Thursday, March 11, 2010

A Look at Googles Bike Path Feature for the Sloop

It's raining yes, but the temperature has been inching higher over the last couple of days and to us that means it's almost time to dust off the bike and start riding around the city. The South Loop has quick access to the lakefront paths, which is great, but where else can you find bicycle lanes in the neighborhood?

One new option is to head to Google maps and find the 'bicycling' option. We took a snapshot of what you will find in the South Loop (routes in green):
According to this, if you're heading East or West, Roosevelt or 18th street is your best option. North/South options seem to be a little more limited in the city. If your South of Roosevelt, Wabash has a designated lane and if you're North of Roosevelt, Canal and Clinton look to be the best option. And of course there is always the lakefront path.

It's a nice feature, but not nearly as robust as the cities bike route maps. However, the city maps are static and lack the interactive features that many people have come to rely on from Google maps.

Happy riding and hopefully the weather keeps on going in the right direction! However, I'm not holding my breath for that.we're not holding our breath

2 comments:

ogsy said...

Pro tip for heading north-south - take Canal. Relatively quiet and fewer lights. Particularly handy if you are bypassing the loop and heading to River North.

Anonymous said...

Bike on any street you want, just be careful. I also suggest lower wacker. After 9pm, during the week, the loop is dead, and you can't beat riding in the middle of the street there. Bring a camera, and you'll start to have an awesome collection of city photos.