Were you one of the twelve thousand cyclists on the Outer Drive early in the morning of Sunday, June 9? It was Bike the Drive Day in Chicago. If you’ve read this column before, you probably know that the ride was a fundraiser for the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation (CBF), the not-for-profit group that works to make Chicago the greatest cycling city in the United States. And, indeed, it was a spectacular fundraiser. What you probably can’t imagine is the amount of work it took to put the event together. We met with Lauren Strickler, director of events for the CBF, to find out just how complicated the entire operation was.
Planning for the ride began in February when the mayor’s office of special events contacted CBF to ask for help. Weekly meetings started in April with representatives from the mayor’s office, the park district, the police, the museum campus, and the Chicago department of transportation. Many volunteers would be needed, so Robb Zbierski was hired as a special events assistant in charge of volunteers. Help was needed to man the rest stops at the north and south ends of the Drive; to act as ride marshals and course marshals; and to provide post-ride festival set-up, post-ride clean-up, and packet distribution.
It was decided that registration would be by mail or via a Web site that would be established. When registration began to climb, Lauren realized that it would be next to impossible to hand out T-shirts, ride numbers, and directions on the morning of the ride so she contacted the Ballys Health Clubs to ask for help. They agreed to let CBF use various Ballys around the city and suburbs as distribution points for the ride packets. In addition, the city allowed the use of the Daley Center Plaza downtown for distribution, and riders could pick up their packets at CBF headquarters. As it turned out, approximately 10,500 riders obtained their packets prior to the ride date.
This would be the first time that the entire Outer Drive was closed to cars. There are approximately forty on-ramps to the drive from 57th Street on the south to Hollywood on the north. The police had a squad car at each on-ramp and it seemed that the entire police-on-bicycles force was on the Drive. At each on-ramp and exit-ramp was stationed a course marshal to help keep cars off the drive and riders on the drive. And, of course, the course marshals had to get all riders off the Drive before it could be reopened to cars. The ride marshals took care of minor repairs such as flat tires all along the thirty-mile route that started at Queen’s Landing (just to the east of the Buckingham Fountain) and went north to Bryn Mawr and then south to the Museum of Science and Industry and then north again to Grant Park. All together there were about 250 volunteers.
One person was hired to prepare the ride brochure and T-shirts, and to develop the Web site. Elwood Events was hired to contact potential sponsors and hosts at the post-ride festival. Sure, there were some problems. Police asked riders to leave the Drive too early in one area and the police had riders on the wrong side of the road at one point in the ride. It’s good to keep in mind that this was a first-time event.
All in all it was an impressive affair, thanks to Lauren Strickler’s careful planning. The CBF hopes to sponsor the ride again next year, so plan accordingly. If you’re wondering what happened to the Boulevard Lakefront Tour (BLT), don’t despair — it’s coming. Pretty much the same ride as in past years, but there is a new date — Sunday, September 1. Check the CBF Web site for details.
Bike Lanes and Bike Paths
Last month we reported on a "Safe Routes to School" workshop hosted by the Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS). CATS, as you may recall, is the metropolitan planning organization for northeastern Illinois charged with the development of long-range transportation planning. They have recognized the need to emphasize nonmotorized transportation, and they continue to host meetings on various relevant topics. We attended another design workshop entitled "Bike Lanes and Bike Paths Along Roads: How and Where to Put Them."
What most impressed us at this very technical meeting was the diversity of those in attendance. Representatives from various engineering firms; departments of transportation from cities, towns, and villages throughout the Chicagoland area; Chicago and Illinois departments of transportation; and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources were present. The meeting was scheduled on two separate days to accommodate everyone, and it seemed to us that the high attendance indicated a surge of interest in the topic, which portends a bright future for cycling in the Chicagoland area.
The presenter was Michael Ronkin who has been with the Oregon Department of Transportation for the last fifteen years. He is considered one of the nation’s experts on bicycle and pedestrian facilities design. Here are some of the topics presented: basic street layout principles and the principles of bicycling; overview of different bikeway facilities; choosing the appropriate bikeway design in arterial corridors (on-road versus off-road); advanced bikeway designs; signing and marking; and bicycle parking.
Our purpose here is not to present the details of the discussion but rather to indicate the sophistication of the presentation. Mr. Ronkin distributed a booklet — "Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities" — prepared by a task force from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in 1999. This document is available from AASHTO at 444 N. Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20001, or by phone, 202-624-5800, or check out their Web site.
Reach 4
We promised to explore Reaches 4, 5, and 6 of the Chicago River Trail. We have traveled in Reach 4 but have not yet ventured into reaches 5 and 6. As we suggested before, travel in reaches 1, 2, and 3 is relatively easy, and you can stay close to the river for much of the trip. As you travel further south into the city, however, it becomes more difficult to keep the river in sight. We suggested before that travel along the Chicago River Trail in Reach 1 might be an expeditious way to get from Evanston into the city. Travel in Reach 4, however, is for fun only. If you are cycling to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible, you had better use the Chicago Bike Map, Streets for Cycling (a free map from the City of Chicago Department of Transportation), or the Chicagoland Bicycle Map (available from the CBF).
Here is our report on Reach 4. We started in River Park at Foster and Francisco. Foster is 5200 north in the city and Francisco is about 2900 west. We rode south on Francisco to Lawrence and were surprised to find a new bike lane striped on Lawrence. We proceeded west on Lawrence (across the river) for about two blocks to Manor, south on Manor to Wilson, east on Wilson (across the river again) to Rockwell, and south on Rockwell to Montrose (4400 north). Next we cruised west on Montrose (across the river again) to Horner Park. (There’s no curb cut at the first park entrance, so be careful.) It’s a nice ride south through Horner Park, then across Irving Park (4000 north) and through California Park. The bike path through California Park is temporarily broken up as they build a wheelchair racetrack alongside the path. We continued south past Gordon Technical High School to Addison (3600 north).
We pedaled east on Addison and again across the river to Rockwell. The sidewalk is wide on Addison so there is no need to get onto the street. At Rockwell the path begins again on the south side of Addison. Here we followed the path along the river all the way to Belmont (3200 north). This was a lovely part of the ride behind Lane Tech High School and the DeVry Institute of Technology. It’s not the way to travel south through the city if you’re in a hurry. However, it is a very pleasant way to view the river for these two miles or so.
We lost the river south of Belmont, but when we got to the Julia Lathrop Homes at Diversey (2800 north) and Leavitt (at about 2100 west) we were able to ride south on Leavitt next to the river, then over to Damen (2000 west), across the river on the new Damen Avenue bridge, to Fullerton (2400 north). From 2400 north to 4800 north is about three miles; however, if you follow the route we have just outlined, you will ride about eight miles. It’s a great, thoroughly enjoyable way to see the river as you have never seen it before.
We’ll report on reaches 5 and 6 in the next issue. In the meantime, get out your bike, head over to River Park, and enjoy a ride along the underused Chicago treasure — the Chicago River. Ride safely, and stay healthy.