Chicago is coming off an “incredible year for cycling,” after installing 27 miles of “new and upgraded protected bike lanes,” building 18 miles of neighborhood greenways, distributing 1,900 free bikes and racking up a record 6.6 million trips on Divvy bikes, a City Council committee was told Wednesday.
David Smith, director of the Chicago Department of Transportation’s Complete Streets initiative, said the city’s intense focus on expanding its network of protected bike lanes has already paid huge dividends, transforming Chicago into the cycling center former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a biking enthusiast who specialized in marathon rides, once promised.
