When Rahm Emanuel was elected mayor of Chicago in 2011, he pledged to install 25 miles of protected bike lanes each year.

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       The city’s first protected bike lanes — on Kinzie Street between Milwaukee Avenue and Wells Street — opened in July 2011.

       Chicago's first protected bike lane, photographed at Kinzie and Jefferson streets in 2011. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune)

       Chicago had more than 300 miles of on-street bikeways at the beginning of this year, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation, but just about 27 miles of those bike lanes are protected.

       The Active Transportation Alliance says only one-third of people on the North, South and West sides live within a quarter mile of a “high-quality, low-stress bikeway like a protected bike lane, neighborhood greenway or an urban trail.”

       The Chicago Department of Transportation announced in late September that it is working to complete “the biggest bike lane expansion in the city’s history” with $17 million in new funding going toward installing 100 miles of new and upgraded bike lanes, including the South and West sides.

       Sources: Tribune reporting and archives; Chicago Department of Transportation; Active Transportation Alliance

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