The Chainlink

lake front bike path- how is it?

I have ridden my bike up until last Monday. Does anyone know the current condition of the lake bike path from Irving to about Chicago?  thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 25, 2011 at 2:26pm

I was checking out a south side section of the path earlier today.  Due to the new harbor construction at 31st St., the lakefront is closed from 35th St. north to somewhere north of 31st. This is a HUGE construction project, so it won't be going away anytime soon.

 

When you're heading north from Hyde Park, the last east-west access point is Oakwood/Pershing (3900S).  35th St. does NOT provide good bike access, as this location still has an OLD ped bridge with stairs.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 25, 2011 at 2:54pm

If you head west from the northbound path to the one that borders the parking lot at Oakwood, the path isn't properly finished at the street.  Right now it looks like this.


Your alternatives  are to ride through the parking lot, or to ride the northbound path to the unpaved construction access that comes out to the right of the fence in the picture.


Anne Alt said:

I was checking out a south side section of the path earlier today.  Due to the new harbor construction at 31st St., the lakefront is closed from 35th St. north to somewhere north of 31st. This is a HUGE construction project, so it won't be going away anytime soon.

 

When you're heading north from Hyde Park, the last east-west access point is Oakwood/Pershing (3900S).  35th St. does NOT provide good bike access, as this location still has an OLD ped bridge with stairs.

Permalink Reply by Joe Studer 8.0 mi on March 25, 2011 at 3:02pm

Exactly where is this photo taken?  I ask because I rode the LFP this morning from Hyde Park to the Loop and did not encounter anything like this.  Is this on a sidewalk west of where the LFP is? 

 

The construction at the new harbor led to a re-routing of the LFP around the construction zone, but I've not encountered anything like you're showing here.

Anne Alt said:

If you head west from the northbound path to the one that borders the parking lot at Oakwood, the path isn't properly finished at the street.  Right now it looks like this.


Your alternatives  are to ride through the parking lot, or to ride the northbound path to the unpaved construction access that comes out to the right of the fence in the picture.


Anne Alt said:

I was checking out a south side section of the path earlier today.  Due to the new harbor construction at 31st St., the lakefront is closed from 35th St. north to somewhere north of 31st. This is a HUGE construction project, so it won't be going away anytime soon.

 

When you're heading north from Hyde Park, the last east-west access point is Oakwood/Pershing (3900S).  35th St. does NOT provide good bike access, as this location still has an OLD ped bridge with stairs.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 25, 2011 at 3:04pm

This is at Oakwood (3900S). 

 

Can you describe how the path is rerouted around the construction at 31st?  I looked at it from the west.  From there, it looked like the area was completely closed off except for construction.

Joe Studer said:

Exactly where is this photo taken?  I ask because I rode the LFP this morning from Hyde Park to the Loop and did not encounter anything like this.  Is this on a sidewalk west of where the LFP is? 

 

The construction at the new harbor led to a re-routing of the LFP around the construction zone, but I've not encountered anything like you're showing here.

Anne Alt said:

If you head west from the northbound path to the one that borders the parking lot at Oakwood, the path isn't properly finished at the street.  Right now it looks like this.


Your alternatives  are to ride through the parking lot, or to ride the northbound path to the unpaved construction access that comes out to the right of the fence in the picture.


Anne Alt said:

I was checking out a south side section of the path earlier today.  Due to the new harbor construction at 31st St., the lakefront is closed from 35th St. north to somewhere north of 31st. This is a HUGE construction project, so it won't be going away anytime soon.

 

When you're heading north from Hyde Park, the last east-west access point is Oakwood/Pershing (3900S).  35th St. does NOT provide good bike access, as this location still has an OLD ped bridge with stairs.

Permalink Reply by Joe Studer 8.0 mi on March 25, 2011 at 3:28pm

I'll take some photos on my way home tonight, but will give my best narrative description here.

 

North of Oakwood the LFP goes up a "hill."  At the top of the hill, the LFP would split.  One split went to the east of the parking lot at 31st and was the more heavily-traveled split.  The other split went to the west of the parking lot at 31st, went past the skate park.  Both parts came together right around the beach house at 31st Street. 

 

Well, that eastern split is now closed off.  All LFP traffic must now take the western split.  Rather than re-join the eastern split at the beach house (which is now closed off), there is a new trail that leads to the 31st exit ramp from northbound LSD.  One lane of that northbound exit ramp is closed to car traffic, and is now the LFP.  Once you hit 31st Street, the construction site fencing ends, and this little re-route jogs east to re-joins the LFP, and you proceed to McCormick Place.

 

Taking 31st Street, a person could simply continue east through the intersection at the LSD overpass.  You are basically taking the same path from 31st to the LFP that existed prior to the re-routing.  No need to go into the construction site.  You should see the LFP right to the west side and north side of the construction fencing.


Anne Alt said:

This is at Oakwood (3900S). 

 

Can you describe how the path is rerouted around the construction at 31st?  I looked at it from the west.  From there, it looked like the area was completely closed off except for construction.

Joe Studer said:

Exactly where is this photo taken?  I ask because I rode the LFP this morning from Hyde Park to the Loop and did not encounter anything like this.  Is this on a sidewalk west of where the LFP is? 

 

The construction at the new harbor led to a re-routing of the LFP around the construction zone, but I've not encountered anything like you're showing here.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 25, 2011 at 3:30pm
Thanks for clarifying.  From where I was looking, the path wasn't visible at 31st St., only the construction.

Joe Studer said:

I'll take some photos on my way home tonight, but will give my best narrative description here.

 

North of Oakwood the LFP goes up a "hill."  At the top of the hill, the LFP would split.  One split went to the east of the parking lot at 31st and was the more heavily-traveled split.  The other split went to the west of the parking lot at 31st, went past the skate park.  Both parts came together right around the beach house at 31st Street. 

 

Well, that eastern split is now closed off.  All LFP traffic must now take the western split.  Rather than re-join the eastern split at the beach house (which is now closed off), there is a new trail that leads to the 31st exit ramp from northbound LSD.  One lane of that northbound exit ramp is closed to car traffic, and is now the LFP.  Once you hit 31st Street, the construction site fencing ends, and this little re-route jogs east to re-joins the LFP, and you proceed to McCormick Place.

 

Taking 31st Street, a person could simply continue east through the intersection at the LSD overpass.  You are basically taking the same path from 31st to the LFP that existed prior to the re-routing.  No need to go into the construction site.  You should see the LFP right to the west side and north side of the construction fencing.


Anne Alt said:

This is at Oakwood (3900S). 

 

Can you describe how the path is rerouted around the construction at 31st?  I looked at it from the west.  From there, it looked like the area was completely closed off except for construction.

Joe Studer said:

Exactly where is this photo taken?  I ask because I rode the LFP this morning from Hyde Park to the Loop and did not encounter anything like this.  Is this on a sidewalk west of where the LFP is? 

 

The construction at the new harbor led to a re-routing of the LFP around the construction zone, but I've not encountered anything like you're showing here.

Permalink Reply by Joe Studer 8.0 mi on March 25, 2011 at 7:29pm

Here are some photos of how the LFP re-routes around the harbor construction at 31st street.

 

This first shot -- heading south on the LFP toward 31st street -- shows how the path detours just north of the 31st street beach house:

 

 

This next photo, looking west down 31st, shows where a person could get onto the path from 31st street:

 

Once a person crossed to the LFP from 31st street, this shot reflects what they would see if they wanted to head north on the LFP:

 

 

and this shot reflects what they would see if they wanted to head south:

 

 

Despite this detour, there is pretty smooth riding the on the LFP from (at least) Hyde Park to the Loop.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 26, 2011 at 2:18pm
Thanks again for posting this.  From where I was looking yesterday, none of this was obvious.

Joe Studer said:

Here are some photos of how the LFP re-routes around the harbor construction at 31st street.

 

This first shot -- heading south on the LFP toward 31st street -- shows how the path detours just north of the 31st street beach house:

 

 

This next photo, looking west down 31st, shows where a person could get onto the path from 31st street:

 

Once a person crossed to the LFP from 31st street, this shot reflects what they would see if they wanted to head north on the LFP:

 

 

and this shot reflects what they would see if they wanted to head south:

 

 

Despite this detour, there is pretty smooth riding the on the LFP from (at least) Hyde Park to the Loop.

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on February 4, 2013 at 9:07pm

 I'm thinking about riding my bike along the LFP from around Foster Ave. to Oak Street. I know the path between Oak Street and Grand is risky. Thought I'd dust off this thread and solicit some observations from the Chain Link community.

Thanks.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on February 5, 2013 at 10:17am

Everything from Ardmore south to Oak is plowed and crunchy with salt.  It wasn't particularly wet this morning but with snow later today it may get sloppy.  There's so much salt down I don't think it's going to get covered.

South of Oak (or the top of Michigan Ave) the city didn't plow the big curve yesterday, and this morning I got off the trail at North Ave and went in on State Street.  Foster to Oak should be fine, though.

Permalink Reply by pjc jr on February 5, 2013 at 10:35am

I rode home on it from Oak to Foster last night and there were some sections that got snow drifted over...but I would bet that the city has already re-salted the hell out of the LFP and is probably fine to ride.

They are currently not plowing from Oak to Illinois and the Oak street tunnel over to Michigan ave. was not plowed/cleared either, thanks Chicago.  Suggest exiting at North Ave. if you don't like riding in snow.

I of course love it and look for every opportunity to ride my fix gear in the deepest snow I can find!

Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on February 5, 2013 at 10:13pm

Unfortunately, the Park District can't operate their plowing vehicles on the trail between Oak Street Beach and Ohio Street Beach, so that stretch doesn't get plowed. The Park District closes it in snowy/icy weather. The concrete embankment there is too narrow and sloped, so snow plow vehicles can slide into the lake in icy conditions. I'm not sure why the underpass at Oak Street didn't get cleared though -- will need to check on that.

The Oak-Ohio stretch of the lakefront is obviously in need of major improvement, which hopefully will be a possibility as the city begins planning for rebuilding North Lake Shore Drive later this year. Sign up for Friends of the Lakefront Trail updates to stay up-to-date on that project: http://www.activetrans.org/lakefronttrail

Also, you can also follow and/or share trail condition updates with the #ChiLFT hashtag: https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=%23ChiLFT&src=typd

- Lee Crandell, Active Trans

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