Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about buffered bike lanes

Study: To Keep Bicyclists Outside the Door Zone, You Need a Buffer

By Steven Vance | Jul 29, 2014 | 42 Comments

A new study has found that buffered bike lanes are better than conventional bike lanes when it comes to encouraging bicyclists to ride outside the door zone. The study draws its conclusion, in part, based on a test done with bike lanes in Chicago. The study, recently published by the Transportation Research Board, concludes that […]

Eyes on the Street: Augusta Buffered Lanes and Repaved Milwaukee PBLs

By John Greenfield | May 29, 2014 | 27 Comments

Due to the cold spring, the Chicago Department of Transportation’s bikeways construction season got off to a late start. Thermoplastic pavement markings don’t adhere properly to asphalt at temperatures below 50 Fahrenheit, as evidenced by bike lanes and crosswalks in various parts of town that were striped too late in the season in 2013 and […]

Business Owners on Elston Won’t Fight Buffered Bike Lanes

By John Greenfield | Apr 8, 2014 | 18 Comments

It’s official: business owners along the Elston industrial corridor are giving up their fight against better bike lanes on the street. In December, when Chicago Department of Transportation staff discussed plans for buffered bike lanes on Elston between North and Webster at a meeting hosted by the North Branch Works industrial council, there was stiff […]

Elston Has a Speeding Problem — A Safe Bike Lane Can Help

By Steven Vance | Apr 8, 2014 | 43 Comments

To reach Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s goal of having five percent of trips under five miles made by bike, bicycling will have to appeal to a much broader base of people than it does today. CDOT’s bikeway projects will only succeed at that goal if new cyclists feel safe and comfortable while riding in these lanes — which, […]

Chicago Building Four Miles of Protected Bike Lanes This Year

By Steven Vance | Apr 7, 2014 | 13 Comments

The City of Chicago announced a new slate of bikeway projects today, outlining about 15 miles of new buffered bike lanes and a little more than four miles of protected lanes to be built in 2014. Under the plan for this year, protected bikeway construction in Chicago would continue to outpace every other American city except […]

“A New Bike Route” No Substitute for Safer Biking on Elston

By John Greenfield | Jan 24, 2014 | 56 Comments

Last month when Chicago Department of Transportation staffers discussed plans for buffered bike lanes on Elston between North and Webster at a meeting hosted by the North Branch Works industrial council, there was stiff resistance from local business owners. Although there’s currently a protected lane on the street from Division to North, and a fading […]

Elston Businesses Want Easier Trucking at the Expense of Bike Safety

By John Greenfield | Dec 20, 2013 | 50 Comments

On Wednesday morning the North Branch Works industrial council hosted a meeting for business owners on the city’s proposal to upgrade barely visible conventional bike lanes on Elston between North and Webster to buffered lanes, focusing on the section south of Cortland. Joe Robinson, a member of Bike Walk Logan Square who teaches at a […]

Eyes on the Street: New Buffered Lanes on Wells Street in Old Town

By John Greenfield | Nov 15, 2013 | 14 Comments

This weekend might be the Chicago Department of Transportation’s last hurrah for building bike lanes before the construction season ends. The molten plastic striping doesn’t properly adhere to asphalt at temperatures under 50 degrees Fahrenheit, so the last several days of frigid weather put a halt to CDOT’s efforts to install 20.7 more miles of […]

Eyes on the Street: New Buffered Lanes on North Halsted

By John Greenfield | Nov 12, 2013 | 17 Comments

The Chicago Department of Transportation is currently hoping to install up to 20.7 more miles of buffered and protected bike lanes before the close of the construction season. However, since thermoplastic striping doesn’t properly bond to asphalt at under 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the current freeze is delaying these projects, so it’s unlikely all of them […]

Eyes on the Street: New Buffered Bike Lanes on Madison Street

By John Greenfield | Sep 10, 2013 | 8 Comments

Well-designed protected bike lanes are generally far superior to buffered lanes, because it provides actual physical protection from moving cars, not just paint on the road, which encourage more risk-averse people to ride. On the other hand, if protected lanes are off the table, well-executed buffered lanes are nothing to sneeze at. The Chicago Department […]

An Update on CDOT’s Bikeway Construction

By John Greenfield | Aug 30, 2013 | 20 Comments

We’re currently in the midst of a bike lane building boom. Earlier this year the Chicago Department of Transportation completed groundbreaking protected lanes on Milwaukee from Kinzie to Elston, which involved removing about 50 percent of the parking spaces. Buffered lanes were striped on Wells from Chicago to North. Recently CDOT completed buffered lanes on […]

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