Biking isn't just for Portlandia

Midwestern cities are also jumping on-board, so to speak, in adding modern cycling infrastructure. Edward Chenock, Jr writes about Chicago and Cleveland, and more below the quotes:

Chicago has more than 200 miles of bicycle infrastructure within its city limits, including two-way bike paths with their own traffic signal segregated from traffic. Throughout the city, there are thousands of bike racks at businesses, parks, and transit stations. The increased bicycle infrastructure has been beneficial to places of businesses and neighborhoods throughout the city. The City of Chicago isn’t done yet, they have plans to build on its existing infrastructure. According to the Chicago Streets for Cycling Plan 2020, the Chicago Department of Transportation (or CDOT) plans to add an additional 645 mile network of bicycle facilities, and to assure that Chicagoans have access to bicycle infrastructure within a half mile.

The City of Cleveland has been slower at improving bicycle infrastructure. As more people move Downtown, and to other thriving close-in neighborhoods such as University Circle, Detroit Shoreway, Ohio City, and Tremont, there has been pressure to improve its roadways to make them more accommodating to all means of transportation than cars. In January of this year, the City of Cleveland’s Planning Commission announced a plan to add up to 70 miles of bicycle lanes to the city streets. So far, only 47.5 miles exist in Cleveland. From 1990 to 2012, bicycle commuting has increased in Cleveland, and because of the rising number of cyclists, this has prompted advocacy groups like Bike Cleveland to advocate for improved infrastructure for Cleveland bicycle commuters.

In Nebraska, both Omaha and Lincoln are building new cycle tracks in their city centers. Here's an image of the proposal in Lincoln, which would run on a major east-west street in downtown, and link up two off-street paths that traverse the city:

Image by Crandall Arambula