Working Toward Goal of Building 100 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes by 2015

The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) announced today that through the Chicago Bicycle Program it installed and restriped a total of 39 miles of on-street bike facilities throughout Chicago in 2011, nearly four times the 11 miles completed in 2010.

 “Mayor Emanuel’s commitment to making Chicago a pioneer in bikeway design and implementation has fueled these remarkable achievements,” said CDOT Commissioner Gabe Klein. “With his support and the support of Chicago’s bicycling community, CDOT is looking forward to building on 2011’s accomplishments and making 2012 a banner year for new bikeways in Chicago.”

CDOT installed and restriped a total of 39 miles of on-street bike facilities across 52 different projects in 32 wards throughout the city in 2011:

• 17 miles of new bike lanes

• 9 miles of restriped bike lanes

• 9 miles of new marked shared lanes

• 2 miles of new protected bike lanes

• 1 mile of new buffered bike lanes

• 1 mile of restriped marked shared lanes

2011 was a year of firsts for CDOT’s Bike Program, including the first protected bike lane; first buffered bike lane; first bike boxes; and first bike-friendly intersection designs.  CDOT also installed its first on-street bike parking corral in the Wicker Park neighborhood.

Chicago’s most important bikeways infrastructure projects in 2011 were the opening of the protected bike lanes on Kinzie Street, Jackson Boulevard and 18th Street.   On Kinzie, bicycle ridership has increased with cyclists indicating a greater feeling of safety.  Importantly, there has been little to no impact on automobile travel times. 

“These projects proved protected bike lanes can work in Chicago and reaffirmed Mayor Emanuel’s commitment to installing 100 miles of protected bike lanes in his first term in office,” Klein said, adding that in 2012, protected bike lanes will be installed on Elston Avenue, the west side boulevards, and other locations throughout Chicago.

Buffered bike lanes were installed for the first time in Chicago in 2011 on portions of Jackson Boulevard and Wabash Avenue. Buffered bike lanes, installed on streets too narrow for protected bike lanes, provide bicyclists with additional comfort and protection by applying a striped buffer to one or both sides of the bike lane.

To better address the challenges of intersections for bicyclists, CDOT installed several innovative intersection treatments in 2011 that increase bicyclist safety and visibility. Bike boxes, striping providing guidance through intersections and multi-stage turn queue boxes are just a few of the treatments installed in 2011.  These treatments, along with several others, will become standard in 2012 and beyond.

Twenty-five new bike lane projects were installed throughout Chicago in 2011 totaling 17 miles.  Highlights include Chicago’s first bike lane through the Loop on Madison St. and bike lanes installed in areas of the city for the first time as CDOT strives to reach its goal of installing a bikeway within a ½ mile of every Chicagoan by 2015.  Bike lanes create the majority of Chicago’s existing bikeway network and will serve as the backbone of the network as CDOT moves towards installing 100 miles of protected bike lanes over the next three years.