Riding the LFT Since the Big Split
Posted Apr 29, 2019, 7:28 PM UTC
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I routinely ride the entire LFT, from top to bottom. Crossing through different sections of the trail makes it seem like you're crossing through different countries. Nothing lines up correctly, signage is either missing or useless, and everyone is just doing whatever.
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and everyone is just doing whatever.
I too demand more tightly regimented leisure activity.
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Finally, someone understands me.
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Ordnung muss sein!
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Agreed it's a mess and poorly (or some places not) marked, but if you're here saying you STILL haven't figured it out, you're part of the problem. Take 2 minutes to look up the map.
They just painted the part from Montrose to Addison. It makes no sense that the didn't go through Belmont. That area is terrible to start with. Painting that wouldn't take long. Total disaster from design onward, as expected.
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if you're here saying you STILL haven't figured it out, you're part of the problem. Take 2 minutes to look up the map.
The maps don't provide any information on how all the transition zones are supposed to work, or how to each the trail from east/west streets. These are both key parts of the design where the city appears to have thrown up their hands and said good luck.
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Also google maps takes me down the wrong path ALL of the time. I swear, I’m not dumb, but I have no idea if I’m biking the right path half the time. And by the time I’ve figured it out, oops, I’m 500ft or more down and I’m not going to turn around (just bike at a more moderate speed until I can adjust course)
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Common sense of waiting until there's a gap and walking across, the same as everywhere. They don't mark how to get across a sidewalk when a perpendicular sidewalk meets it either. That's not the confusing part.
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How do you get from Wilson to the grade separated bike path that underpasses the street? Are you supposed to use the curb cut by the walking path (former combined path) and ride on the walking that circles Cricket Hill until you reach the bike path? The map and the signage are both pretty useless here.
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Get on the path at the curb cut on the SE side of Wilson. You can follow the path around the east side of Cricket Hill and you'll be on the designated bike path that leads under Montrose.
Alternatively, you could go south along the original path, which is the designated pedestrian path now but if you aren't riding like a complete ding-dong will be fine. That Path also leads to the underpass for Montrose.
Once you're south of Montrose just take the path(s) that are closest to Lake Shore Drive and you'll be on the right path.
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Are you serious? Have you even gone by there? If you need a map to have a literal line for you when you go right by it you shouldn't be biking on the street anyways.
See my initial comment re being the problem. Don't reply.
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I still haven't figured out the correct route from eastbound Wilson to the path.
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There are still some issues with the trail, where it doesn't lend itself to following the rules, because it isn't totally finished. (For example, try riding on the "bike path" near Foster during soccer season. No chance. ) Both the city and ActiveTrans know that there's still work to be done. Everyone decided to move forward, rather than wait until they had funding/plans to make it perfect. ActiveTrans Had blogged about this pretty extensively. Here's an example. They haven't considered the project "done" yet. Especially North of Montrose.
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Just went on the LFT again today and boy is it madness out there.
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The problem is, there are sections without any signage/markings. I just moved into an apartment near Addison, and I'm pretty sure I'm using the correct sections of trail for what I'm doing between e.g. Addison and Fullerton, but not 100% certain. I feel like I'm pretty well tuned into what's going on with all this stuff - so if I'm confused, I can't blame all the other people out there for being all over the place.
I guess what I'm saying is, there should be a ton more signage - anywhere anyone could potentially be confused. And pavement markings every e.g. 1000 feet wouldn't hurt.
The section right at Belmont is truly a r/NotMyJob moment lol.
I challenge anybody to tell me what the correct lane is to ride in. Trick question, you can't because it depends on which way you're coming from!
To your right, the same lane you would be in driving, with bikes in the lanes away from the lake.
Not that simple everywhere. Take, for instance, the segment from Irving Park to Addison. Here, pedestrians are supposed to be on either side of cyclists. But, despite there being a pedestrian underpass between Addison and Waveland, there is no signage or pavement markings indicating who is supposed to go where. There's also this weird little spot by the totem pole where the southbound pedestrian path curves out in a giant circle and then kinda dead-ends perpendicular to the bike lane, for no apparent reason at all. From there, it's not entirely apparent how people are supposed to proceed south to the spot where pedestrians do take the eastern path, separate from bikes - and, once there, there's again no signage telling cyclists to use the western path and pedestrians to use the eastern one.
The circle south of the totem pole makes perfect sense to me. It’s so the SB runners can cross over. The loop out allows you to see better what is behind you so you don’t drift while looking over your shoulder. The biggest problem there is there should be some yield signage for bikes and a crosswalk painted.
I was just going to post about this. From Irving Park to Barry, I always wonder if I’m in the correct lane.
Between Irving park and waveland where the split path turns into a single wide path, I’m pretty sure the minimal signage from the south indicates bikes on the two LSD side lanes, pedestrians on the two Lake side lanes, in that same stretch the lanes from where they merge together from the north seem to indicate bikes in the center two lanes, pedestrians in the left-most and right-most lane.
It’s a total shit show with people thinking they’re doing the right thing yelling at people who they think are in the wrong lane, and the parks district says they can’t paint more markings until they get a week of dry weather. I’ve called.
When they do mark this well-intentioned mess, they need to mark it every 50 or 100 feet. It should be overkill, redundant, plainly obvious to any idiot and tourist where they should be.
To add to the sh*tstorm, the new trail now has the bike path weaving in and out of the center of the pedestrian path. I've biked the LFT for years and the new trail frightens me.
Where on the trail do you think this is happening? Because I can't think of anywhere the bike path is "weaving in and out of the center of the pedestrian path"
Seriously. I'm confused on what you're talking about.
Have you been on the entire trail yourself? Here's one section by Waveland tennis courts and softball field. Going north, it starts out with the bike path being west of the pedestrian path. Then the pedestrian path splits into two and the bike path goes right into the center of the pedestrian paths. Then as you pass by the northern tennis court the two pedestrian paths and the bike path converge, and split up.
Similarly, on this Oak St beach section going north, the bike path goes right between the pedestrian paths after the pedestrian paths split after the new bridge.
If these description are confusing, I apologize for my mangling of the English language. Just try riding the trail, it might help lessen your confusion about what I was talking about. Or not.