Milwaukee Avenue Protected Bike Lane

While Milwaukee Avenue, in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, is one of the most popular streets for bicycling, the street was also identified as a High Crash Corridor in the Vision Zero Chicago Action Plan. The project, part of Chicago’s Vision Zero efforts to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries citywide, aims to create a safer and more vibrant corridor while better reflecting how the community uses the street.

TYLin, through in-house consulting services provided to the Chicago Department of Transportation’s Bikeways Program, led the planning, design, community outreach, and construction management for the project.

The Milwaukee Avenue Protected Bike Lane project included upgrading existing bike lanes to protected bike lanes, reducing the speed limit to 20 miles per hour, installing new midblock crosswalks, and installing new pedestrian bumpouts (curb extensions) to increase pedestrian visibility and promote safer driving behaviors.

Installing these changes required the relocation of over 100 metered on-street parking spaces on the commercial corridor. To build support for such a controversial change, TYLin led a parking study of the corridor to understand the parking demands. Extensive door-to-door outreach was also conducted with most businesses along Milwaukee Avenue to gain a thorough understanding of their unique curbside needs.

The project used a Rapid Delivery approach through low-cost, quick implementation techniques such as paint-and-post bumpouts to install the project quickly. 

A national leader in the design and implementation of Complete Streets and innovative bicycle facilities TYLin has provided planning, engineering, and in-house staff support to the City of Chicago’s Bicycle Program within the Chicago Department of Transportation since 1997. 

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS: 

• TYLin successfully tailored the design of the bike lane to balance the safety of vulnerable street users with the needs of local businesses. 
• The project was Chicago’s first use of Qwick Kurb® continuous curbing within a protected bike lane. 
• A bus boarding island was installed after the bike lane opened to further increase safety and improve transit operations. 
• The Milwaukee Avenue Protected Bike Lane was part of the City’s goal to install 100 miles of protected and buffered bicycle lanes in four years. 
• The bike plane was named the #8 best new bikeway in America in 2020 by PeopleforBikes, a coalition in the United States that promotes the use of bikes for recreation, fitness, and transportation.