Protected Bike Lanes to Be Shifted From Madison to Washington, Randolph

Chicago Sun Times

By Ted Cox on June 23, 2014 7:56am

CITY HALL — The city is planning to move protected bike lanes from Canal and Madison streets to Randolph Street, Washington Boulevard and Clinton Street as part of a bus-rapid-transit plan to ease congestion on Madison and around Union Station.

The alterations have always been part of the Central Loop BRT project, but were not widely publicized until the Chicago Department of Transportation made a presentation on it recently to the Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Council. The new lanes are expected to free cyclists from congestion surrounding Union Station and from sharing the road with the CTA's busy 20 Madison bus line.

"The approach is that the new lanes would serve the same purpose," said Kyle Whitehead, campaign director for the Active Transportation Alliance, which supports the switch.

It will create three new miles of protected bike lanes on Clinton, Washington and Randolph and replace 1.5 miles on Canal and Madison.

On Washington, bike lanes will be protected by running on the curb side of BRT stations, with buses and through traffic on the other side. According to Department of Transportation spokesman Pete Scales, the lane will be set off between bus shelters, but it's not clear yet whether by the plastic barriers found on the Dearborn Street protected bike lanes or in some other manner.

"They will be physically separated somehow," Scales said.

Whitehead welcomed that configuration.

"These new protected bike lanes on Washington and Randolph are the kind of bike lanes we like to see," Whitehead said, in that they're clearly separated from traffic.

In that way, the new lanes would also be an upgrade from the current lanes on Madison and Canal. Whitehead added that similar lanes along Dearborn had increased bike traffic on that stretch of road by 150 percent.

The BRT project was scheduled for this year, but Scales said construction was now expected to start late this year or early next.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140623/downtown/protected-bike-lan...

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Permalink Reply by globalguy on June 23, 2014 at 5:42am

I was at last week's Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Board meeting when CDOT "unveiled" these changes. Their intentions, on the one hand, are to create "protected" corridors from the Far South to the Far North sides. On the other hand, their concept of "Far West Side" doesn't extend much farther west than the West Loop.

Permalink Reply by Ryan Stahlman on June 23, 2014 at 6:51am

Hmmm.... I use Madison every morning to get to Dearborn from the LFP.  Will Randolph be the logical replacement. Is there a graphic of this I can check out somewhere?

Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on June 23, 2014 at 6:58am

http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/cdot/supp_info/central_l...


Ryan Stahlman said:

Is there a graphic of this I can check out somewhere?

Permalink Reply by Ryan Stahlman on June 23, 2014 at 7:32am

Thanks Gene, I looked at this earlier and did not see a plan view of the proposed extent of route changes. Has any one seen that?

Permalink Reply by Simon Phearson on June 23, 2014 at 7:46am

Ryan - take this for what it's worth (not much), but I seem to recall picking up somewhere that the lane planned for Randolph would terminate on or before Michigan and wouldn't reach all the way to LFP. In case that's kind of what you're considering. I don't know that I saw anything other than a text description.

(A full-length Randolph bike lane would be relevant to my interests, as well, insofar as my current route takes me half a mile out of the way to grab Grand WB/Illinois EB and forces me to deal with the Navy Pier crowd.)

Ryan Stahlman said:

Thanks Gene, I looked at this earlier and did not see a plan view of the proposed extent of route changes. Has any one seen that?

Permalink Reply by Ryan Stahlman on June 23, 2014 at 8:05am

Simon, you read my mind. I ride the northbound on the LFP like you and have struggled to find a route that gets me to my office conveniently. I used to take the route you do (grand & illinois), but got fed up with the congestion at the bridge. 

Permalink Reply by Apie (11) on June 23, 2014 at 9:29am

Where do pedestrians cross the bike path to get to the bus stop?   EVERYWHERE

Permalink Reply by Simon Phearson on June 23, 2014 at 3:49pm

There's an upper and a lower Randolph nearer to the lake. Going east from Michigan, the center lanes go down while the outer lanes go up, and then the road eventually terminates at an intersection and roundabout roughly where the exit from LSD to get to Wacker intersects Randolph. The roundabout connects with the LFP with no physical separation.

The problem with lower Randolph is that it's dark, there aren't many intersections, the road's wide, visual cues are scant, and most of the car traffic there is going to or coming from LSD, so it feels very unfriendly to bike traffic (due to speeding cars and low visibility). If there were a two-way, physically-separated bike lane through there, it would be a great way to bypass Navy Pier foot traffic for anyone biking to the north Loop or River North areas. As it is, I've only gone down there early on weekend mornings - typically when the bridge has been closed to through traffic - and that's the only time I would. 

Jennifer on the lake said:

Randolph is about 3 stories above LFP, is it not?

Simon Phearson said:

Ryan - take this for what it's worth (not much), but I seem to recall picking up somewhere that the lane planned for Randolph would terminate on or before Michigan and wouldn't reach all the way to LFP. In case that's kind of what you're considering. I don't know that I saw anything other than a text description.

(A full-length Randolph bike lane would be relevant to my interests, as well, insofar as my current route takes me half a mile out of the way to grab Grand WB/Illinois EB and forces me to deal with the Navy Pier crowd.)

Ryan Stahlman said:

Thanks Gene, I looked at this earlier and did not see a plan view of the proposed extent of route changes. Has any one seen that?

Permalink Reply by Simon Phearson on June 23, 2014 at 3:59pm

I've learned to accept the congestion, I suppose, with a sunny disposition. In the mornings I manage to avoid serious traffic because I'm through there early, but the afternoons I'm trailing segways. I totally appreciate why you would want to avoid it.

I just can't figure out really adequate alternatives. The Riverwalk is a much more pedestrian- and dog-walker-oriented path, I feel, so it's hard to bike through safely. Randolph is a nightmare. The first street I feel "safe" for getting to the LFP is Monroe, but taking SB Dearborn in the afternoon rush means I'm stopping. At. Every. Light. Which means I might as well stroll behind the tourists for half a mile on the LFP. 


Ryan Stahlman said:

Simon, you read my mind. I ride the northbound on the LFP like you and have struggled to find a route that gets me to my office conveniently. I used to take the route you do (grand & illinois), but got fed up with the congestion at the bridge. 

Permalink Reply by Ryan Stahlman on June 24, 2014 at 2:39am

I've tried each option, including Randolph during rush hour (surprisingly not horrible) and have settled on Monroe/Madison to Dearborn. I guess stopping at each light is less burdensome to me than segways. At least the lights are predictable. 

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