Streetsblog is reporting heavily on the city’s announcement today to add 200 miles of bike lanes over the next three years. I’m all for it. But once again, Chicago is kicking everybody’s arse when it comes to urban amenities. The city has more than just bike lanes, but a large downtown space to securely lock them at Millennium Park. Most of the time when I don’t use my bike for transportation, it’s because I don’t want to risk having it stolen. Not to mention, I had a rather nasty tangle with a taxicab door over the summer WHILE I WAS IN A BIKE LANE. To that end, the city is also pledging to launch a bicycle awareness campaign. Can’t hurt. Might help.
September 12, 2006 at 5:53 pm |
I agree. While this is a nice step forward, as a non-biker who’d like to bike I need support for parking a bike.
You’re also 100% correct about the un-safety of bike lanes. While the statistics suggest the paint-stripe bike lanes are an improvement, nothing compares to dedicated buffered bike lanes. And sadly it looks like the city is committing to only 5 miles of those, with the rest of the 200 miles to be paint-stripes.
Oh well, if this all at least results in 1% more bikers out there, it will be an improvement, and there will be 1% more people asking for changes…
September 12, 2006 at 5:55 pm |
Agreed, completely.