Snow lingers in bike lanes days after the storm
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A two-way bike lane a block south of the Dearborn Street bridge on Wednesday night. Photo: Monica Eng/Axios
Bike lanes across the city remain unplowed days after the recent snowfall.
Why it matters: The snowy paths are treacherous for riders who risk injury or worse while cycling through them.
The big picture: The city recently celebrated building 100 new miles of bike lanes and touted a big emphasis on safety.
How it works: While the Department of Streets and Sanitation is in charge of plowing streets, the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) is responsible for clearing the 70 miles of protected bike lanes.
What they're saying: "CDOT crews have been deployed across the city since Monday morning and are rotating through designated routes as quickly as possible," Bill Higgins, CDOT's assistant commissioner for intergovernmental affairs, tells Axios.
- "In some cases, specialized equipment or manual shoveling is required, which can add complexity and time to the process."
- Higgins encourages residents to call 311 to report uncleared bike lanes.
The other side: "You should not have to complain for your bike lanes to be cleared," Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) told Axios.
- "It should be a matter of course. Like, if we were looking out here today and only 20% of arterial streets had been cleared of snow, all of the city would be in an uproar. It should be inexcusable that you can't do the same thing with bike lanes."
Behind the scenes: Higgins says this week's continuous snowfall made it especially difficult to find places to stash the snow from bike lanes.
- And it didn't help that some people are shoveling snow into bike lanes, which is prohibited because "it creates additional hazards and delays."
💠Monica's thought bubble: I almost wiped out five times riding Divvys downtown this week.
- After my first perilous ride, I whined on social media with a picture of the super snowy protected lanes on the Dearborn Street bridge.
- By Wednesday night, the bridge bike lane had been plowed — but the blocks directly to the north and south looked untouched. Come on, guys!
- A further Wednesday spot check around the Loop revealed a hit-or-miss approach with some good plowing around City Hall, but less just north of Randolph.
Zoom out: The Active Transportation Alliance has fielded multiple complaints this week about uncleared lanes that increase the chances of people "falling and hurting themselves when walking, biking, or [scootering]," ATA advocacy manager Alex Perez told Axios.
- He notes he's also concerned about the "lack of sidewalk shoveling [that] makes it treacherous for people getting around on foot or wheelchair."
The bottom line: Higgins says he gets the frustration people feel and that CDOT officials "appreciate the public's patience as our teams work diligently to clear the network under challenging conditions."