No East/West Bike Lanes in the Loop?

Now that I am riding Divvy from Ogilvie to my office at Dearborn and Adams, it becomes apparent how few easy/west bike routes there are in the Loop. It's not bad in the morning because I head to the office pretty early, but the lack of of dedicated lanes is pretty apparent during the afternoon rush.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on May 22, 2017 at 11:07pm

Also, I rode Adams to Canal yesterday, then turned north for Ogilvie. Wasn't there a dedicated bike lane on Canal? It's all cars and a big red bus lane. The cars turn right from what seems like way the hell on the left, crossing the bus lane and, of course, little old me.

Permalink Reply by Maurice on May 23, 2017 at 6:50am

There used to be a bike lane on Canal, but they removed it when they installed the 2-way "protected" lane on Clinton. I still ride Canal almost every day, using the bus lanes as a massive bike lane.  Turning cars are an issue, but they're an even greater issue on Clinton.

 

It's strange that there are no east/west lanes between Washington and Harrison.  OTOH, the existing lanes are a minefield of parked vehicles and other obstructions.  I don't mind riding with auto traffic during rush hour. Since the cars are stopped 90% of the time, I can easily slalom around them, much to their consternation. 

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on May 25, 2017 at 5:33am

> There used to be a bike lane on Canal, but they removed it when they installed the 2-way "protected" lane on Clinton.

Can someone with good knowledge of the change maybe do an "Edit Maps" at maps.google.com to correct the bike annotations? I don't know how far north and south the loss of the Canal Street bike lane extends, and with my bum leg, I'm not about to go exploring. :-)

Thx...

Permalink Reply by JeffB on May 23, 2017 at 4:49am

Try Dearborn to Randolph to Clinton. All with protected bike lanes. In the morning take Washington to Dearborn.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on May 23, 2017 at 7:57am

^My thought as well.

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on May 23, 2017 at 9:24am

Yeah, exactly. My first thought was that Randolph is fairly far from Adams, but if the destination is Ogilvie, you are barely going out of your way by taking Randolph. 

That being said - east/west travel downtown still needs a lot of work I think. My current pet peeve is the Washington disconnects - why can't one of the Bus Only lanes under Ogilvie be converted to a bike lane? 

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on May 23, 2017 at 10:39am

I sometimes use Van Buren.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on May 24, 2017 at 2:33am

I noticed this last week when biking east on Washington into the loop. It's a great route for miles, then it gets scary for two blocks. Would be great if the city connected this "broken" route.

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on May 24, 2017 at 10:45am
I mean no disrespect to two of our founding fathers, but Randolph westbound was much better than Adams or Washington. Thanks...
Permalink Reply by Alex Z on May 25, 2017 at 3:23am

And Edmund Randolph doesn't even get a mention in "Hamilton"!

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on May 23, 2017 at 10:32am
Thanks for the replies. I rode the big bus lane west on Madison just now. Certainly better than Adams. Will try Randolph to Clinton tomorrow if I remember.
Permalink Reply by Maurice on May 23, 2017 at 2:49pm

Watch out for right turning cars and pedestrians in the lane as you cross Canal.

 

They almost certainly will not be watching out for you.

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