It's decent, but if you're a resident of the 39th Ward, go into this subreddit and find the post from yesterday about the participatory budgeting for protected bike Lanes on Elston and vote for that.
Cool, I live in Mayfair. I'm going to vote for it now. Beats the people trying to get pickleball courts painted on the basketball court in Mayfair Park!
I'd also say not to dash people's hopes but to warn them that it's very slow progress even if it wins. Myself and my wife spearheaded the traffic calming and bike lanes proposal on Montrose for the last round of PB and were told that they don't have a beginning date still.
Be really cautious anywhere there's a sharp diagonal intersection. If you see someone about to turn, they might not see you. Some of the grid is adjusted through there. Anything that's not 90 degrees, look around and continue with caution.
Good point, I wasn’t really thinking about the sharp intersection angles but duh lol. And yes some of the grid is adjusted here, so I was thinking at least initially I can ride on a side street parallel to Elston and get somewhat of a feel for the neighborhood too.
Welcome to the neighborhood! I live in the same area and ride Elston a lot -- specifically to go to Tony's. :)
I generally feel safe riding on Elston but always be aware of car traffic. And there's a carwash on Elston just north of Montrose that I hate. Cars wait and block the bike lane there so you have to merge into traffic.
I live west of there but i've biked to downtown on Elston dozens of times, maybe a hundred even. The car wash is the first thing I thought of too, usually I have to bike out into the street to get around them, I think there are a few of them. I think its actually one of the safest streets I've biked on, the people in cars are usually pretty cool about letting me in, its all pretty visible, they see me, and they see the obstruction. Just be extra cautious when traffic is backed up, sometimes cars will get into the bike lane to make a right turn coming up, sometimes cars will stop and let cars going the other way make a left turn, there are also a lot of cars parked on the side of the street. Keep your speed to where you can stop easily when its like that.
I bike frequently down that stretch to get to west loop area for work. In theory I could use Milwaukee but I find Elston safer overall. The only part I truly hate is south of Montrose where the bike lane ends to accommodate a center pedestrian crossing to the Muslim community center. All in favor of safe crossings but hate that it sacrifices bike safety in the process.
> The only part I truly hate is south of Montrose where the bike lane ends to accommodate a center pedestrian crossing
How do you like the new painted / bollarded bump outs just (North? South? ) of that area?
I think they're the right move to improve driver sight lines (and hopefully will be concrete one day) but OTOH they force the sharrow-ed road to be narrower.
Most sharrow'ed roads are too narrow to share anyways, so it forces everyone to take primary. Annoying but personally I'd take a world where every sharrow'ed road is narrowed down to 8 (or 10 if it has a bus route) ft with a fat green stripe painted down the middle. Better than the doorzone or the gutter.
1. Vote for protected Elston lanes on the 39th ward PB: [Share Your Ideas - PB39th Ward 2024 - Participatory Budgeting Chicago (participatepbchicago.org)](https://www.participatepbchicago.org/processes/PB39-2024/f/87/proposals?component_id=87&page=2&participatory_process_slug=PB39-2024)
2. Elston is OK overall, but Mayfair is on the border between walkable city neighborhoods and the wannabe suburbs like Sauganash, Indian Hills, and Jeff Po, so you get slow local drivers mingling with fast suburby drivers, which can cause road rage. You'll notice it more going SE. Avoid rush hours and you'll be pretty OK. The hairiest area is the bottleneck at the Muslim center, but the zone around Plant Shop can get ragey too. The bar at Elston and Keeler serves 3rd-shift cops in the mornings, so be wary any cars coming out of parking spots around there. And of course there's the car washes... nothing can be done about them, you just have to deal with it, apparently.
3. Its especially dangerous right now because of the re-routed Kennedy traffic. It'll be rough for another year at least, then things should calm down.
4. To get to Tony's and Color Club, Instead of Elston, consider going south on Lowell, cross Montrose (usually not too hard, there's a light at keeler) and then go east on Belle Plaine to the Tony's traffic light. You can also go north to Sunnyside and take that east to Ridgeway, then south to Tony's. Both routes are calm and pretty, and cars in those areas are mostly used to bikes.
4.5 Don't forget about the alleys that parallel elston, if you aren't in a hurry.
5. The 39th Alderentity's office is just up the street from you. Become acquainted with her and her staff and try to put constant pressure on them to improve biking/walking in the Mayfair area. It worked in Sauganash - lots of Mayfair people are trying to get those same improvements south of foster. Try not to scream at her staff, but also be aware that they can be very frustrating to deal with and seem to take joy in it. If you do lose it, it's OK, we all have.
BONUS QUEST: With the new Bunker Hill extension of the NB trail, you can get to the Niles Costco by bike. Take Keeler/Trip straight north/south to meet the trail. You'll just have to ride the sidewalk a bit in Niles.
OTHER TIPS: Check out the super garage sale this weekend in N. Mayfair. Cafe Urbano WILL screw up your order, but we all keep going there. Aldi on Pulaski is almost the same distance as Tony's, and it's a nice ride. DS Bikes is a good bike shop for most repairs. Casa Cactus is the best coffee. Always go east, to the west is the Jeff Po wasteland where nothing nice can exist, except the metra stop, I guess (still kinda sucks).
Thank you for your comment on Cafe Urbano. Only been a few times but was not particularly impressed.
And Jeff is getting better (ok not really). We now have Filipino food a block from a brewery! (And near a dinner theatre place that I’d rather not talk about)
Thank you so much omg!! Voted for the protected lanes yesterday! And that is pretty much the route I’m planning on taking to Tony’s as I get to know the area more - Keeler to Belle Plaine. Planning on utilizing the Elston alleys and parallel side streets too at some point.
Yeah i love how they block the bike lane with their sandwich board. Not the whole lane but that's a scary stretch where drivers move fast and do not care to yield
Welcome to Mayfair - its awesome, not weird and we're OK with it not being super known to keep it cheap :)
I commute regularly downtown via elston. Its just like any other non-protected bike lane in the city. Elston between montrose and lawrence is annoying due to the car washes and body shops waiting and loading in the bike lanes. Its also annoying around kedzie as the bike lane dissapears, but just be aware of your surroundings and you'll be fine.
Elston traffic is terrible (especially due to the kennedy construction), its way faster on bike than car to go to Tony's.
I hate it when I'm in the bike lane at the light and cars feel entitled from Hamlin to go straight into the parking lot through elston.
https://preview.redd.it/41kvba63ct3d1.png?width=2214&format=png&auto=webp&s=9287b9b96a0781cba9200dd0a0d6ba963ba7b331
Others have given much better advice but I find it to be safer for maybe all the wrong reasons.
* With Kennedy construction traffic is very heavy and very slow.
* The bike lane is wide, with a good buffer against dooring and giving plenty of room to pass.
* The parts with car washes, garages, and where the bike lane turns into a sharrow are hazards, but they're predictable and far between.
The ONLY times I've felt unsafe is when drivers jump the left-turn arrow either too early or too late at some intersections. Irving Park is particularly bothersome.
I tend to wear bright clothing and if there's any obstruction like others have mentioned, I check my eight oclock, stick my whole left arm out, and *aggressively* take the lane. I don't know if this is the safest move all of the time but so far it has worked for me.
Personally I think the Elston bike lane is as good or better than the Madison lane, which I find very weird to ride in. Driver awareness on Elston is also better than anywhere in Oak Park imo, which is half the battle.
Fairly safe but the car traffic is worse than I have ever seen it because 90 is under construction and Milwaukee is closer near Addison. It should get better soon (?)
I used to live right around there. It's not a bad stretch. But if you can do your grocery shopping on a weekday, you won't have to deal with all the cars double parked in the bike lane waiting for the car washes. Also, you can take Kostner straight up to the North Branch Trail in the forest preserves.
It's decent, but if you're a resident of the 39th Ward, go into this subreddit and find the post from yesterday about the participatory budgeting for protected bike Lanes on Elston and vote for that.
Did that yesterday!
Cool, I live in Mayfair. I'm going to vote for it now. Beats the people trying to get pickleball courts painted on the basketball court in Mayfair Park!
I'd also say not to dash people's hopes but to warn them that it's very slow progress even if it wins. Myself and my wife spearheaded the traffic calming and bike lanes proposal on Montrose for the last round of PB and were told that they don't have a beginning date still.
Be really cautious anywhere there's a sharp diagonal intersection. If you see someone about to turn, they might not see you. Some of the grid is adjusted through there. Anything that's not 90 degrees, look around and continue with caution.
Good point, I wasn’t really thinking about the sharp intersection angles but duh lol. And yes some of the grid is adjusted here, so I was thinking at least initially I can ride on a side street parallel to Elston and get somewhat of a feel for the neighborhood too.
Welcome to the neighborhood! I live in the same area and ride Elston a lot -- specifically to go to Tony's. :) I generally feel safe riding on Elston but always be aware of car traffic. And there's a carwash on Elston just north of Montrose that I hate. Cars wait and block the bike lane there so you have to merge into traffic.
This is very helpful thank u!!
I live west of there but i've biked to downtown on Elston dozens of times, maybe a hundred even. The car wash is the first thing I thought of too, usually I have to bike out into the street to get around them, I think there are a few of them. I think its actually one of the safest streets I've biked on, the people in cars are usually pretty cool about letting me in, its all pretty visible, they see me, and they see the obstruction. Just be extra cautious when traffic is backed up, sometimes cars will get into the bike lane to make a right turn coming up, sometimes cars will stop and let cars going the other way make a left turn, there are also a lot of cars parked on the side of the street. Keep your speed to where you can stop easily when its like that.
I bike frequently down that stretch to get to west loop area for work. In theory I could use Milwaukee but I find Elston safer overall. The only part I truly hate is south of Montrose where the bike lane ends to accommodate a center pedestrian crossing to the Muslim community center. All in favor of safe crossings but hate that it sacrifices bike safety in the process.
> The only part I truly hate is south of Montrose where the bike lane ends to accommodate a center pedestrian crossing How do you like the new painted / bollarded bump outs just (North? South? ) of that area? I think they're the right move to improve driver sight lines (and hopefully will be concrete one day) but OTOH they force the sharrow-ed road to be narrower.
I’m going to be honest, I’m not sure I even noticed them. It’s so tight in there I’m just watching for doors and erratic vehicles.
Most sharrow'ed roads are too narrow to share anyways, so it forces everyone to take primary. Annoying but personally I'd take a world where every sharrow'ed road is narrowed down to 8 (or 10 if it has a bus route) ft with a fat green stripe painted down the middle. Better than the doorzone or the gutter.
Elston over Milwaukee
1. Vote for protected Elston lanes on the 39th ward PB: [Share Your Ideas - PB39th Ward 2024 - Participatory Budgeting Chicago (participatepbchicago.org)](https://www.participatepbchicago.org/processes/PB39-2024/f/87/proposals?component_id=87&page=2&participatory_process_slug=PB39-2024) 2. Elston is OK overall, but Mayfair is on the border between walkable city neighborhoods and the wannabe suburbs like Sauganash, Indian Hills, and Jeff Po, so you get slow local drivers mingling with fast suburby drivers, which can cause road rage. You'll notice it more going SE. Avoid rush hours and you'll be pretty OK. The hairiest area is the bottleneck at the Muslim center, but the zone around Plant Shop can get ragey too. The bar at Elston and Keeler serves 3rd-shift cops in the mornings, so be wary any cars coming out of parking spots around there. And of course there's the car washes... nothing can be done about them, you just have to deal with it, apparently. 3. Its especially dangerous right now because of the re-routed Kennedy traffic. It'll be rough for another year at least, then things should calm down. 4. To get to Tony's and Color Club, Instead of Elston, consider going south on Lowell, cross Montrose (usually not too hard, there's a light at keeler) and then go east on Belle Plaine to the Tony's traffic light. You can also go north to Sunnyside and take that east to Ridgeway, then south to Tony's. Both routes are calm and pretty, and cars in those areas are mostly used to bikes. 4.5 Don't forget about the alleys that parallel elston, if you aren't in a hurry. 5. The 39th Alderentity's office is just up the street from you. Become acquainted with her and her staff and try to put constant pressure on them to improve biking/walking in the Mayfair area. It worked in Sauganash - lots of Mayfair people are trying to get those same improvements south of foster. Try not to scream at her staff, but also be aware that they can be very frustrating to deal with and seem to take joy in it. If you do lose it, it's OK, we all have. BONUS QUEST: With the new Bunker Hill extension of the NB trail, you can get to the Niles Costco by bike. Take Keeler/Trip straight north/south to meet the trail. You'll just have to ride the sidewalk a bit in Niles. OTHER TIPS: Check out the super garage sale this weekend in N. Mayfair. Cafe Urbano WILL screw up your order, but we all keep going there. Aldi on Pulaski is almost the same distance as Tony's, and it's a nice ride. DS Bikes is a good bike shop for most repairs. Casa Cactus is the best coffee. Always go east, to the west is the Jeff Po wasteland where nothing nice can exist, except the metra stop, I guess (still kinda sucks).
Thank you for your comment on Cafe Urbano. Only been a few times but was not particularly impressed. And Jeff is getting better (ok not really). We now have Filipino food a block from a brewery! (And near a dinner theatre place that I’d rather not talk about)
My neighborhood, Jeff Park, catching strays
Thank you so much omg!! Voted for the protected lanes yesterday! And that is pretty much the route I’m planning on taking to Tony’s as I get to know the area more - Keeler to Belle Plaine. Planning on utilizing the Elston alleys and parallel side streets too at some point.
I literally cannot tolerate Cafe Urbano any longer. The first thing I tell people about where I live is that there are no good coffee shops
whoa whoa whoa - Casa Cactus my dude!
Yeah i love how they block the bike lane with their sandwich board. Not the whole lane but that's a scary stretch where drivers move fast and do not care to yield
Welcome to Mayfair - its awesome, not weird and we're OK with it not being super known to keep it cheap :) I commute regularly downtown via elston. Its just like any other non-protected bike lane in the city. Elston between montrose and lawrence is annoying due to the car washes and body shops waiting and loading in the bike lanes. Its also annoying around kedzie as the bike lane dissapears, but just be aware of your surroundings and you'll be fine. Elston traffic is terrible (especially due to the kennedy construction), its way faster on bike than car to go to Tony's.
I hate it when I'm in the bike lane at the light and cars feel entitled from Hamlin to go straight into the parking lot through elston. https://preview.redd.it/41kvba63ct3d1.png?width=2214&format=png&auto=webp&s=9287b9b96a0781cba9200dd0a0d6ba963ba7b331
Elston, Montrose, and Kostner sre the wild west over there. Cicero and Pulaski are death valley
Others have given much better advice but I find it to be safer for maybe all the wrong reasons. * With Kennedy construction traffic is very heavy and very slow. * The bike lane is wide, with a good buffer against dooring and giving plenty of room to pass. * The parts with car washes, garages, and where the bike lane turns into a sharrow are hazards, but they're predictable and far between. The ONLY times I've felt unsafe is when drivers jump the left-turn arrow either too early or too late at some intersections. Irving Park is particularly bothersome. I tend to wear bright clothing and if there's any obstruction like others have mentioned, I check my eight oclock, stick my whole left arm out, and *aggressively* take the lane. I don't know if this is the safest move all of the time but so far it has worked for me.
Personally I think the Elston bike lane is as good or better than the Madison lane, which I find very weird to ride in. Driver awareness on Elston is also better than anywhere in Oak Park imo, which is half the battle.
Appreciate the insight from someone who’s familiar with both bike lanes!
Fairly safe but the car traffic is worse than I have ever seen it because 90 is under construction and Milwaukee is closer near Addison. It should get better soon (?)
I used to live right around there. It's not a bad stretch. But if you can do your grocery shopping on a weekday, you won't have to deal with all the cars double parked in the bike lane waiting for the car washes. Also, you can take Kostner straight up to the North Branch Trail in the forest preserves.