Conscious Choice: Ride the Chicago River Corridor

June 2002 | Midwest Biking

Ride the Chicago River Corridor

by Floyd and Tobi Mittleman

In the April issue we promised to ride and report on the condition of the Chicago River Corridor — a planned bicycle path stretching from the north city limits to the south city limits along the north and south branches of the river. Remember that the river has been divided into nine reaches, with Reach One stretching from Devon Avenue (6400 north) to Lawrence Avenue (4800 north) along the North Shore Channel and the North Branch. The North Shore Channel runs from the Wilmette Harbor on the north to where it meets the North Branch of the river in River Park near Argyle and Francisco.

We decided, logically, to explore Reach One first, but to make the ride more interesting we started in Evanston near Green Bay Road and McCormick Boulevard. Just southwest of Green Bay along McCormick there is parking at Bridge Street and the trail. The trail runs south along the west side of the channel. If you have driven along McCormick Boulevard, you know that the trail is surrounded with a sculpture park almost all the way south to Devon Avenue. If you haven’t ridden along the trail, however, you have missed half of the objects, many of which are out of sight from the road. You must cross all of the east-west streets as you head south along the channel, but there are stoplights at each intersection.

When you get to Devon you can ride south through the Lincoln Village parking lot. Until this point you have been on a paved trail (except for a short stretch of crushed limestone at the north end.) Crossing Lincoln and Peterson Avenues is a challenge (cross at the lights), but once you get into Legion Park just south of Peterson the paved trail continues all the way to Argyle (about 5000 north). This trail passes under Bryn Mawr Avenue and will soon pass under Foster Avenue.

Eventually you will be able to cross to the East Side of the channel north of Lincoln (when the trail bridge is in place) and under Lincoln and Peterson Avenues when this underpass is completed. The work is currently in the planning stage. When these projects are completed, the ride from Devon to Argyle will be totally off-road. This will be an excellent north-south route from about 3200 west (Kedzie Avenue) at the north end to about 2800 west (California Avenue) at the south end. It will not be possible to complete totally off-road trails in each of the nine reaches, but the long-range plan is to have a safe off-road/on-street route stretching from the north end of the city to the south end along the river.

That’s our report on Reach One. It is mostly an off-road journey. The sculpture gardens make it interesting if you take the trouble to stop and view the many exceptional works of art. This can be a reasonably fast ride and a fairly easy access into the city from Evanston.

In Reach Two part of the trail is the one you may be familiar with if you live north in the city. The North Branch Trail pretty much follows the river edge as it runs through the forest preserves (Edgebrook Woods, Caldwell Woods). This established trail is a part of the planned trail through other sections of Reach Two. The North Branch Trail will take you north to the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe. An extension of this trail will eventually run from the garden’s north entrance (at Lake-Cook Road) east to the Green Bay trail. We will continue to explore each of the nine reaches and to report our adventures in future issues.

We have good news to report for cyclists in and around the city. The fourth edition of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation’s (CBF) Chicagoland Bicycle Map is just about ready for publication.

In the planning stage of this revision volunteer riders were asked to ride an assigned section of the map to examine traffic volume, speed limit, lane width, and existence of paved shoulders on the recommended routes.

The new map will have on-road routes colored in three shades of green. The "best" route (as determined by rider evaluation) will be color-coded dark green. The "recommended" route will be a lighter shade of green, and the "cautionary" route will be still lighter. For off-road routes purple will represent a paved off-road trail. Red will represent a rougher surface such as crushed limestone. Orange will represent a surface on which a mountain bike will be needed.

A lot of time and effort has been devoted to making this fourth-edition map the best ever. As we have said before, the map is a must-have if you are riding in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, or Will counties. Call the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation at 312-427-3325 to obtain a copy or see your local bicycle dealer.

What’s most important is that you examine your map, plan a ride, get out your bike, ride safely, and stay healthy.

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