Route from Blue Island to NW side of Chicago
Tomorrow I need to be in Blue Island for most of the day for work. I'm planning on biking to downtown and taking the Rock Island Metra, and I'm considering bringing my bike and and biking home to the NW side (Belmont and Pulaski) at the end of the day. Google maps suggests taking Halsted, California or Kedzie. Does anyone have experience with any of these routes or suggestions of good routes? My concerns are equally traffic/road conditions and personal safety.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on
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I live in Beverly, so I've connected these dots plenty of times. Between 76th St. and Bridgeport/ McKinley Park, you will encounter some challenged areas, no matter which route you take. Pavement conditions for most of what I'm recommending vary from reasonable to very good, with occasional rough spots.
Leaving Blue Island, there's a pleasant side street option to get to Morgan Park/Beverly: north on Maple (only relatively quiet crossing of 127th with a stoplight - use button to get green light if no car is on sensor). Stay on Maple to 119th, then right on 119th, and left on Artesian (last left before Western). Go north on Artesian to 115th, then turn right to cross Western. Continue 2 blocks past Western and you'll come to a small circle at Almond Park. Go almost all the way around the circle and continue north on Bell.
You'll come to a smaller circle at 112th. Go halfway around and continue north on Bell past 111th. At the Y intersection just past 110th Pl, you can bear either right or left and you'll soon come to Crescent Park. If you go left, you'll see a beautiful garden by the house to the left of the park. Use paths to cut through park and come out at 107th Pl. Go to Bell (continues north from middle of park) and turn north to continue past 107th St. At 104th, turn right (east) and go 1 block to Leavitt. Turn left on Leavitt to continue north past 103rd St.
I'd recommend either Damen or California (or a combination) for much of your trip north. Unfortunately, both have interruptions, so neither is good all the way north. If you went over to California from Beverly, you'd discover an interruption near Marquette Park that can be a little challenging to navigate. California is a better option north of 67th/Marquette.
Stay on Leavitt to 93rd. At 94th, just go around the traffic diverter and keep going straight. Turn right on 93rd, and go east to Longwood Dr. Turn left on Longwood, then right on 91st Pl (between two halves of Maggie Cosme Park). Pass Metra station and go right through curb cut in cul de sac. Make 1st left onto Major Taylor Trail. Go north to 87th St. Go straight across intersection to continue north on Damen. You can take Damen as far as 47th before it's interrupted. Be aware that the neighborhood is going to look a bit rough from around 75th St. (viaduct) to 55th (Garfield). From 47th, you could either go west to California or east to Halsted. (If you choose California, 67th/Marquette is a decent place to cross over - has bike lanes, but pavement is rough in spots. DON'T USE 59TH TO CROSS WESTERN - big rail yard - long dark viaducts - fast traffic.)
Either California or Halsted is okay to ride on. California is more residential (except an industrial area around 51st and the county jail around 26th) and Halsted is more commercial but has bike lanes over most of its length. Both streets have bus routes, but the buses run much more frequently on Halsted. Some folks get freaked out about riding in Englewood, but conditions along Halsted through Englewood are much better than in years past. Much of it is recently repaved with brand new buffered or protected bike lanes, and I've found the riding conditions from 85th (start of lanes) up through Englewood quite pleasant. Bonus - great little coffeehouse (Kusanya) at 69th & Green, just west of Halsted.
FYI - California has a big interruption from Fulton to Grand due to a large rail yard/industrial area. Nearest N-S streets that go through are Sacramento and Western.
Kedzie is mostly awful on the south side - lots of speeding hostile traffic, buses, some industrial areas and trucks. Don't bother.
I hope this is helpful. If you have questions, just ask.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa Schwarz on
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This is super-helpful! Thanks for such a detailed response. I guess my biggest concerns are with the portion of Damen between 75th and 55th that you describe as a bit rough. Is California better through that stretch?
Anne Alt said:I live in Beverly, so I've connected these dots plenty of times. Between 76th St. and Bridgeport/ McKinley Park, you will encounter some challenged areas, no matter which route you take. Pavement conditions for most of what I'm recommending vary from reasonable to very good, with occasional rough spots.
Leaving Blue Island, there's a pleasant side street option to get to Morgan Park/Beverly: north on Maple (only relatively quiet crossing of 127th with a stoplight - use button to get green light if no car is on sensor). Stay on Maple to 119th, then right on 119th, and left on Artesian (last left before Western). Go north on Artesian to 115th, then turn right to cross Western. Continue 2 blocks past Western and you'll come to a small circle at Almond Park. Go almost all the way around the circle and continue north on Bell.
You'll come to a smaller circle at 112th. Go halfway around and continue north on Bell past 111th. At the Y intersection just past 110th Pl, you can bear either right or left and you'll soon come to Crescent Park. If you go left, you'll see a beautiful garden by the house to the left of the park. Use paths to cut through park and come out at 107th Pl. Go to Bell (continues north from middle of park) and turn north to continue past 107th St. At 104th, turn right (east) and go 1 block to Leavitt. Turn left on Leavitt to continue north past 103rd St.
I'd recommend either Damen or California (or a combination) for much of your trip north. Unfortunately, both have interruptions, so neither is good all the way north. If you went over to California from Beverly, you'd discover an interruption near Marquette Park that can be a little challenging to navigate. California is a better option north of 67th/Marquette.
Stay on Leavitt to 93rd. At 94th, just go around the traffic diverter and keep going straight. Turn right on 93rd, and go east to Longwood Dr. Turn left on Longwood, then right on 91st Pl (between two halves of Maggie Cosme Park). Pass Metra station and go right through curb cut in cul de sac. Make 1st left onto Major Taylor Trail. Go north to 87th St. Go straight across intersection to continue north on Damen. You can take Damen as far as 47th before it's interrupted. Be aware that the neighborhood is going to look a bit rough from around 75th St. (viaduct) to 55th (Garfield). From 47th, you could either go west to California or east to Halsted. (If you choose California, 67th/Marquette is a decent place to cross over - has bike lanes, but pavement is rough in spots. DON'T USE 59TH TO CROSS WESTERN - big rail yard - long dark viaducts - fast traffic.)
Either California or Halsted is okay to ride on. California is more residential (except an industrial area around 51st and the county jail around 26th) and Halsted is more commercial but has bike lanes over most of its length. Both streets have bus routes, but the buses run much more frequently on Halsted. Some folks get freaked out about riding in Englewood, but conditions along Halsted through Englewood are much better than in years past. Much of it is recently repaved with brand new buffered or protected bike lanes, and I've found the riding conditions from 85th (start of lanes) up through Englewood quite pleasant. Bonus - great little coffeehouse (Kusanya) at 69th & Green, just west of Halsted.
FYI - California has a big interruption from Fulton to Grand due to a large rail yard/industrial area. Nearest N-S streets that go through are Sacramento and Western.
Kedzie is mostly awful on the south side - lots of speeding hostile traffic, buses, some industrial areas and trucks. Don't bother.
I hope this is helpful. If you have questions, just ask.
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That looks like a neat little trick. Thanks for including the image because I would not have been able to picture it.
h' 1.0 said:Jumping off from Anne's excellent instructions, I'd turn west from Damen onto 67th/Marquette to California, take Cal. up to Roosevelt, go east on Roosevelt to Ogden, pick up Oakley by finding the curb cuts to access the cul-de-sac by the WIC office* and take Oakley north to Bloomingdale. That dumps you out near Milwaukee/Armitage and I'm guessing you don't need any help from there.
* Right over the R in Roosevelt
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Remember when I mentioned that California is interrupted a few times? Note the big railyard/industrial area in the middle of this map section. California doesn't exist from 79th to 74th. Due to all the rail lines, reaching the section from 74th to 71st is kinda tricky - not recommended if you don't know the area unless you're really good at navigating and/or got a detailed map with you.
The neighborhood around Marquette Park is also a bit challenged. I've never been hassled by anyone on either Damen or California in that north-south section. If you want to shift to California sooner, I'd recommend 71st. I don't believe there are bike lanes. Not sure of current pavement conditions.
On California from 47th to 51st, the area shifts from residential to industrial. Traffic tends to speed up there and you may see big trucks. It goes back to residential again after 47th.
I recommend staying aware of your surroundings whichever route you take. I hope you have a pleasant ride.
Melissa Schwarz said:This is super-helpful! Thanks for such a detailed response. I guess my biggest concerns are with the portion of Damen between 75th and 55th that you describe as a bit rough. Is California better through that stretch?
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Had a nice ride from Blue Island to the NW side this afternoon. I deviated a bit from Anne's route a bit as I ended up taking Longwood from 115th to 95th (didn't realize how many beautiful homes are in the area) and then catching the Major Taylor trail. Then Damen up to 67th to cut over to California, California up to Ogden to Roosevelt and then h'1.0's trick to get onto Oakley. There was a bit of a headwind and some drizzle, but traffic was fine, and I didn't experience any harassment or threatening interactions. Success! The worst traffic/worst drivers were on my usual commute route on Milwaukee.
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Glad to hear that you had a pleasant ride. Longwood is a very pleasant detour. I'm not at all surprised that Milwaukee ended up being the most annoying part of the trip.
If you want to see more of Beverly and Morgan Park sometime, sometime this summer I'm planning to lead an architecture tour focusing on the work of Prairie School architects in Beverly and Morgan Park (Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Burley Griffin and others). I'm also planning a few other south side tours with different themes. Watch for them on the Chainlink calendar.
Melissa Schwarz said:Had a nice ride from Blue Island to the NW side this afternoon. I deviated a bit from Anne's route a bit as I ended up taking Longwood from 115th to 95th (didn't realize how many beautiful homes are in the area) and then catching the Major Taylor trail. Then Damen up to 67th to cut over to California, California up to Ogden to Roosevelt and then h'1.0's trick to get onto Oakley. There was a bit of a headwind and some drizzle, but traffic was fine, and I didn't experience any harassment or threatening interactions. Success! The worst traffic/worst drivers were on my usual commute route on Milwaukee.
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It took 2hrs 15'. I might do it again at some point, but not routinely. I'll probably use Metra for the Chgo to Blue Island portion and bike to and from Metra. With Metra/bike combo I can be home in an hour and half if I get an express train. That's faster than driving at that time of day.
h' 1.0 said:Great to hear! How long did it take you? Do you have to do it again?
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That sounds like a win-win.
Melissa Schwarz said:It took 2hrs 15'. I might do it again at some point, but not routinely. I'll probably use Metra for the Chgo to Blue Island portion and bike to and from Metra. With Metra/bike combo I can be home in an hour and half if I get an express train. That's faster than driving at that time of day.
h' 1.0 said:Great to hear! How long did it take you? Do you have to do it again?
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The 349 isn't too bad speed-wise, but connecting with the 49 really sucks most of the time, and the 49 tends to be slow as hell. Metra is a much faster, more pleasant option.
h' 1.0 said:The Western Bus (49 to 349) could potentially take less time depending on how your connections flow (or I could be way way off...)
Melissa Schwarz said:It took 2hrs 15'. I might do it again at some point, but not routinely. I'll probably use Metra for the Chgo to Blue Island portion and bike to and from Metra. With Metra/bike combo I can be home in an hour and half if I get an express train. That's faster than driving at that time of day.
h' 1.0 said:Great to hear! How long did it take you? Do you have to do it again?
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