Publications & Sites 
Evanston wants protected bike lane along Dodge
Updated: March 8, 2013 6:08AM
EVANSTON — The city is applying for a grant to put in a second protected bike lane.
This one would run on Dodge from Church Street, downtown, to Howard, which forms Evanston’s southern border.
Members of the city’s Administration & Public Works Committee have approved a resolution that authorizes the city manager to submit a Congested Mitigation and Air Quality application for $480,000 for the protected bike lanes. The city would then chip in another $120,000 from its Capital Improvement Project budget were the highly competitive grant to come through.
The city broke new ground last year, moving ahead with its first protected bike lane running along Church Street, from Dodge Avenue to Chicago Avenue, and is applying for the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program for a protected bike lane running west on Dodge, going the other way.
The Church Street lane was a factor in the city’s being named one of the area’s most bikeable communities.
In a memo, officials Suzette Robinson, the city’s director of public works, Haymayoon Pirooz, engineering division manager, and Sat Nagar, senior engineer, spoke of the need for a Dodge lane.
Staff said existing bike lanes at Dodge Avenue from Howard Street to Church are located “between the parking lanes and the automobile traffic lanes.
“The proposed project will relocate the bike lanes to the curb lines and will place the parking lanes between the traffic lanes and the new bike lanes.
In addition, the project would also include the purchase of additional bike racks and/or secure bike lockers to be placed along the Dodge corridor near schools, commercial, recreation and retail areas.
The Dodge bike route would carry past such well known spots as the Levy Community Center, 300 Dodge, and Evanston Township High School, 1600 Dodge.
“The addition of protected bike lanes on Dodge will provide a link between commuting employees traversing the bike lanes on Howard Street to downtown Evanston or Northwestern University via the protected bike lanes on Dodge and Church,” officials wrote. “It will also provide a safe corridor for commuters on the south side of Evanston to the Davis Street Transportation Center.”
In addition, the protected bike line will provide a way for families to access the west side of Evanston and the lakefront for recreational activities,” officials pointed out in their memo.
