Video Shows Benefits of Kinzie Street Bike Lane

By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 1, 2011 9:00PM

Friend of Chicagoist, urban planner and champion of alternative modes of transportation Steven Vance Produced a video showing what it was like to bike the Kinzie Street corridor before and after the installation of the protected bike lane. A few members of the Chicagoist staff have also used the lane and we can attest that it's a night-and-day transformation.

If you take a look to the left of Vance's bike, you'll also see how uniform the motorized vehicle traffic has become since the lane went up. That's a benefit we were expecting on paper, but the cynic in us didn't expect to see. From Vance's videos, here's a suggestion as to where we feel a future protected bike lane could be set up.

It isn't the only thing Vance has been up to lately. He's also beta testing a bike rack locator. It's part of a larger website Vance hopes to have completed for the Apps for Metro Chicago contest. The app as it works right now asks you to share your location, at which point it uses data compiled by the city's open data portal to pinpoint where bike racks are located. Take a look at the anemic options near Chicagoist's Bridgeport headquarters.

This can come in very handy to look for nearby bike racks or to request new ones to be installed.