What is my best cycling route to the Western Ave Metra in Chicago?

March 7, 2013 8:31 AM

What's the best cycling route from my place in the Ukrainian Village to the Western Ave (at Hubbard) Metra?

I know this is a stupidly and ridiculously simple question, but I am a total bike newbie and scared of getting hit by a car, so please bear with me.

I'm starting a new job which will require me to take the Metra outbound. The closest station to me is the Western Ave station at Western/Hubbard. I live just north of Augusta/Wood and when I was doing the walk-bus-walk trek this morning to the station, I realized that if I had a bike it would literally shave up to 30 minutes off my already long round-trip commute every day. I'd be leaving my place around 7 am and returning from the station around 6:30 pm every day, doing this full-time starting in April.

However, as I mentioned upfront I am a total newbie to biking so I'm nervous about the best route to the station. I took a look at the Chicago cycling map and it seems to indicate Augusta-Damen-Grand as the best route. However, that makes me nervous -- should I take side streets instead? Would Wood SB to Hubbard WB make the most sense? But then I read that there are higher risks of getting hit/doored by drivers on side streets, so I don't know. And would it make sense to take one route in the morning and a different one in the evening?

Finally, depending on the route it looks like I'll have to make turns at major intersections. How do you go about doing that, specifically left turns?

posted by andrewesque to travel & transportation around Chicago, IL (9 answers total)

Do you use Google Maps bike route feature? It gives you the best route taking in to consideration the streets that have a designated bike lane. which in this case has you take Hubbard instead of Grand.

I bike around Chicago, but don't know specifics about your streets.
posted by readery at 8:41 AM on March 7

Wood to Hubbard is actually a pretty good route - Wood is "big" enough to merit stoplights at Chicago and Grand (the biggest problem with side streets is not having a light when you cross a major avenue), and Hubbard is really quiet and a lot nicer than Grand (which is a shitty street for riding in that area).

You probably have less risk of getting doored on Wood/Hubbard than on Damen or Augusta, because you'd be riding more or less down the middle of the street rather than being sandwiched in a bike lane between traffic and parking.

Left turns: the only one you'd be making on that route is Hubbard to Wood on the way home, which is a stop sign intersection. Just wait at the sign if there's traffic and roll through when it's your turn, exactly as if you were in a car. I've biked through that area plenty of times and you shouldn't see too much traffic at that corner.

You didn't ask, but the forum at The Chainlink is a great resource if you have any other Chicago-specific biking questions. Good luck!
posted by theodolite at 8:49 AM on March 7 [1 favorite]

I haven't biked in that area, but according to the maps and some quick streetview checking..

(Similar to the path theodolite suggests, but there's no light or four way stop at Hubbard/Damen which may be harder to cross.)
Take Wood south to Ohio, then Ohio to Damen (there's a four way stop at Ohio/Damen, easier to get through). Then take Damen to Hubbard and you should be good to go.

That's one left turn, at a four way stop, and mostly on non-major streets. If there's no bike lane on a street (or even if there is) feel free to take the full lane if you're feeling crowded. Other than Damen, I don't think those streets are heavily trafficked.
posted by borkencode at 8:55 AM on March 7

From personal experience: don't ever bike Western, even for a little bit (narrow, fast traffic, scary). Damen is fine, Grand is fine, Hubbard is also fine. My riding preference is main streets rather than side streets, as people are driving more predictably, not popping out of alleys and so on. Enjoy your bike commute! It is a wonderful way to get started in the morning.
posted by velebita at 9:40 AM on March 7 [1 favorite]

Regarding left turns at large intersections: I do it the long way: cross to the intersecting street corner and wait for the light to change. People in cars can get freaked out by bikes in the left turn lane, and I dislike being honked at.
When I started city biking, I went for a first ride with a bike messenger friend who showed me the ropes- if you're very nervous, it's super helpful to have someone along that first time.
posted by velebita at 9:51 AM on March 7

Yes, take Wood to Hubbard. Hubbard is nice and wide, and a joy to ride on.
posted by smich at 10:19 AM on March 7 [1 favorite]

I haven't biked heavily in that neighborhood, but it sounds like you're pretty well covered on what route to take by now. As you've probably picked up from the other comments, middle-sized roads are your best bet - too small and you end up stuck at intersections where the other direction doesn't have to stop, but too big and the traffic gets dangerous. Western will not be fun to bike on, though at least there are parked cars and/or decent shoulders (once I accidentally ended up on a stretch way north on Sheridan that had two lanes in each direction and no shoulder and it was the scariest block of my life - do not do this, ever).

Turning a left at a four-way stop should be no problem. Do like theodolite says and behave exactly like you're a car. A lot of bicyclists don't bother with arm gestures, but they can be useful, especially when you're making a scary-feeling turn into opposing traffic: Stick your left arm straight out from your side to show that you're turning left. (People pretty universally understand the left-turn arm gesture. The stop and right-turn ones, not so much.)

If you ever end up having to take a left turn at a bigger intersection that makes you feel uncomfortable, cross like you're a pedestrian (go straight ahead, pivot at opposite corner and wait for light to change so you can cross the other way - on preview, what velebita said).

Also, if you're going to be locking your bike up at a train station all day, make sure you have adequate locks - I use an arrangement sort of like this with a strong U-lock through my front tire and frame and the cable threaded from the lock through my rear tire. Most people I see use just a U-lock through one tire, and I'm operating under the assumption that my bike isn't that great anyway and if it's locked up more thoroughly than more desirable bikes I'm probably not going to be anyone's first target for theft.
posted by jessypie at 10:20 AM on March 7

I would suggest that you take a look at Metra's documentation on bikes on trains. That station is remote enough that I would not leave a bike all day unless it's a really bad bike. Because you're doing a reverse commute, I'm fairly certain, you can take your bike with you on the train even though it's on the blackout/rush hour time. I like to take mine on the train and lock it up at the suburban station—probably safer.

Metra has documentation about bikes that is not available online and is only available at their big stations downtown. I know this because I've had a conductor threaten to throw me off when I moved my bike before all of the passengers had gotten off at my stop. That rule isn't online. Conductors have the right to throw you off at any time for any reason, including crowding. It stinks, but just be nice to the mean ones as well as the nice ones.

One thing that will help is reviewing Metra's bikes on train documentation and rules online and bring something (a bungee?) to secure your bike to underneath the seats. There are only certain cars where bikes are allowed so look for them before you board. If you're riding the same train everyday hopefully you'll make a conductor buddy. Welcome to the Chicago biking community!
posted by Bunglegirl at 11:13 AM on March 7

Thank you all for your help! These were all so helpful, especially the ones that pointed out things I didn't think about (like where to cross major streets.)
posted by andrewesque at 7:26 AM on March 12