CDOT Handles Clearing Protected Bike Lanes
By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 7, 2013 5:30PM
It’s a question wondered about but didn’t seriously ask until February turned into a course correction for Chicago’s winter snowfall totals: How would protected and buffered bike lanes get cleared of snow?
The Sun-Times spoke with Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein earlier this week, who said CDOT and the Department of Streets and Sanitation split the snow removal responsibilities. Streets and San handles clearing the streets while CDOT plows the bike lanes.
“We’ll typically wait until the snow stops to get out there and plow the bike lanes. We just use one vehicle. We have some great equipment that we use on it. It’s been working very well,” he said.“There are actually very few protected, separated bike lanes. So, we’re taking those on, and we can do them in a matter of hours with just a couple people.”
CDOT spokesman Pete Scales added that, since the agency is already responsible for keeping sidewalks on bridges clear of snow, they already have the equipment in house to handle clearing the bike lanes. Not that they’re going to need it now, with the extended forecast calling for temps in the high 40s and low 50s this weekend, area bicyclists need to break out their rain gear instead of snow tires.