Mapping Milwaukee: Bike lanes and crashes, 2019-2024
Chicago Complete Streets bike map, 2023. Source: https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/cdot/bike/2023/2023%20Chicago%20Bike%20Map_web.pdf
Milwaukee Avenue is one of the most used bike routes in Chicago as of 2024. The route has undergone a multitude of changes for cyclists throughout the years and now has many different forms of bike lane infrastructure.
Despite this, the route still has a reputation for being a high-stress biking corridor. Our team had a few questions: Does this bike lane infrastructure prevent cyclist crashes with cars, and if not, what are some treatments to enhance the safety of the corridor?
Chicago Complete Streets bike map, 2019. Source: https://chicagocompletestreets.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-Chicago-Bike-Map_V2.pdf
Our team used crash, traffic, and bike lane type data from 2019-2024 to determine if bike lane changes throughout the years coincided with changes in bike crashes or bike traffic.
Traffic data is important because if crashes stay the same but bike traffic doubles, the conclusions made by the team are different than if bike traffic had remained constant.
The team's findings are available on the ArcGIS StoryMap linked at the top of the page.