Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about bike lanes

An Open Streets car-free event on Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park in 2013. Photo: John Greenfield

Let’s respond to coronavirus and climate change with car-free streets, bus and bike lanes

By Courtney Cobbs | Mar 25, 2020 | No Comments

Creating more car-free streets for safe transportation and recreation during the current pandemic crisis would also address the longterm challenge of climate change.

Motorists illegally drive in downtown Loop Link bus lanes. Photo: Kevin Zolkiewicz

Lightfoot’s crackdown on bus and bike lane violations is a step in the right direction

By John Greenfield | Feb 19, 2020 | No Comments

A new ordinance would allow parking aides to photo violations of bus and bike lanes and mail the tickets, even scofflaws try to escape the fine by driving away.

Cyclists detour around a construction site in Wicker Park. Photo: John Greenfield

311 is a joke? No, but some bike lane blockage reports are going unaddressed

By Courtney Cobbs | Dec 18, 2019 | No Comments

According to Bike Lane Uprising, a site that documents bikeway obstructions, 311 requests about bike lanes are getting closed before they actually get resolved.

Bike lanes have been restriped on Drexel in the previous, bike-friendly configuration. Photo: Steve Quispe

After backlash from cyclists, Ald. King dropped plan to downgrade the Drexel bike lanes

By John Greenfield | Dec 6, 2019 | No Comments

King proposed allowing car parking along the boulevard's median, with would have relocated the bike lane back into the door zone.

Attendees at the Drexel meeting. Photo: Lynda Lopez

Most meeting attendees opposed King’s plan to turn Drexel bikeways into car parking

By Lynda Lopez | Oct 17, 2019 | No Comments

Less than a year ago CDOT moved the Drexel bike lanes next to the grassy median to make them safer. Now Alderman Sophia King is proposing to move them back and create new parking lanes by the median.

A We Keep You Rollin' event in Beaubien Forest Preserve. Photo: Deloris Lucas

CDOT plans new bikeways on Far South Side, provides update on recent bike projects

By John Greenfield | Sep 5, 2019 | 6 Comments

Other new bike lanes and upgrades were recently completed or are planned on the Southeast Side, in the Illinois Medical District, in East Garfield Park, and in Andersonville.

The Loop Link system on Washington Street. Photo: CDOT

For a More Efficient and Equitable Chicago, Swap Car Lanes for Bus and Bike Lanes

By Lynda Lopez and John Greenfield | Aug 26, 2019 | 14 Comments

Lori Lightfoot’s platform showed she understands that our city needs a less auto-centric transportation system. Let’s make sure she follows through on her promises.

The passenger of a car that was blocking the Canal Street bike lane throws a liquid at a cyclist who photographed the vehicle. Image via Bike Lane Uprising and The Chainlink.

Cyclists Who Confronted Bike Lane Blockers Were Attacked With Fluid, Fists, SUV

By John Greenfield | Mar 18, 2019 | 20 Comments

The victims shared photos of the assailants and their plate numbers with the police but, weeks later, no arrests have been made.

Looking west on Upper Randolph, a line of vehicles parked in the curbside bike lane by Millennium Park. Most photos in this post were taken last Friday by a Streetsblog reader who asked to be anonymous

Ceci N’est Pas Une Piste Cyclable: The Upper Randolph Bikeway Is Often Non-Functional

By John Greenfield | Oct 2, 2018 | 15 Comments

There's got to be a better way to accommodate deliveries and drop-offs to Millennium Park while keeping cyclists safe.

When cyclists ride too close to parked cars, they're in danger of getting doored. But my original anti-dooring bike lanes proposal wouldn't have solved that problem. Photo: John Greenfield

Back to the Drawing Board: Another Attempt at an Anti-Dooring Bike Lane Design

By John Greenfield | Sep 10, 2018 | 24 Comments

After some on-the-road research with a tape measure, I found out that my design for a 44-foot-wide street wouldn't work, so here's a proposal for a 46-foot one.

On streets as narrow as 44 feet, wide buffers next to the parking lanes can help keep cyclists out of the way of car doors. Image: John Greenfield

Here’s an Inexpensive, Simple Way to Help Prevent Bicycle Dooring Crashes and Save Lives

By John Greenfield | Sep 7, 2018 | 20 Comments

Striping all bike lanes in a way that encourages cyclists to ride out of the "door zone" would help keep people out of harm's way.

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