Conscious Choice: Rails to Bike Trails

July 2005

Rails to Bike Trails

By Geoffrey Wallin

It’s only a long line on an interstate map now, but if Rogers Park resident Donald Gordon gets his way, one day bicyclists will be able to ride from Indiana to Wisconsin without ever having to encounter a motor vehicle.

Gordon, executive director of the Rogers Park Conservancy, is heading an effort to connect Chicago’s lakefront trail with the Green Bay Trail, a bike path running from north suburban Wilmette to Lake County. From there, the Robert McClory Bike Path leads to the Wisconsin border. At the same time, bike enthusiasts are trying to inhance Chicago’s South Side lakefront trail so it connects to the same route.

“In effect, what you would then have is the opportunity for a 100-mile bike path to get you from the Indiana Dunes to Wisconsin,” said Gordon.

The interstate bike route is just one of several bicycling initiatives being pushed by a number of groups nationwide.

Among them is the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. Formed in 1985, the group has attracted 5,000 members and has worked with the Chicago Department of Transportation to install 10,000 bike racks and 100 miles of bike lanes on the city’s busy streets. Now, the federation is launching a citywide marketing campaign urging people to get back into gear. The “First Bike” campaign features photographs of people with their first bikes. “We want to tell you, you can feel the way you did as a kid about riding your bike,” said Derek Sherman, one of the campaign’s creators.

Bikes on Metra

The campaign comes on the heels of a victory for Chicago bicyclists, who, starting this summer, can ride Metra trains with their bikes. Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, who endorsed the plan, had presented a petition to Metra, urging it to adopt a bicycle policy. He also worked in tandem with state Rep. Marlow Colvin (D-33), who introduced House Bill 467, designed to amend the Regional Transportation Authority Act. The bill passed the House unanimously, and Metra announced its own similar program before the bill reached the Senate.

“This is certainly a milestone in terms of Metra service,” said Metra spokesman Dan Schnolis. “We’ve done a number of studies with local bicycle enthusiasts, and we’ve been able to come up with a program that offers more than what we’ve been able to offer in the past.”

Basically, bikes are prohibited from trains during rush hours and major festival dates. For a detailed schedule, check out “bikes on trains” at www.metrarail.com.

Bike trails are located near about a dozen stations along the commuter rail service’s North Line and four on the West Line.

Rails to Trails

Railroads also play an important part in the national movement to carve out more recreational trails through urban, suburban and rural communities. One of the most popular methods includes converting abandoned tracks. Since its inception in 1986, the non-profit Rails to Trails Conservancy has facilitated the conversion of more than 12,650 miles of trails and hopes to add an additional 16,000.

Local Routes

Illinois has 43 Rails to Trails routes, totaling 490 miles. Two of those, the Chicago Lakefront Trail and the Green Bay Trail, are the ones that Gordon hopes to connect as part of the interstate bike trail system that goes beyond a series of bike lanes or signs along existing streets.

Connecting the lakefront trail with the Green Bay Trail is just one part of a “Rogers Park Plan,” an effort to increase the amount of green space in the neighborhood and the city in general. The grassroots conservancy group plans to seek financing for the project from a variety of public and private sources.

One key component of the plan is to connect the lakefront trail, which ends at Ardmore Avenue just south of the Rogers Park neighborhood. It would link with the Green Bay Trail and involve the conversion of a 1-1/2-mile stretch of Ravenswood Avenue that runs along the Metra North line between Devon Avenue and Howard Street.

Other ideas include improving the lakefront path along She-ridan Road east of

Calvary Cemetery in Evanston, opening the Loyola University cam-pus to bicycle traffic, and constructing a proposed landfill in Lake Michigan by the Edgewater neighborhood.

Gordon said there is a lot of community support for the idea, particularly in Rogers Park, where bicycles are popular, bike trails are in short supply and some of streets, particularly Sheridan Road, are dangerous for two-wheelers. Many bicyclists have taken to the sidewalks, which has created problems, and led to the ticketing of some bikers.

“You definitely don’t want to put bikes with pedestrians,” said Gordon, who added, “riding on the street, with cars, next to parked cars, is an insane idea.”

Geoffrey Wallin is a Conscious Choice editorial intern.

Get More Info:

• The Rogers Park Conservancy, www.urbsinhorto.org

• Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, www.chibikefed.org, or call 312-42-Pedal

• Rails to Trails Conservancy, www.rail trails.org

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