I take the protected lane a lot, and Edgewater Roadie is right on. The stop sign for cars is so far to the right of their field of vision they just think they can turn through the bike lane. I've had to stop at the bottom of the hill to "let" cars turn in front of me every time I've used the lane. The stop sign needs to be regular size and placed just to the right of the car lane, NOT to the right of the bike lane. It is confusing to all and will certainly result in many accidents until it's corrected.

Going westbound on Kinzie, there are two posts in the buffer zone under a viaduct. This is a bad combination. I think those two posts are a hazard and should be removed. They came up unexpectedly on me during the Critical Mass ride, and I almost didn't make it around them.

Last night there were pedestrians in the cycle track, on the south side, right next to the Mart. Before, they would have been walking in the roadway, and now they are in the safety of a protected right-of-way, so good on them... Wait? What's that? There's a whole sidewalk for pedestrians? That cyclists are not allowed on? Hmmm

I had an argument with a parking valet on Kinzie tonight as he was directing an auto through the cones to the curb into the bike lane. I told him autos did not belong there, it was a bike lane and he pointed to the parking area saying that was the bike lane. In his defense, no one in Chicago has seen a cycle track before and understands how it is supposed to work. I agree with the need for education for businesses and residents on the street and the sooner the better because there is a lot of paint on the street but no one understands what all the lines mean. I know construction is not completely finished, so I hope there are plans to have bike symbols painted in the bike lane because everyone understands what that means.

Also, I'm glad something will be done about the open grated bridge on Kinzie. It helps to have cones define space for bikes because going west bound the autos tend to drift to the right squeezing cyclists but we all know how dangerous the open grate is when it gets wet and heaven forbid your wheel gets caught between the plates.

It looks like progress has stopped - did they lose focus after the Bike to Work Day Rally? The project was not complete as of Friday, which was the due date, right?

It's missing some pretty significant paint - like to show drivers where cars park - e.g. not in the bike lane. Now it just looks like a protected parking track.

I see this in many of city projects - the punch list takes *months* to finish. (e.g. the cross walk brick-looking features on Clark were still a gash in the street from November until just last week!)

Let's hope the Cycle Track is not one of those projects!

I've heard they will be fiberglass plates on the bridge, not steel.

As Chicago prepares plans for the first "cycle track" (2014), I think playing Prospect Park West Lane protected wheels to be prepared, if this battle is here.

Salvage Cars

I ride this street all the time and have for years. The new bike lane is a cyclist to pedestrian accident waiting to happen. I rode through the protected lane the other night after work. There were cars parked all the way down the lane. When pedestrians get out of their cars, they walk through this bike lane.

Or, they just stop and stand there for a while. There was a dad and a little toddler girl just standing in the lane, seemingly oblivious that it was even a bike lane. This is understandable, as its the only place for them to stand while they gather their belongings from the car. I had to ride out into traffic to avoid them.

With this bike lane design, putting a narrow bike lane between parked cars and the curb, there will be accidents with cyclists hitting pedestrians, or cyclists getting doored. That's the big problem with this design.

The other problems are: the lane is narrow enough to make passing a slower cyclist quite dangerous. Also, the amount of space in the cars driving lanes are now greatly reduced. If a cyclist needs to take the street to avoid pedestrians in the bike lane, there is no safe spot for a cyclist to ride. The driving lanes are now very narrow.

While this idea might sound good in theory, take a ride through this lane, and I think it becomes very apparent it is poorly thought out. I sure hope these don't go up everywhere.