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Permalink Reply by Jared on July 22, 2011 at 10:49am

Are you adverse to the lakefront trail?  Halsted is pretty much your only option.  Also the bridge near Division is being replaced so you'll have to use a detour there.

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Permalink Reply by Emily Schick on July 22, 2011 at 10:52am

Definitely not adverse to the LFT at all--I was actually considering that. Is it crowded in the weekday mornings, though?

Jared said:

Are you adverse to the lakefront trail?  Halsted is pretty much your only option.  Also the bridge near Division is being replaced so you'll have to use a detour there.

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Permalink Reply by MagMileMarauder on July 22, 2011 at 10:54am

Halsted can be a crowded street, especially Wrigleyville, Boystown, River West, UIC and Greektown. Just exercise plenty of caution as some areas are under construction near downtown. I believe that is your best bet since it's the most direct route. Canal is a bit less congested, but it requires a detour.

 

As for potholes on Halsted, where do I begin. I think the worse by far is near Hubbard, as you reach the overpass. For many years, both ways are pretty bad, and depending on the traffic it can also get pretty crowded. I guess the take home message is learn the road, and just like on any city street, be aware of your surroundings. While there are bike lanes, there are many taxis, trucks and buses that travel on that street. The narrower areas are shared (like Greektown). Unfortunately there aren't many alternatives (I-90/94, pretty much slices up the city), unless you consider detours alternatives (i.e. Canal).

 

Good luck, you'll be a pro in no time!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on July 22, 2011 at 10:56am

I used to ride Halsted all the time. They've repaved a nice portion around Lakeview/Boystown the area south of Division until past Grand is a little rough and the road widens so cars increase speed to pass each other, turn and so forth.

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Permalink Reply by Brendan on July 22, 2011 at 12:47pm

I've been commuting from the northside to 31st and State for several years. I think the worst spots for potholes are between Grand and Hubbard. Traffic and ig'nant tourists are endemic in greektown. Beware of doors and unannounced left turns.

 

The LFT is a nice alternative when going to Uptown, but it's considerably longer because it's not very direct, and usually super crowded, so I would only do that on off-peak times when I was not in any kind of hurry.

 

The buses can also get pretty annoying to play leapfrog with. My inclination is to just take it slow for a block or two to let them get a few stop lights ahead of me.

 

Have fun, and make sure to stop at Bernice & John's at 32nd/Halsted on your way home.

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Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on July 22, 2011 at 2:25pm

Interesting thing about Greektown. You can pretty much avoid the hassle by going down green st. and cutting through UIC.

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Permalink Reply by jennifer james on July 23, 2011 at 3:05am

Hi- We ride quiet streets up from UIC North and then South as well. I can second Peoria through that area but you have to jog  to Morgan just north of the west loop to cross the train tracks then get back to Peoria. We take Morgan south from UIC to Pilsen alot but not down to Bridgeport so I don't know how it goes beyond Pilsen.We find Peoria and Morgan to be quieter that Halstead and fast because there are fewer lights, far less traffic and no buses.  Anne Alt is a good resource on these routes too if she's out there!

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Permalink Reply by Mike Haring on July 23, 2011 at 10:03am

I commute from Edgewater to 40th and Halsted every day, and it's definitely not that bad.  From Uptown to the detour on Division, it's pretty much clear sailing.  The potholes and grated bridges you'll have to deal with are the worst from there to Jackson, there's also quite a lot steel plates on the road in that area to look out for.  After you pass UIC though, it's easy again, just one more grated bridge after Cermak, then straight down to 35th.  There aren't really any good alternatives that I've found, though I will occasionally take the LFP home, which adds a few miles.  The one trick I've found is that after you pass Archer, there are two one-way streets parallell to Halsted, so I cut over to Emerald on the way down and Union on the way home so I get 15 blocks (10 for you) of virtually traffic free riding.  There's also a great shop on 32nd, Blue City Cycles, you can stop by if you need to.  Traffic is generally light in the morning and medium in the afternoon, unless there's a Sox game, and it then it gets a bit crazy.  If you do decide to take the LFP, the fastest way is to get off at 18th street, just after Soldier Field, and take Archer, down to Halsted, there is a bike lane on Archer, but you will be sharing the road with big trucks.  It is not very crowded on the LFP weekday mornings, but anytime after 5pm is terrible.  Anyway, that's my advice.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Wolfe on July 24, 2011 at 3:08am

Take Halsted south to the detour and go left on Division.  Then right and head down Kingsbury to Chicago.  At Chicago go left and then quick right to continue down Kingsbury until Kinzie.  Go right on Kinzie through the bike lane and over the river.  Under the underpass turn left and go south on Clinton until you get to Harrison and take it to the right until you get back to Halsted.

 

I live in Pilsen but go up north pretty often and this is my route.  It skips all of the worst parts

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Permalink Reply by Joel on July 24, 2011 at 1:58pm

No! I live right at this intersection basically, and would strongly suggest taking Division east to Crosby, and following that to Larrabee down to Chicago, and then cross over the river back to Halsted.  Division, including the bridge, is really congested and in poor condition.  The detour is routing all of the large trucks down Hooker (cars down Larrabee) and the traffic is a nightmare with cars not paying any attention.

 

Or do what someone else suggested and instead of getting back on Halsted, take Kingsbury to Kinzie to Clinton and take that south past Greektown.

 

h333 said:

The detour I was suggesting is Division W. (<1 block) to Hooker, SE to Halsted (thanks to Steven for mentioning it on the bridge thread.)

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Permalink Reply by Mike Haring on July 26, 2011 at 3:20am

33rd is a good alternative to Archer, less traffic for sure, but it adds about 5 minutes to the ride.  Not a big deal, unless you're always late, like I am.  As far as the detour goes, I always take the Hooker/west side option.  To clarify though, I ride to work at 6:00am, so there's much less traffic, and the detour is definitely not a good option if you are not comfortable riding in traffic, i.e. in the middle of the road.  The train tracks are also dangerous at that intersection, as they cross at a 45 degree angle.  Just remember to keep your wheel at 90 degrees to the tracks.  One more thing to watch out for is the steel plates about a block north of the Apple store.  It started out as a hole in the street big enough to swallow a wheel, then the city kindly stuck a traffic cone in it, which was the only warning for months, then a steel plate, now there are three steel plates covering the entire southbound lane. 

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