New protected bike lanes announced - Elston, 18th

Our team at the MBAC meeting just let us know that Elston (Division to North) and 18th (Clinton to Clark) will be the next protected bike lanes by the end of this year!

Thanks, CDOT!

Ethan Spotts, Active Trans

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Permalink Reply by chiearthrider on September 18, 2011 at 12:52am

Elston? Really? It is wide, rarely any parked cars, and a straight shot. There are sooooo many bad areas, why pick a stretch that is low risk for biking? How about any one of the major east-west streets north of Armitage: Fullerton, Diversy, Belmont, Irving Park? Because of the river that runs through it, there are no side street alternatives. Or how about doing something about the Logan Square monument traffic circle? It's very scary.

- Sharon

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Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on September 19, 2011 at 4:58am

To Sharon, I've posted my thoughts about Elston on Grid Chicago. In essence, I like this stretch because of the Y intersection at Magnolia Avenue.

Highlights from MBAC, and room for improvement

I've also made a map of all the existing and proposed protected bike lanes.

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Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on September 19, 2011 at 6:02am

I'd kill to see bike lanes on Belmont or Diversey, but I'd also point out that while large stretches of Elston are super-bike friendly, the nasty intersections aren't really much better than any other street. Specifically, I've almost been flattened into roadkill going north across Ashland more times than I'd care to count.

It really is these "pinch points" that by-and-large are in my experience the bane of urban biking.

chiearthrider said:

Elston? Really? It is wide, rarely any parked cars, and a straight shot. There are sooooo many bad areas, why pick a stretch that is low risk for biking? How about any one of the major east-west streets north of Armitage: Fullerton, Diversy, Belmont, Irving Park? Because of the river that runs through it, there are no side street alternatives. Or how about doing something about the Logan Square monument traffic circle? It's very scary.

- Sharon

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Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on September 19, 2011 at 7:59am

Ashland/Armitage/Elston is awful. When riding through it, you are fowl in Nintendo's "Duck Hunt" for 300 feet.

"Biking in Chicago: Good luck!"

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Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on April 13, 2012 at 6:22am

Cameron -- Elston is currently on CDOT's list for this spring: http://www.chicagobikes.org/public/2012BikewaysProjects.php

- Lee Crandell, Active Trans

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Permalink Reply by Rich S on April 13, 2012 at 7:29am

No kidding! They should have at least repainted the bike lanes for the meantime. It's been months since they re-surfaced Elston. I'm tired of cars buzzing me when I ride where the painted bike lane used to be. I've noticed a lot of drivers "reclaiming" that lane.

Cameron Puetz said:

Has anyone heard any news on when the Elston lane will be built?

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Permalink Reply by Naomi Ruth Jackson on April 13, 2012 at 10:11am

I think this is great. I have used Elston to get downtown for over a year now. I think this will really be helpful to downtown commuters from the Northside

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Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on June 26, 2012 at 12:52am

They added bollards to the protected lanes on Elston yesterday - I understand their purpose, but they are a bit of an eye sore. It would be nice if they sent a street sweeper down the lanes, there is a lot of little bits of crap in the lanes.

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 26, 2012 at 1:00am

I can't wait until bollards, lines, and the green pavement have become common enough that people no longer consider them "eye-sores."

All roads are "eye-sores" -it's just that people have become used to them. Changing the paradigm always takes a while and people need to adjust to the new "look" of the transportation infrastructure.

The "eye-sore" excuse darn near ruined the Kinzie protected lane when the folks bowed to pressure and pulled out a bunch of bollards. What a HUGE mistake that was!

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Permalink Reply by Pippy Duchamp on June 26, 2012 at 2:36am

Seconded.

h' said:

Hear hear.

James BlackHeron said:

All roads are "eye-sores" -it's just that people have become used to them.

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Permalink Reply by Gopher Biker on June 27, 2012 at 12:57am

They were painting the protected bike lane lines on Elston between Division and Augusta yesterday afternoon when I rode through the area on the commute home. This morning on the way into to work, there 3 cars were parked in the lane on the west side of Elston between Cortez and Augusta - to be fair it is a bit confusing there right now without the bike symbols on the road, bollards or signage.