Bike the Drive is on May 24th

By Gary Johnson

While President Barack Obama engages experts to develop renewable energy sources, millions of Americans have already discovered one: their legs.

More Chicagoans than ever have been taking to the streets on two wheels. The City of Chicago has designated over a hundred miles of roadways as official bike lanes and intends to add 11 more miles this year, according to the city's web site. Some 170 miles of bike route signage already identifies good streets for bicyclists to ride, with destination and distance information for users.

Thanks to Chicago's Bike 2015 plan, city cyclers will have even more options on the road in the years ahead. A major goal of the bike plan is to boost bicycle use so that five percent of all trips under five miles are done by bicycle by 2015, according to the city. The plan also intends to establish a bikeway network connecting all Chicago neighborhoods, as well as providing user-friendly short-term and long-term bike parking throughout the city. Creating seamless connections with the city's public transit system is a priority as well.

And ever since Mayor Richard Daley experienced the Parisian penchant for biking through a widely-used public rental program on a recent trip there, he's wanted the Windy City to gain a similar reputation at home. According to ForbesTraveler.com, Chicago is already in the top 10 of its list of North America's Most Bike-Friendly Cities.

Aiding the city with this endeavor is the Active Transportation Alliance (formerly the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation), a non-profit biking, walking, and transit advocacy organization. ATA hosts Bike the Drive, an annual tradition where cyclists take over Lake Shore Drive on a glorious bike ride the Sunday morning of Memorial Day weekend. The group works closely with the Department of Transportation's Bike Program to develop and implement bike plans. Installing 500 bike racks across the city was just one of their accomplishments of 2008.

Margo O'Hara, ATA's Director of Communications, explains that a city-wide public rental system like the one in Paris was in the works last year but was put on hold due to the economic downturn.

Right now, if you aren't a Sears Tower tenant or a Field Museum employee, your best bet for a bike rental downtown is the McDonald's Cycle Center. Located on the northeast corner of Millennium Park, the Cycle Center gave Chicagoans their first downtown bicycle parking facility with amenities. Along with bike rentals, the center offers 300 bike parking spaces, and locker rooms with showers for bike-commuting workers to freshen up before they hit the office. In addition, there are private bike rentals along the city's lakefront and through many bike shops throughout the city.

It's a good start, but there's a lot of work to be done before Chicago moves to the top of the heap of bike-friendly cities, says O'Hara. "The main obstacle is that our transportation culture is so car-centric," she asserts. "There's this really obsessive dependency on cars."

She suggests a radical solution: rewiring people to change the way they think about getting around. "We're promoting physical activity through transportation," she says. "Instead of sitting in your car for 40 minutes, be active when you're getting around. We're continually engaging people in that conversation."

Along with more bikers comes a greater need to educate Chicago's rushed drivers on how to share the road with cyclists like Michael Una, Chicago artist and bicycle commuter. "The number one danger is motorists not paying attention," he says. "Things like people opening their doors into traffic, turning from the center lane, and forgetting to signal are the most common dangerous situations that could be helped by raising overall awareness."

The ATA has rolled out educational programs to make drivers more sensitive to bikers, including the Drive with Care and Share the Road campaigns. Says O'Hara: "Basically, what we do is social marketing centered around educating people on the rules of the road." After all, every road in Chicago is legally a bikeway, regardless of whether there is a designated road mark.

How well do you think Chicago is catering to its cyclists? What strategies do you hope to see implemented? Let us know!