I moved out to Oak Park last summer, and I'm ready to work back in commuting by bicycle into my daily routine. I'm aware of the different routes, and of the west side commuter group that uses Lake, but I wanted to see if anyone on here uses Washington/Warren on a regular basis to get from the Loop to Oak Park at night?  If so, what are your experiences with the quality of the roads and relative safety of the route?    

I generally work until at least 6, and it seems most of the west side commuters start out earlier from what I've seen on the yahoo group, so I imagine I will be riding solo most, if not all, nights.

There seems to be a strong preference for Lake as a chosen route from everything I've seen on the web, but I would rather avoid the L noise and notorious broken glass problem in the protected lanes if possible.  

Is a mix of Washington/Warren and Madison that bad from a personal safety and/or road condition stand point at this point, or is there a silent majority using those lanes every day with safe/good results?  All of the threads I've seen on here discussing OP routes are at least a few years old.    

I get that safety is a subjective concept, and I'll just say I've ridden around the west side extensively for years as far west as central park ave. with no issues or concerns, but basically just looking for some reassurance that Loop to OP commuters are actually out there using the lanes on those streets rather than Lake at night.  

Everything you read online regarding routes lien so heavily in favor of using Lake that it makes a person wonder if good reasons exist to avoid the other common bike lane routes out to OP.