CME.03 – Bike Facility Improvement at West Belmont Avenue
Team Members Heading link
- Jimmy D’Angelo
- Felix Jita
- Dev Patel
- Daniel Perez
- Nanda Setyarini
- Chenzio Winata
Project Description Heading link
Bicycling positively influences the life quality of an individual. Cycling offers an environment-friendly solution for short-distance trips and low-impact exercise with multiple health benefits. The City of Chicago has a growing bike network consisting of more than 200 miles of regular, protected, and shared bike lanes, 36 miles of trails, and thousands of parking spaces. In the past years, the city has been implementing several programs, notably the Streets for Cycling Plan 2020, to become the most bike-friendly community in the United States. Furthermore, the main objective of this project is the area of W Belmont Ave where bike lanes are not implemented and well-developed. This project analyzes the existing bike facilities at the intersection of N Clybourn Ave and W Belmont Ave, the intersection at N Elston Ave and W Belmont Ave, and the route that connects both intersections, being W Belmont Ave. The proposed design consists of three separate sections as aforementioned. It contains data in the forms of discussions, written guidelines or reports, field visits, followed by design via MicroStation. Changes including the proposal and removal of street markings and striping, signages, utilities, parking lanes, and tow zones will be implemented using MicroStation software. Additionally, the proposed design applies a protected bike lane and a curb ramp through the N Branch Riverwalk. Subsequently, all the data collected suggested the need for bike lanes where cyclists transited through the sidewalks or near cars in the area. The data and the standard guidelines from NACTO, AASHTO, and CDOT were used to identify the type of design to be implemented in these sections. The team decided to propose a protected bike lane and a curb ramp through the N Branch Riverwalk which will give accessibility to cyclists coming from N Elston Ave and N Clybourn Ave. In summary, the design of protected bike lanes to connect the existing bike facilities between N Clybourn Ave and N Elston Ave along W Belmont Ave will increase the number of cyclists. The design will provide access, safety, guidance, environmental and health benefits for everyone transiting this area on their own mode.