Attendees review the Moving Archer Forward plan at its open house on July 9, 2026.
This poll is now closed, with final results below.
See "No Plans to Remove Parking for Bike Lanes, Says Alderwoman" for reporting related to this poll.
As reported on July 9, 2026, in "Planning Points to West 35th Street for Protected Bike Lanes," new lanes are not planned for South Archer Avenue through Chicago's McKinley Park neighborhood.
Instead, announcements and city planning point to West 35th Street for protected bike lanes as a primary route in Chicago's bike grid, prospectively removing parking from one side of the street. Share your feedback in the poll and comments below.
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Poll Question:
Should protected bike lanes be added to West 35th Street, removing street parking on one side of the street?
A map in a slide from the Southwest Side Neighborhood Bike Network task force identifies West 35th Street as a primary bike network route recommended with removal of street parking. Blue lines show existing protected and buffered bike lines, and the green line shows a planned secondary bike route.
If bike lanes are put on the inside lane, there will be passenger door collisions because kids being dropped off at school will be opening the doors without looking if their parents don’t tell them to watch out first.
Maybe businesses that have bike lanes should be polled on how much business they lost while the lanes are being built and how much they lost after they were built.
Give bike license that shows they passed hand signals! & small license plates.
And insurance in case things happen,
There’s always car accidents specially the way they’re messing up the streets with these useless bike lanes trying to change the way traffic flows. And please those who drive buy a dash cam.. it’ll save you from lawsuit
Amazon drivers are under a tight deadline. They end up parking in bike lanes which force bicyclists into traffic. There are side streets that go east and west from city limits and also north and south. How about a study of using those streets just for bikes and scooters and skateboarding?
How about when the parking meter sales go under negotiations again that they negotiate putting multi story parking lots to accommodate CTA parking and businesss in the area? They can have trolleys transport people up and the main streets to businesses and public transportation.
35th street between archer and western is so congested during rush hour that you have people using the alleys as a through way. There are 2 schools in that area.
I see a lot of complaining about the traffic project on Archer. Much of it is from a Paul Vallas-funded group that is trying to drive a political wedge between 12th Ward residents and Julia Ramirez, a pretty darn good alder. A lot of the complaining involved whining during the physical reconstruction of the road. That's to be expected from any road project. A lot was the result of the large sewer projects taking place along Archer, which have nothing to do with bike lanes or bump-outs and will be to the benefit of everyone. Things are settling down and traffic patterns are evolving. There are always going to be traffic bottlenecks on Archer or 35th St., especially at rush hour. But where traffic-calming projects take place, traffic eventually finds its level. Moreover, studies have shown that ultimately, business are not harmed and less people get injured and killed riding on and crossing the streets. All this has been explained in well-publicized meetings and on the 12th Ward web site and social media accounts, which keep up with these projects thoroughly and transparently. Of you people who are complaining in the comments, please specify how many public meetings you attended when these projects were discussed and before they were implemented. Anyone?
Finally, I read a lot of people shedding crocodile tears about emergency vehicles not being able to make it down the reconfigured Archer Ave. Well, be advised that the plans were vetted and approved by the first-responder agencies in Chicago before construction ever began. This argument is a non-starter. If the police and fire departments are OK with what's being done, then that's good enough for me.
We all have to get along. We all have to give a little to others. None of us own the roads. We share them, drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and electric scooters and ebikes. Patience is a virtue. Let the dust settle on the projects before you jump to conclusions. Inform yourselves about the plans for 35th St. before you condemn them. You might be surprised at how good they'll be for the area, including small businesses. The city is actually putting some money into the South Side, a welcome and rare phenomenon. Let's give change a chance.
Removal of parking-
It is not ideal to remove parking near residences, businesses, or schools..
The idea of protected bike lanes—
35th Street is mostly a narrow street. Such a street may not be the best place to build protected bike lanes.
Improvements along 35th Street-
If folks review where accidents or crashes happened [crash data], improvements can be made to help make 35th Street safer. I will leave that to the bike advocates and alderperson’s staff to look into possible improvements that can be placed on 35th Street. (Two possible improvements that I think are possible are bump outs or flashing Stop signs. Since I don’t have the crash data, I cannot determine where such improvements might be needed.)
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