CHICAGO — The city will upgrade all protected bike lanes so they have concrete barriers by the end of 2023, and is adding more bike lanes overall, officials announced Wednesday.
The city will add concrete barriers to 15 miles of bike lanes by the end of 2022 and make the same upgrades to another 13 miles by the end of 2023, said Erica Schroeder, spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Transportation. Those 28 miles of bike lanes currently have bollard or delineators separating them from the roadway, Schroeder said.
The city also will add another 10 miles of new protected bike lanes this year, totaling 45 miles of lanes throughout the city with either a concrete barrier, bollard or delineator, Schroeder said.
The announcement is a significant victory for bicycle advocates, who have long said Chicago’s bike lanes need better protections. It comes amid a brutal year that has seen drivers kill multiple bicyclists as they rode in bike lanes, among them a 3-year-old who was killed earlier this month as she was on her mom’s bike.
Using concrete curbs will be “the standard for new protected bike lanes” in Chicago, according to CDOT. The change will provide “significant safety and comfort improvements for all road users,” according to the agency.
The upgrades will kick off this week, with the city adding pre-cast concrete curbs along Kinzie Street, according to CDOT.
Bike lanes that will get concrete barriers this year:
- Kinzie Street between Milwaukee and Wells
- Lake Street between Pulaski and Damen
- Logan Boulevard between Rockwell and Diversey
- Milwaukee Avenue between Addison and Irving, Chicago and Division and Kinzie and Ohio
- Independence Boulevard between Douglas and Harrison
- Douglas Boulevard between Independence and Sacramento
- 119th Street between Ashland and Halsted and the Major Taylor Trail
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