Promoted

Check out Part 2: Lincoln Square, Irving Park, and Albany Park here.

Howdy, Streetsblog Chicago readers! We couldn't ask for a better day to kick off this publication's now-annual Bike Lane Fest series than this lovely mid-December day with weather in the upper 40s Farenheit. (Let's not think too hard about whether climate change is playing a role.)

On a frigid #GivingTuesday, the Active Transportation Alliance held its annual member party to celebrate the organization’s 2024 advocacy wins, and announce priorities for the year ahead. Well over 100 members gathered in the cavernous Revolution Brewing taproom – fittingly situated along new curb-protected bike lanes on Kedzie Avenue in Avondale. Attendees mingled for the first hour, sipping beers and scarfing down pizza from Dimo’s and chicken from Nando’s Peri Peri. Full racks in the coat-and-bike room proved that cold-weather cycling is alive and well in Chicago.

Yesterday I discussed the brouhaha over a proposal to extend the two-way protected bike lane on Evanston's Chicago Avenue south about two miles to the city of Chicago border. A total of 62 merchants and "avid cyclists" signed two different letters opposing the new bikeway because it would involve converting 66 of the corridor's 250 car parking spaces – only about a quarter of them. However, more than 250 business people and residents have signed another letter from the Evanston Transit Alliance in favor of the initiative.

While an article in the Evanston RoundTable suggests that most residents are opposed to the project, hundreds of people signed a letter to support it.

By J. Niimi

Sadly, last week, an SUV driver struck and killed a 44-year-old male man in Chicago's North Lawndale community and fled the scene.

This has been a big year for Chicagoland sustainable transportation issues, but there are greater challenges ahead in 2025.

Update 12/2/24, 1:15 PM: Evanston's Chicago Avenue Corridor Project, including the protected bike lane extension proposal, will be discussed at a community meeting on Tuesday 12/10, 7-9 p.m. at Robert Crown Community Center, 1801 Main St. in Evanston.