Okay, so if you don't know yet, I'm getting the main bicycle-map headquarters over at my website [jasonpettus.com/maps] all updated and changed for 2009, although as of yet it's still not reflecting any of these changes (patience, dear reader, patience); and one of the things I've decided to do is reorganize a number of these older maps into a big general one called "Northside commuter bike lanes." See, the city makes this big huge deal about how all those spoiled creative-class white people on the north side of the city should actually be bicycling to work in the Loop each day; the vast majority of middle-class Loop workers on the northside, in fact, live less than five miles from downtown, making it actually faster and of course cheaper to bicycle there instead of taking public transportation, to say nothing of driving (which one is a fool to do in Chicago in the first place -- seriously, ditch the car altogether if you're going to live in a place like this, otherwise what's the point of living in a place like this?). The city, then, provides a whole series of official bike-lane options for getting from the northside to the Loop -- along Halsted, along Lincoln, along Wells, along Southport, along the lakefront, and more -- but since there's not a lot of tourist things located along most of them, I thought for my bike-map collection I would just include them all in one big map, designed specifically for locals and full of useful advice about tricky intersections. And this nicely coincides then as well with the five-part map collection I'm slowly creating that covers the entire uninterrupted 18-mile lakefront bicycle trail, one that spans almost the entire length of the city; parts 1 and 2, covering the northern and southern halves of the seven-mile Lincoln Park on the northside, have been done for a year now (the first two maps I actually finished), with parts 3 (Lincoln Park to the Loop), 4 (the Loop to Hyde Park) and 5 (Hyde Park to the South Shore) coming this year.
So, one of the goals I have this year is to actually bike this northside-to-Loop trip and back once a week, every single week all summer and fall; the excuse I'm using, then, is so that I can visit downtown's Harold Washington Library, to pick up the latest Nelson Algren book I'll be reading that week, in that I'm doing a special summer essay series this year at my arts center
CCLaP, where I'm reading the entire ouevre of the Chicago literary titan for the first time, one book a week all summer, in honor of his 100th birthday this year. And since I'll be making this trip every week all summer and fall, I only need to take detailed photos of just one small part of one of these commuter maps each time I go, which I'll just slowly keep adding to the commuter map until the whole thing is really full and detailed by the time October rolls around. This week: The tricky overpass for bicycles downtown, that goes over the Chicago River and connects the River North neighborhood (where the Magnificent Mile is located) with the Loop (where Millennium Park is located). It's pretty easy once you understand how the system is laid out, but can be highly confusing at first; and that's because the trail actually splits into two on both sides of the river, one branch curving out to the lakefront park for more nature-oriented rides, the other traversing the Chicago River along the lower level of the Lake Shore Drive Bridge, right next to the normal vehicular traffic crossing the river as well. Here below, a reprint of the nine-part photo series I just posted to my Google map on the subject; the photos as you see them below line up directly with the placemarks in the map above, as they run from north to south.
Here: The trail at its original northern split, looking south towards the river. To your immediate left in this photo is Navy Pier, which you reach by staying on the left side of the trail; take the right fork to get to Millennium Park and the Loop.
Here: The view from the north side of the bridge, looking south towards the Loop. Immediately to your left in this image is Navy Pier; stay to your right, however, to get on the Lake Shore Drive Bridge that will take you across to Millennium Park.
Here: The view of the special bridge trail ending, on the north side of the river looking north. The left branch seen here will take you on a western lane running parallel to the river itself; taking the right branch will get you back on the main lakefront trail.
Here: The view while actually on the lower level of the Lake Shore Drive Bridge, here on the north side looking south. Both directions of bike traffic stay on the same side of the bridge here; just keep moving forward from this point to go across and into the Loop.
Here: The view from the actual lower level of the Lake Shore Drive Bridge, here on the north side looking north. This is technically where the bridge detour ends; just hook a right where my finger is indicating to get back on the main lakefront trail.
Here: The view from the actual Lake Shore Drive Bridge, as one makes one's way across it between the Loop and the Magnificent Mile.
Here: The view from the actual Lake Shore Drive Bridge, as one makes one's way across it from the Loop to the Magnificent Mile. That's Navy Pier you're seeing in the central background.
Here: The view from the south side of the bridge detour, looking south towards the Loop. Not much more confusion at this point, once you're actually past the bridge; just stay on the obvious trail to keep heading downtown and into Millennium Park.
Here: Once you've crossed Lake Shore Drive, the city recommends jumping on Randolph Street and heading east if wanting to bicycle into the actual Loop. That takes you at first through a massive underground complex, HIGHLY intimidating to casual bicyclers, but don't worry; this is merely a quarter-mile straight shot, which then quickly pops you back outside and right next to Michigan Avenue. Just don't make any turns while you're under the skyscrapers here, and you'll be fine.
