IDOT

In the Chicago Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) Streets for Cycling 2020 plan, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel wrote of his vision to “make Chicago the most bike-friendly city in the United States,” adding, “we will build more protected bike lanes [PBLs] than any other city.” But obstructing that goal may be the red tape between CDOT operations and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), which has jurisdiction over many Chicago streets and does not currently install PBLs on those roadways. Though some Chicago streets overseen by IDOT are painted to indicate shared or regular bike lanes, IDOT won’t install PBLs until they’ve seen three years of local statistics proving their contribution to safety. That means IDOT-overseen Chicago streets (like Clybourn Ave., North Ave., and Ogden Ave.) may not see PBLs for several years to come, even though their contribution to bike safety has been proven in other comparable cities.