Madison Street Bike Lane - West Side Experiences?

For the past 3 years I have been riding Washington/Warren, Lake or Augusta (and occasionally Harrison) everyday between Oak Park and the Loop to and from work. When leaving the Loop in the afternoon, I sometimes ride Madison to Leavitt or Oakley and cut up to Washington. But tonight, inspired by another rider in front of me, I decided to ride straight to Oak Park on Madison. At 6:45, there was almost no traffic. But more to my liking, the road was freshly repaved between Western and points west of Cicero, and there is a buffered bike lane both directions between Garfield Park and around Laramie.

Apart from CTA bus traffic, it was a fairly pleasant and smooth ride. In fact, the ride did not become hairy until Oak Park, where the traffic became more congested and the lanes narrower.

Anyone else have any experiences, good or bad, on the Madison West Side bike lanes? I searched but did not see a discussion of this stretch on the c-link.

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Permalink Reply by Will on September 9, 2013 at 3:29pm

No experience with it since they put in a bike lane, but I rode it many times from 2009-2011. It was not so good then. Some aggressive drivers, and just generally not set up very well for cycling.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Z on September 10, 2013 at 1:16am

Nice find! I'll have to try this sometime.

It's been over a year since I took Washington west to OP. I thought it was pretty great then. Is the road pretty torn up now?

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Permalink Reply by JeffB on September 10, 2013 at 4:00am

Good to know about the new pavement. I rode it once before, a couple years ago, and it was terrible in spots. Nice to know that option's back on the table

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Permalink Reply by yaj 7.4 on September 10, 2013 at 6:27pm

Agreed, the Madison lane is lovely, I've been riding it these last few weeks alternating with Washington/Warren. Madison is much better marked right now.