Milwaukee Avenue Spoke Route Opens, Connecting Kinzie And Elston Bike Lanes
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 13, 2013 9:00PM
The Chicago Department of Transportation officially opened the Milwaukee Avenue Spoke Route Thursday. This 0.85 mile-long bike lane, a combined protected and buffered bike lane, connects the Kinzie Street and Elston Avenue protected bike lanes and provides bicyclists on the "Hipster Highway" with more space between them and vehicles as they bike on the city's busiest cycling street.
The features of the route include traffic signals dedicated to cycling traffic similar to the ones on the Dearborn Street bike lane, improved pedestrian crossings, more opportunities for bike parking along the route, and Chicago’s first bike passing lane.
“We are redesigning intersections to ensure they are safer for bicyclists, and improve hundreds of miles of residential and commercial streets for the people who use them every day,” Klein said in a statement. “Chicago is planning to build more protected bike lanes than any other city in the country, and will soon be the most bike-friendly city in the United States.” Burke added the lane's opening is a perfect cap to Chicago Bike to Work Week.
“Every day thousands of people ride their bikes down Milwaukee Ave. to workplaces in the Loop, making it one of the busiest streets for cycling in the entire country. Now it will be one of the safest as well. This is a huge step forward for our efforts to make Chicago the best city for biking in the country.”