If you’ve been following this series recently, you know that you can skip the next two italicized paragraphs. If you’re new here, they’re a quick recap of my methodology.
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.
Last Saturday, I polished off the final slice of the half a deep-dish pizza that our city kind of looks like.
A very rough visualization of my planned itinerary. (I didn’t leave the Chicago city limits.) Images: Google Maps, John Greenfield at Pequod’s Pizza
I started in Austin and made my way downtown, ending near Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street, the future site of the Bally’s Casino. Here are the map subset I covered, basically bounded by North Avenue, Austin Avenue, the Ike, and Halsted Street. One project on this I already wrote about was the upgrade of the Milwaukee Avenue protected bike lanes between Chicago Avenue and Kinzie Street in West Town.
Before I take you on this last virtual excursion here are a few quick thoughts about this Bike Lane Fest.
• Kudos to the Chicago Department Transportation’s Complete Streets team and their contractors for producing this latest round of bikeways. I’m guessing the mileage was somewhat lower in 2025 and 2026 in previous years, especially on the South Side, which I previously discussed with CDOT staffers. But it looks like they built more miles of protected lanes this time, which includes some major projects like Archer and Kedzie avenues, Indiana Avenue, and Bryn Mawr Avenue.
• As I’ve previously discussed, I’d encourage the transportation department to focus on building longer stretches of bikeways at one time, since short stretches of PBLs aren’t particularly useful to bike riders and scooteristas. They’re also less likely to get plowed during the winter, and it’s harder to justify any inconvenience to driver.
• On the other hand, CDOT and local alders deserve credit for going bold with parking and mixed-traffic lane conversions to make room for Complete Streets projects with protected lanes. That led to organized opposition on Grand Avenue in West Town and Archer in Brighton Park, with the latter blatantly politically motivated. Fortunately, in response to the “Not In My Back Yard” folks, traffic safety advocates showed up in large numbers to counterprotest and ultimately prevailed. The Grand project is underway (more on that below), Archer is nearly complete, and the NIMBYs stopped showing up.
All right, let’s get on with the grand finale!
Chicago Avenue bike lanes in Austin
This project, between Central and Laramie avenues in Austin’s Soul City business district, extends the half-mile of bikeways installed in 2024 on Chicago Avenue between Austin and Central Park avenues. Those lanes are mostly paint-only, but there are some stretches where the bike lane is raised and protected with concrete. It seems like a larger portion of this new stretch, still under construction, is raised, but I’m double-checking with CDOT. Oddly, this segment is simply identified as non-protected “Bike Lane” in the department’s Bikeways Installation Tracker.
Jackson Boulevard protected lanes in East Garfield Park
This quarter-mile stretch of PBLs would have been a bit of a detour for me that day, so I recruited my former East Garfield landlord and fellow bike advocate Steve Marsala to run out and snap some photos.
Chicago Avenue in the Humboldt Park community area
This segment between Pulaski Road and Kedzie Boulevard was listed on CDOT’s bikeways tracker as “Upcoming” as of July 17, and it doesn’t seem like anything has been done yet.
Kedzie Avenue bike lanes in Humboldt Park
Non-protected bike lanes have been painted on the section between Augusta and Carrol avenues.
Humboldt Boulevard protected lanes in Humboldt Park
These new bikeways make it much safer and more comfortable to bike north-south across the Humboldt Park green space. The project also included raised crosswalks.
Wood Street Neighborhood Greenway in West Town
This route, between Milwaukee Avenue and Augusta Boulevard, was recently upgraded with traffic diverters at Augusta and Division Street, which make the street one-way southbound for drivers, but two-way for bike riders.
Chicago Avenue bike-bus lanes in West Town
Grand Avenue protected bike lanes in West Town
There was drama earlier this year when the “Grand Avenue Coalition,” led by Chicagoland NIMBY-ism Hall of Famer Roger Romanelli, tried to block the project, protesting agains planned parking conversions to make room for bike, pedestrian and transit facilities.
Roger Romanelli. right, and his Grand Avenue posse, at news conference last March. Image: Fox Chicago
However, the initiative is currently moving forward. The south side of the project area is presently fenced off between Damen and Ashland avenues, so that stretch is not ideal for biking or scooting right now, but it should be very rideable in the future.
Here are the 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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