protected bike lanes

See the City of Evanston's webpage for this project, including Tuesday's meeting presentation and display boards, 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.)

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.

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.

This post includes reporting by Cameron Bolton and commentary by John Greenfield.

As in 2023, the Chicago Department of Transportation has been busy installing new bikeways across the city this year. As of this writing, the city’s website that tracks the installations lists 42 completed segments this year so far, with 20 more underway. Two of them are part of my return commute from a workplace in Englewood to my home Logan Square, and they're a welcome bit of infrastructure on a ride that includes the some of the best and worst aspects of biking in our city.

Update 10/11/24, 3:45 PM: As of this afternoon, the Dickens Greenway plaza has been dismantled, and motorists are allowed to drive west across the formerly car-free space. Westbound bike riders are required to "share" the lane with drivers.

Even after we found that during non-rush hours, the lanes carried about 60 percent more bike and scooter riders than a skeptic predicted, he still wasn't impressed. But how many people ride in them during rush hours?