LITTLE ITALY — New bike lanes are being installed on Harrison Street in Little Italy, creating a nearly two-mile stretch of lanes between Downtown and the Near West Side.
The newest stretch is being installed between Halsted and Loomis streets, through the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago and along the UIC Pavilion, city officials said. The lanes are buffered — meaning they are separated from traffic by striping painted on the pavement, but no physical barriers. The bike lanes replace a lane of car traffic in each direction.
The lanes were installed after new water mains were put in last year to replace 138-year-old pipes. The entire stretch has been resurfaced.
Earlier, buffered bike lanes were installed on Harrison between Halsted and Wabash Avenue, meaning the new lanes will help connect bikers in Little Italy with Downtown.
Bike lanes are being installed on Harrison Street in Little Italy. [DNAinfo/Dave Newbart]
Crews also recently installed curb extensions to sidewalks on the west side of Racine Avenue near Harrison as "a safety measure to reduce turning speeds and increase pedestrian visibility," said Michael Claffey, spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation.
