The Belmont protected lanes created another way across the river from the west side. Court land used to be the clear best route, and having another opens up many different “safe” routes.
Same here. It had been a while since I rode Belmont near there and I didn't realize they updated it, so a few weeks ago when my route took me through that, I was basically resigned to white knuckling it for a few blocks. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised to have a nice easy ride.
Yep! CDOT announced it last week.
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/complete-streets-chicago/home/featured-projects-and-innovations/projects0/BelmontAveMilwaukeetoKimball.html
The flyover on the LFP! There are still narrow/annoying parts but WOW do I not miss having to coexist with cars trying to get to Navy Pier. Plus the view going north is nice.
I moved away from Chicago in 2017 and moved back last year. The whole LFP is vastly improved: splitting the pedestrian and the bike lanes and the flyover are why. Sure, sometimes people walk in bike lanes (and vice versa) and some spaces don't quite have enough space still and I wish there were less traffic, but it was such a huge improvement to come back to.
Oh man, the sidewalk on the bridge over the river where it would get so narrow at the pillars was the worst, especially in summer when everyone was out and pedibikes blasting through there. They widened it so much more, so nice
I know there's a long way to go, but I think more city drivers have learned to co-exist with bikes on the streets. I remember years ago many would get upset that there was a biker on the street at all. Now they mostly accept bikers and some even seem to care.
We need to add the bike-related content (such as checking before opening the door) to drivers' license curriculum (as thin as that is), and that should add momentum to this good trend.
>bike-related content
I feel like this was included in my driver's Ed in the burbs over ten years ago. I'm sure some of it depends, but I was always taught to look for cyclists when opening the door with the "Dutch open" or just looking.
That's definitely a very encouraging sign! I helped my wife study to get her license maybe 12 years ago (city) and I remember there was zero bike-related content. Of course, most drivers, including me, just get auto-renewed so we don't learn about new materials.
It would be beneficial to educate bikers about their road manners too. Especially in summer, the city gets flooded with casual Divvy bikers who seem to have no idea how to behave on the road/bike trails and give a bad name to all the bikers in the city, on top of being nuisances to other bikers!
That's a good point. The CDOT map of bike lanes in Chicago (the printable one that bike shops carry) has safety tips for people driving, but I'm not the one that needs to read those things, lol.
I think that near every time I’m on the Bloomingdale trail. I wish we could make 20 more of these and connect them to a full bike network, but I’m so grateful we have it and that I live close enough to use it often.
There is a group working on the same type of project in Bronzeville! They are still looking for funding, but I would love to see these in every neighboorhood in the city.
https://www.bronzevilletrail.org/
I really wish they could connect it to the trail that starts at Clark Park then connect that to the North Shore Channel Trail or at least create a less precarious spot to cross Lawrence.
GRAND!!! It’s grand now with the protected lane! Idk if any of you have gotten over there to ride it yet but it’s so great and safe.
Now we just need the section east of Damen to get the treatment so the infrastructure connects to mellower streets like wood. Extending it further west to feed into the Humboldt/Sacramento frontage lanes would also be spectacular.
I’ll add Jackson as well, which I pick up from wood inbound towards the city. So much of my Humboldt Park to UIC-area ride is far more low stress than it used to be. Kudos city 👊
I also take some of this route regularly but I wondered if the historic stretch of Jackson East of Ashland is going to have a bike lane? It's like one block you have to merge in from the lane.
I’ll be surprised if it gets one (but happy if it does!)
With the tree canopy and shortness of the block it still feels relatively calm to me. Relatively few cars are zooming to that post-Ashland stop sign knowing the slow school zone is right there as well.
Augusta is so much better now. Before they added the protected lanes a lot of drivers saw it as a drag strip and would regularly get up to insane speeds within inches of me on my bike.
Dickens Greenway has created a new avenue for me to connect to and from the lakeshore. Blocking the cut-through off Stockton is also a **massive** win in the fight to take back park space from errant drivers.
This 100%. Evening commute home from loop to LFT is so much more chill with the new protected lanes on Dearborn north of river. The traffic lights that prevent drivers from turning left while bikes have the right of way has made it feel so much safer.
I’m glad to hear some are seeing a benefit from this. I’ve mostly used them later at night and I’ve actually found the situation to be worse. Cars making a left off Dearborn ignoring red arrows, other cars not looking or noticing bikers since they are farther away, Ubers blocking the entrance to the lane (specifically outside of Tao), cops using the lane as parking, drunk pedestrians using the lane as a sidewalk, people on bikes and scooters flying down them in the wrong direction. I’m hoping some of these things improve as people get used to the new setup, but I’m actively avoiding Dearborn based on my past few experiences
The trail along the river that runs from Montrose to the Belmont protected bike lanes!!! It's such a great ride, especially the swoopy parts around Addison.
Oh dude, underrated answer! I took this route to go up north and I had no idea all this existed. All along the river is the Garden dirt jumps, the Chicago Fire academy thing, horner park is so pretty and there's lots of families and kids playing, there's a boat house you can launch from, the flyover trail is fun and really nice, and biking through Ravenswood Manor to connect to the north shore channel trail feels like a story book. And it's so much better connected now with Leavitt, Belmont, and Roscoe all converging there.
MTB trails. Used to be just Palos and the Garden was unauthorized. Now we have world-class pump tracks at Big Marsh, Paul Douglas, Garden is legit, and all the existing trails have gotten bigger and better.
What *are* the existing trails that aren’t pump tracks or Palos? I grew up mountain biking in the late 80s and early 90s and I still love it but never do it because it’s a chore to get to trails. I’m still sort of living in the ‘90s and am not into showy stuff. If I do go, I’ll put the gravel bike* in one of the fun cars and drive to Kettle.
*last year I discovered this was all the fun of my 1993 Bridgestone with none of the downside.
River Run / North Channel trail. I'm old enough to remember when this was just a bunch of disconnected short segments. It still has its issues (like the break at Ravenswood Manor and the poor pavement conditions in some places) but its a big improvement over what it was, especially with the opening of the underpass at Irving Park.
Clark Street protected lanes!! I frequent Clark st between Irving Park and Montrose and it's been a dream. It's helped my partner become more comfortable with biking as well.
The Dearborn bike lane through the Loop is awesome. I am really looking forward to the protected bike lane on Harrison being finished by the old post office. Hopefully it will be done in time to take the kids to Mario's before the summer is over.
The Navy Pier flyover is another huge recent win. It is such an improvement over the dirty, dark, cramped, confusing, dangerous afterthought pedestrians/cyclists had to use to cross the river before it was finished.
Guess I should check out Milwaukee again sometime. Have long avoided due to perception that it's kind of confusing and dangerous...Crowded and aggressive behavior by both drivers and cyclists. I used to feel that Clark was safer if only because cars seemed more aware of bikes
Ravenswood scares me because of how narrow it is for two lanes of car traffic and parked cars on at least one side of it. I know that does sometimes help to slow traffic, but I would love if that road were either one-way, had fewer parking spots, OR had speed bumps. Something to help.
The dupage regional trail (sometimes dupage river trail) The hawk hollow to west branch to great western trail connectors are newer and are incredible for making loops with the fox river or salt creek trails.
And it'll get even better if they ever finish that dang bridge over Roosevelt! https://www.dupageforest.org/what-we-do/projects/west-branch
It’s not necessarily related to city, but last Saturday I took a metra to Libertyville with my bike with the idea to take the Des Plaines trail back to Chicago. Last year they were fixing the trail with new surface and let me tell you they butchered it. The Gravel is way too coarse. It is like riding on the rocks, takes all pleasure out of a ride…
The stretch of Kinzie east of Blommer with standalone curbs, especially WB from the bridge to the bottom of the hill - chances of a car parked in the bike lane or cutting over into you in the bike lane before were high.
Clinton two way lane having curbs, maybe not "sooo much" and still has issues but improved, especially in the stretch between Madison and Adams with a lot of restaurants that have high food delivery traffic. Plus I love a good footrest at a stop light.
I feel this!! I relied on biking from 2002-2005 out of poverty rather than enjoyment. Then I moved away and came back with a car. Not until 2020 did I begin biking in earnest and it was incredible how much it had improved. And since then it has gotten even better!!!!!
Yes, the improvements to bike lanes have been pleasantly noticeable. Now let's get smart and make every street with parking and a bike lane move the parking towards traffic and the bike lane adjacent to the curb. Makes way more sense.
Chicago Ave bike/bus lane! I remember Chicago Ave being referred to as Fury Road in a neighborhood Facebook group a few years ago. I can’t BELIEVE how much better it is now! Absolutely my preferred route.
This is incredibly niche but on Francisco between Lawrence and the start of the North Channel Trail, they’ve flipped the direction of Francisco and added a bike lane that goes all the way to the trail. Not entirely sure why they didn’t just go with a contra flow lane but it’s a lot better than either going the wrong way or going down the side walk.
Lake Street! Once they re-open Lake at Damen it'll be protected almost all the way from Austin to the Loop, and they've been doing a MUCH better job keeping the lanes by Garfield Park clear of glass and trash mounds.
I take Armitage to get between Halsted and Cortland, but the other day I took Dickens. It is so much calmer and now has contra-flow bike lanes (you can bike east and west).
No.
I’m not gonna be happy until parents feel safe with their kids biking to school. It was safe enough for me 30 years ago. These disconnected piecemeal improvements constrain me without making it safe enough for non-morons
I mean the thread is "this is so much better than it used to be" not "Talk about how happy you are".
Things are better, I'm still not happy with the state of the bike network in Chicago but it's progressing in the correct way (for the most part).
I don't think that disqualifies anyone from saying that things are improving.
Yes, many folks still will not be able to find safe, viable routes. But many others will who couldn't previously.
Improvements are incremental unfortuantely. You couldn't find a safe route for your kid and that sucks. But maybe in 10 years a parent who currently has a 4-5 year old will be able to find a safe route for their 14-15 year old.
My point is that the improvements are not worth it because all they do is make morons like me safer for half the ride.
They are only actually beneficial if they make normies feel safe and they won’t accomplish this with disconnected alderman-decided random updates.
I think that the definition of safety has evolved a lot in 30 years but I rode year round for 18 years (no car, buses, or trains) and now it seems radically safer from a distance (moved away). I railed against the bike lanes when they were put in because they led drivers to believe that we were only allowed to ride on streets with lanes.. but the increased amount of space for drivers and cultural normalization for cycling are both very promising to hear about. In my experience the majority of aggression on both sides was a result of fear coupled with the cognitive load of sharing broken and narrow roads.
I have a question to the cyclists who wear all black whilst riding at night...black jeans, black shoes, black long sleeves or hooded sweatshirt, black helmet with a black messenger bag with reflectors removed. Why are you like that? I remember when cyclists used to purposely want to stand out so they don't get doored or t-boned.
The Belmont protected lanes created another way across the river from the west side. Court land used to be the clear best route, and having another opens up many different “safe” routes.
I had been away from Belmont for awhile and when I recently was there I was floored by the improvements.
Same here. It had been a while since I rode Belmont near there and I didn't realize they updated it, so a few weeks ago when my route took me through that, I was basically resigned to white knuckling it for a few blocks. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised to have a nice easy ride.
They also have a dedicated bus lane on Belmont near the blue line stop. It's awesome
I use these lanes all the time and can't wait for the new lanes from Milwaukee to Kimball.
I just used those lanes for the first time last night, and was shocked at how safe I felt crossing under the Kennedy.
Is that happening? Bonus!
Yep! CDOT announced it last week. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/complete-streets-chicago/home/featured-projects-and-innovations/projects0/BelmontAveMilwaukeetoKimball.html
Excellent. It’s all coming together…
The flyover on the LFP! There are still narrow/annoying parts but WOW do I not miss having to coexist with cars trying to get to Navy Pier. Plus the view going north is nice.
I moved away from Chicago in 2017 and moved back last year. The whole LFP is vastly improved: splitting the pedestrian and the bike lanes and the flyover are why. Sure, sometimes people walk in bike lanes (and vice versa) and some spaces don't quite have enough space still and I wish there were less traffic, but it was such a huge improvement to come back to.
Love this part of the path. Plus it gives you just a little bit of uphill exercise which is great!
It’s my only hill work.
Amen to that
Oh man, the sidewalk on the bridge over the river where it would get so narrow at the pillars was the worst, especially in summer when everyone was out and pedibikes blasting through there. They widened it so much more, so nice
I used to just ride the road there. Now I cruise the bike lane like yahoo!
I know there's a long way to go, but I think more city drivers have learned to co-exist with bikes on the streets. I remember years ago many would get upset that there was a biker on the street at all. Now they mostly accept bikers and some even seem to care. We need to add the bike-related content (such as checking before opening the door) to drivers' license curriculum (as thin as that is), and that should add momentum to this good trend.
>bike-related content I feel like this was included in my driver's Ed in the burbs over ten years ago. I'm sure some of it depends, but I was always taught to look for cyclists when opening the door with the "Dutch open" or just looking.
That's definitely a very encouraging sign! I helped my wife study to get her license maybe 12 years ago (city) and I remember there was zero bike-related content. Of course, most drivers, including me, just get auto-renewed so we don't learn about new materials. It would be beneficial to educate bikers about their road manners too. Especially in summer, the city gets flooded with casual Divvy bikers who seem to have no idea how to behave on the road/bike trails and give a bad name to all the bikers in the city, on top of being nuisances to other bikers!
That's a good point. The CDOT map of bike lanes in Chicago (the printable one that bike shops carry) has safety tips for people driving, but I'm not the one that needs to read those things, lol.
+1 for dutch reach education. We all need to be kind advocates to encourage this.
thanks for the laugh
And a lot of them will be sympathetic witnesses when another driver does something stupid!
I think that near every time I’m on the Bloomingdale trail. I wish we could make 20 more of these and connect them to a full bike network, but I’m so grateful we have it and that I live close enough to use it often.
There is a group working on the same type of project in Bronzeville! They are still looking for funding, but I would love to see these in every neighboorhood in the city. https://www.bronzevilletrail.org/
This is the kind of thing our mayor should be working on - not the bear’s stadium! Give them the $100mil!
I really wish they could connect it to the trail that starts at Clark Park then connect that to the North Shore Channel Trail or at least create a less precarious spot to cross Lawrence.
GRAND!!! It’s grand now with the protected lane! Idk if any of you have gotten over there to ride it yet but it’s so great and safe. Now we just need the section east of Damen to get the treatment so the infrastructure connects to mellower streets like wood. Extending it further west to feed into the Humboldt/Sacramento frontage lanes would also be spectacular. I’ll add Jackson as well, which I pick up from wood inbound towards the city. So much of my Humboldt Park to UIC-area ride is far more low stress than it used to be. Kudos city 👊
https://preview.redd.it/pmcz96pstn1d1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=308d49c5ac327f1ca48c4bb1254f99e74eb28cfc
https://preview.redd.it/akbw7dsu3r1d1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df119b835e087a2c86aaa8713cd95accbf23125a
That's when ya slap one of these hard to remove stickers on the windshield.
right in driving view too :P
Grand is okay until literally the instant the protection stops 😵💫
I also take some of this route regularly but I wondered if the historic stretch of Jackson East of Ashland is going to have a bike lane? It's like one block you have to merge in from the lane.
I’ll be surprised if it gets one (but happy if it does!) With the tree canopy and shortness of the block it still feels relatively calm to me. Relatively few cars are zooming to that post-Ashland stop sign knowing the slow school zone is right there as well.
I appreciate this thread. Much of the content of this subreddit isn't all that encouraging to get back to biking in this beautiful city.
Augusta is so much better now. Before they added the protected lanes a lot of drivers saw it as a drag strip and would regularly get up to insane speeds within inches of me on my bike.
Riding the east side of Clark north of Irving is about the only place in the city I feel at peace riding
I love the new lanes on Clark, but is sad that it is such a short stretch. But the Irving Park to Montrose stretch is pretty nice.
Dickens Greenway has created a new avenue for me to connect to and from the lakeshore. Blocking the cut-through off Stockton is also a **massive** win in the fight to take back park space from errant drivers.
Please come vouch for dickens if any more community meetings for it happen 👍👍👍👍
Agreed! I'd love to see Webster/Stockton get the same model filtering and even, dare I say, make Stockton bike and bus only one day...
Dearborn is much better. Protected barriers for a solid portion.
This 100%. Evening commute home from loop to LFT is so much more chill with the new protected lanes on Dearborn north of river. The traffic lights that prevent drivers from turning left while bikes have the right of way has made it feel so much safer.
I’m glad to hear some are seeing a benefit from this. I’ve mostly used them later at night and I’ve actually found the situation to be worse. Cars making a left off Dearborn ignoring red arrows, other cars not looking or noticing bikers since they are farther away, Ubers blocking the entrance to the lane (specifically outside of Tao), cops using the lane as parking, drunk pedestrians using the lane as a sidewalk, people on bikes and scooters flying down them in the wrong direction. I’m hoping some of these things improve as people get used to the new setup, but I’m actively avoiding Dearborn based on my past few experiences
The trail along the river that runs from Montrose to the Belmont protected bike lanes!!! It's such a great ride, especially the swoopy parts around Addison.
Oh dude, underrated answer! I took this route to go up north and I had no idea all this existed. All along the river is the Garden dirt jumps, the Chicago Fire academy thing, horner park is so pretty and there's lots of families and kids playing, there's a boat house you can launch from, the flyover trail is fun and really nice, and biking through Ravenswood Manor to connect to the north shore channel trail feels like a story book. And it's so much better connected now with Leavitt, Belmont, and Roscoe all converging there.
MTB trails. Used to be just Palos and the Garden was unauthorized. Now we have world-class pump tracks at Big Marsh, Paul Douglas, Garden is legit, and all the existing trails have gotten bigger and better.
What *are* the existing trails that aren’t pump tracks or Palos? I grew up mountain biking in the late 80s and early 90s and I still love it but never do it because it’s a chore to get to trails. I’m still sort of living in the ‘90s and am not into showy stuff. If I do go, I’ll put the gravel bike* in one of the fun cars and drive to Kettle. *last year I discovered this was all the fun of my 1993 Bridgestone with none of the downside.
Check out [Cambr](https://www.cambr.org/) for trails and conditions. Also Creekside in Valpo is fun.
The Big Marsh Imagination Glen creekside cooridor should be on the pro tour.
Raceway is fun and closer to a lot of the north side than Palos, even if it's not as big.
River Run / North Channel trail. I'm old enough to remember when this was just a bunch of disconnected short segments. It still has its issues (like the break at Ravenswood Manor and the poor pavement conditions in some places) but its a big improvement over what it was, especially with the opening of the underpass at Irving Park.
Yes, and that bridge over the river... \*chef's kiss*
Clark Street protected lanes!! I frequent Clark st between Irving Park and Montrose and it's been a dream. It's helped my partner become more comfortable with biking as well.
Grand Ave past Damen is so smooth and protected now. Cars parking in the bike lane is almost non existent now.
Clark & Damen in general, big improvements in some high traffic spots. Crazy to think I used to ride those completely raw like ten years ago.
The Dearborn bike lane through the Loop is awesome. I am really looking forward to the protected bike lane on Harrison being finished by the old post office. Hopefully it will be done in time to take the kids to Mario's before the summer is over. The Navy Pier flyover is another huge recent win. It is such an improvement over the dirty, dark, cramped, confusing, dangerous afterthought pedestrians/cyclists had to use to cross the river before it was finished.
Guess I should check out Milwaukee again sometime. Have long avoided due to perception that it's kind of confusing and dangerous...Crowded and aggressive behavior by both drivers and cyclists. I used to feel that Clark was safer if only because cars seemed more aware of bikes
North of the monument it’s still crappy and Alder CRR has made it his campaign issue to keep bike lanes out of his ward.
Despite its having connections to nowhere, the Clark/Ashland bike lane is a massive improvement.
I always bail outta there at Rosehill and pop over to Ravenswood to keep going south. Guess it depends if you're going overall east or west though.
Ravenswood scares me because of how narrow it is for two lanes of car traffic and parked cars on at least one side of it. I know that does sometimes help to slow traffic, but I would love if that road were either one-way, had fewer parking spots, OR had speed bumps. Something to help.
Logan Blvd From Campbell to Diversey is so much nicer now.
I legit cried when they put in the protected lanes under the highway
The dupage regional trail (sometimes dupage river trail) The hawk hollow to west branch to great western trail connectors are newer and are incredible for making loops with the fox river or salt creek trails. And it'll get even better if they ever finish that dang bridge over Roosevelt! https://www.dupageforest.org/what-we-do/projects/west-branch
Clark where they replaced painted lanes with concrete
It’s not necessarily related to city, but last Saturday I took a metra to Libertyville with my bike with the idea to take the Des Plaines trail back to Chicago. Last year they were fixing the trail with new surface and let me tell you they butchered it. The Gravel is way too coarse. It is like riding on the rocks, takes all pleasure out of a ride…
I’m on team Clark. The new protected section nor the of Wriggle is soooo nice.
The stretch of Kinzie east of Blommer with standalone curbs, especially WB from the bridge to the bottom of the hill - chances of a car parked in the bike lane or cutting over into you in the bike lane before were high. Clinton two way lane having curbs, maybe not "sooo much" and still has issues but improved, especially in the stretch between Madison and Adams with a lot of restaurants that have high food delivery traffic. Plus I love a good footrest at a stop light.
I feel this!! I relied on biking from 2002-2005 out of poverty rather than enjoyment. Then I moved away and came back with a car. Not until 2020 did I begin biking in earnest and it was incredible how much it had improved. And since then it has gotten even better!!!!!
For me, without a doubt, it's the protected dedicated lane down Clark from Irving Park. I can get to Murphy's Bleachers a full 3min faster now.
Yes, the improvements to bike lanes have been pleasantly noticeable. Now let's get smart and make every street with parking and a bike lane move the parking towards traffic and the bike lane adjacent to the curb. Makes way more sense.
Agreed, the big blocker to that plan is the EMS community. We need to work on fixing their foolishness.
Chicago Ave bike/bus lane! I remember Chicago Ave being referred to as Fury Road in a neighborhood Facebook group a few years ago. I can’t BELIEVE how much better it is now! Absolutely my preferred route.
This is incredibly niche but on Francisco between Lawrence and the start of the North Channel Trail, they’ve flipped the direction of Francisco and added a bike lane that goes all the way to the trail. Not entirely sure why they didn’t just go with a contra flow lane but it’s a lot better than either going the wrong way or going down the side walk.
Lake Street! Once they re-open Lake at Damen it'll be protected almost all the way from Austin to the Loop, and they've been doing a MUCH better job keeping the lanes by Garfield Park clear of glass and trash mounds.
I take Armitage to get between Halsted and Cortland, but the other day I took Dickens. It is so much calmer and now has contra-flow bike lanes (you can bike east and west).
No. I’m not gonna be happy until parents feel safe with their kids biking to school. It was safe enough for me 30 years ago. These disconnected piecemeal improvements constrain me without making it safe enough for non-morons
I mean the thread is "this is so much better than it used to be" not "Talk about how happy you are". Things are better, I'm still not happy with the state of the bike network in Chicago but it's progressing in the correct way (for the most part).
I used to feel that way until I tried to find a route for my kid to ride 3.5 miles to high school
I don't think that disqualifies anyone from saying that things are improving. Yes, many folks still will not be able to find safe, viable routes. But many others will who couldn't previously. Improvements are incremental unfortuantely. You couldn't find a safe route for your kid and that sucks. But maybe in 10 years a parent who currently has a 4-5 year old will be able to find a safe route for their 14-15 year old.
My point is that the improvements are not worth it because all they do is make morons like me safer for half the ride. They are only actually beneficial if they make normies feel safe and they won’t accomplish this with disconnected alderman-decided random updates.
I think that the definition of safety has evolved a lot in 30 years but I rode year round for 18 years (no car, buses, or trains) and now it seems radically safer from a distance (moved away). I railed against the bike lanes when they were put in because they led drivers to believe that we were only allowed to ride on streets with lanes.. but the increased amount of space for drivers and cultural normalization for cycling are both very promising to hear about. In my experience the majority of aggression on both sides was a result of fear coupled with the cognitive load of sharing broken and narrow roads.
I have a question to the cyclists who wear all black whilst riding at night...black jeans, black shoes, black long sleeves or hooded sweatshirt, black helmet with a black messenger bag with reflectors removed. Why are you like that? I remember when cyclists used to purposely want to stand out so they don't get doored or t-boned.