No speed limit for revamped lakefront path, city says

How fast is too fast when traveling on the lakefront path?

That’s up to you.

The Chicago Park District has decided against setting a speed limit for the newly revamped trail, which now puts bikes on one side and everyone else on the other. The idea to curtail velocity on one of the nation’s busiest trails was seriously considered but ultimately scrapped.

That means the decision essentially remains with the hundreds of thousands of people who use the 18.5-mile trail — which includes hard-core cyclists, Divvy riders, rollerbladers, joggers and others on their way to the beach as well as Olympic-caliber athletes in training and tourists out for a casual stroll.

“We had debated the speed limit issue quite a bit,” said Heather Gleason, the park district’s director of planning and development. “But not everyone knows how fast they’re going, and we really don’t have a way to enforce it. We can’t go out and write people tickets.”

Project planners also never landed on an actual number that might go on speed limit signs, park district spokeswoman Michele Lemons said.

The fallback plan is simple (and essentially what’s in place now): “People need to be courteous and use safe speeds,” she said.

How about 20 mph?

That hands-off approach doesn’t sit well with the Active Transportation Alliance, a Chicago advocacy group that regularly consults with the park district on projects.

“Our take on the speed limit right now is we do think it’s a good idea to adopt” one, said Active Transportation spokesman Kyle Whitehead. “It’s better than the alternative right now where there is no guidance for people on a safe top speed.”

Active Transportation officials suggested 20 mph.

“Most bikers never approach that speed, but for the small group that frequently does, a speed limit can result in them changing their behavior and slowing down,” Whitehead said.

The fast movers are more likely to know how fast they’re riding, Whitehead said, and typically include people on electric-assist bikes and cyclists on road bikes who track their distance and speed while training for races.

“It is true it would be difficult to enforce, and it’s not that there needs to be regular or aggressive enforcement, it’s more about educating users about appropriate speeds,” he said.

“But I think if you’re putting it in place, there needs to be some sort of teeth,” Whitehead said, such as “a penalty, perhaps a small fine.” He did, however, note that the “who or how” of the enforcement dilemma is beyond the scope of his group.

District will be watching

Thousands are expected to flood the lakefront in coming weeks as the weather warms up. The park district will be watching.

“We anticipate this year is going to be a year of trail of monitoring to see how people are adapting — so if we do need to make tweaks, that’s something we can do in the future,” Gleason said.

Gleason said staffers who regularly work on and use the trail will be her eyes and ears to see if people are maintaining safe speeds and using proper lanes. Social media feedback also will be monitored.

Construction to separate the trail was completed in December after nearly three years of work.

The goal: reducing the chance of dangerous collisions on a path used by about 100,000 people a day on summer weekends.

Even without speed limits, Megan Williams, 32, “smiled ear to ear” after recently using the separated path.

She was out for a jog on the lakefront five years ago when she suffered an almost-fatal head injury in a collision with a biker.

“I’m hoping people do have a new sense of comfort and don’t have to worry sharing a lane with a biker speeding up from behind,” said Williams, who became an advocate for lane separation after the accident.

The project became a reality after billionaire Ken Griffin — Illinois’ richest man and an avid cyclist — became fed up with the state of the trail, donating $12 million to the effort.

Work along the lakefront is not totally done; yet to be completed is the Navy Pier Flyover, which partially opened in December.

The futuristic-looking ramp connects lower Lake Shore Drive to the lakefront path at Ohio Street Beach. But construction to widen the Flyover section over the Chicago River will last through the end of the year. The narrow river crossing has long been a frustrating bottleneck; it is being doubled in width to 16 feet.

The Flyover project, which began in 2014 under the Chicago Transportation Department, has been criticized for taking longer to complete than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times