New, improved bike lanes are coming to the South Loop by the end of the month

Changes and additions are coming to South Loop bike lanes as soon as this month, and drivers, bikers and pedestrians discussed them at a community meeting Tuesday evening.

Ald. Sophia King (4th) hosted the forum at Grace Place, 637 S. Dearborn St., to hear comments and concerns as she shared the finalized plans meant to improve biker safety.

Among the additions to be made by the Chicago Department of Transportation are concrete curbs between bike lanes and vehicle traffic on Harrison Street from Desplaines Street to Wabash Avenue, CDOT senior transportation planner David Smith said at the meeting.

The added curb would not take away any lanes of traffic on Harrison and would simply add a layer of protection for the existing two-way bike lanes, Smith said. The current bike lanes on Harrison included a narrow painted buffer between cyclists and drivers with bollards placed in spots.

Over on Polk Street, a new bike lane will be added in the short stretch from Dearborn Street to Plymouth Court to lead bikers south to 9th Street, Smith said. Concrete curbs would also be added for protection for those lanes.

Construction on the two projects is expected to start this week.

“I’ve been called a bike hater,” King said, “But I look at this from a community standpoint where we all have to coexist, and I’m trying to do really what I feel is best for the community. It’s not going to make everybody happy, but I think this is a pretty good proposal.”

Christina Whitehouse, an avid cyclist and founder of the safe-cycling advocacy website Bike Lane Uprising, has had an often contentious relationship with King as the two have met to figure out a workable solution for unsafe cycling conditions.

After weeks of back and forth with King, Whitehouse said after Tuesday’s meeting that she she’s “super excited” about the changes.

“No one ever thinks that Harrison Street is a leading location for cyclists, but after starting the Bike Lane Uprising database, I’ve been pretty surprised by just how many people are submitting from that particular street,” Whitehouse said.

Though a few displeased drivers who live in the area said they were concerned the concrete curbs would cause added traffic jams, King said the latest version of the plans came as the result several changes due to community input over the past 1 1/2 years.

“I think it makes the community safer,” King said, “I felt today we all moved forward.”