Dearborn north of Chicago... 2 way bike lane?

Is the bike lane located on the left hand side of Dearborn north of Chicago to Oak (a recently repaved section) a two way bike lane? I frequently encounter other bikers riding south in this lane as well as against the flow of vehicular traffic. Yet, all lane markings indicate it is one way. It seems like a danger to force bikers going north to veer right close to\into traffic to avoid these bikers. I had one rider tell me that because the lane is on the left hand side of Dearborn, she was not doing anything wrong. Or are these riders to lazy to ride one block west to Clark?

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 9, 2013 at 11:01am

They are lazy. Or ignorant. One or the other.

Permalink Reply by David Barish on July 9, 2013 at 11:07am

I give them the benefit of the doubt-- confused. 

Permalink Reply by Rich S on July 9, 2013 at 11:19am

That's my normal route home and it's definitely a one way northbound.  Funny that I've yet to encounter a salmon there and I've been riding it almost daily since they finished repaving a few weeks ago.  

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on July 9, 2013 at 11:56am

The two-way bike lane on Dearborn ends at Kinzie.  One-way NB north of that intersection.

Permalink Reply by Rich S on July 9, 2013 at 1:06pm

Sorry I meant that more as surprise that I haven't ran into a salmon there yet, especially with what that person said to you about the lane being on the left.  

That whole intersection where Dearborn goes from one-way to two-way is a hot mess.  But at least there is a marked bike lane and the pavement is super smooth!

Nikul Shah said:

Rich:  I ride it daily too and often times on weekends.  I saw someone going the wrong way yesterday evening at around 645. I saw a salmon last weekend on a Saturday I think as well as the weekend before.

Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on July 10, 2013 at 1:27am

I've seen salmon as well.  Another thing is where the bike lane ends; if you want to continue North on Dearborn you have to cut across traffic to again be correctly riding in with traffic.

Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on July 10, 2013 at 4:12am

No.  They are NOT right.   It may well be that the Salmon is able to be "safer", but it is a lot more dangerous for the rest of us.   If I had my druthers, I would pass a law that anyone caught riding a bicycle the wrong way down a one way street would have their bicycle confiscated and destroyed.   (In the case of a "DIVVY" simply a fine equal to the value of the bicycle.).  

Salmoner's are arrogant, self indulgent assholes.

h' 1.0 said:

And they're right.

Jeff Schneider said:

Unless it has a yellow stripe down the center, it has to be one-way.  I think the salmon in bike lanes are sometimes people who are just very afraid of cars, and think wrong-way with bikes is safer than right-way with cars.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on July 10, 2013 at 4:13am

Until they have a head-on with another bike, or force the other rider out into traffic.  Or get doored by someone looking for bikes behind them.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 10, 2013 at 12:26pm

+1

Tricolor said:

Until they have a head-on with another bike, or force the other rider out into traffic.  Or get doored by someone looking for bikes behind them.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on July 11, 2013 at 5:05am

Sure, as soon as you can explain how safe riding the wrong way on a one way bike lane on a one way street is compared to riding the right direction in any circumstance.

Sprocket Man is my new go-to image for the forum.  Everything riders need to know was spelled out in 1975...

Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on July 11, 2013 at 5:25am

Sigh.   Does a Salmon cause an accident EVERY TIME that this happens?   No.    In fact, most of the time, everyone gets away with it.   Its not like trying to watch TV while in the bathtub or bicycling on an interstate, but its still dangerous. Do the majority of people who stand outside in lightening storms get hit?  Nope.   But that doesn't make it a good practice. 

More importantly, it is conduct which puts the rest of us at risk, earns us the "scorn" of the car community, distracts the focus of the car drivers from seeing bicycles where they should expect to see bicycles, and gets people hurt.  

Salmoning is a very bad practice, in many ways far worse than running red lights.    If you Salmon, you should lose your bicycle.  No exceptions..



h' 1.0 said:

Any examples of this happening you can cite? Or should we alert the almost-emergency wards at the almost-hospitals to be on standby for heavy almost-injuries?

Tricolor said:

Until they have a head-on with another bike, or force the other rider out into traffic.  Or get doored by someone looking for bikes behind them.

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