Chicago Gets Googled
Asian Carp: 'Nice Try, Suckers'
Friday Afternoon Diversion: Earth With Rings
CPL's Bookamania Brings The Reading Fun For Kids
Many of us at Chicagoist are biking enthusiasts and rely on the two-wheel (or in my case, three-wheel) method of getting around town. But that's not always an easy task: ever tried biking down Ashland at rush hour? Not a pleasant experience. The city has a comprehensive map that shows which roads have bike lanes and shared lanes, but it can still be difficult figuring out how to get around town on specific routes. Luckily, CitySpokes is here to fill that void and now they've got their Chicago site live. Using a Google Maps interface, the site lets you search for the best bike routes between destinations. At the moment, the site only covers part of the city - from the lake west to Kedzie and from Lawrence south to Cermak - but that's still a good chunk of the city and they tell us expanding the coverage area is their first priority. So go ahead and give it a whirl this weekend while planning your next bike outing.
CitySpokes Gives City Bikers A Leg Up
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebookComments (7) [rss]
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
Tips
I was afraid the three-wheeler link was going to be to a picture of a recumbent bicycle and you'd lose all credibility.
When I see people riding bikes on Ashland or, even worse, Western I get the same feeling I had when I was at the Grand Canyon and saw kids standing too close to the edge.
I see people riding down Fullerton all the freaking time. It's doubly boneheaded when you realize that they could just go a couple blocks over and hit the boulevards on Logan or the bike lane on Wrightwood. I have a feeling these folks don't put much thought into choosing a route.
I won't ride Western either, what a nightmare. Still it's a failure of city policy, other cities have done a good job of making policy that encourages cycling and actually enforces and protects the rights of cyclists. Chicago, despite it's faux 'green' and cycling friendly rep, blows at this.
just entered cortland/humboldt to cermak/michigan
milwaukee ave seems to be the default although its dangerous unless you're going under 10 mph (esp just west of ashland) Also it has me going south down canal which is one way north.
california - grand - wells - illinois- clark(halsted SUCKS [yuppies=traffic signals]) - cullerton - michigan - cermak
this website should go to a board of directors who discuss each query for a few minutes (while smpking weed) then resopond to the person. That would be tot awsome
That CitySpokes site freakin' blows. It only seems to know a fraction of the streets, and if it doesn't know it, you can't enter it. Come on, I can't enter Milwaukee Ave? Absurd and pretty pointless.
I've ridden Western plenty of times and while I agree that it's kind of crazy to do so, I disagree w/ mikely1 that it's worse than Ashland. Drivers on Western may be driving 50mph but at least there's room for both them and a cyclist. Ashland has too many narrow parts.
At Belmont though I always took the local rather than going over the viaduct. I've seen guys on bikes riding over that viaduct and wanted to shake them, pissed-off drivers and narrow road and concrete wall and very slow cyclist, it's a bad combo.