Rockford, Illinois Bicycle Lanes Laws

Rockford is making moves to allow more and safer bicycle routes on its streets. Not everyone is excited based on comments posted on social media, and others are confused. Allow me to explain.

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City Rockford's Public Works department shared a graphic to explain what you may notice on area streets. Once you see the presentation it's easy to be confused at first. There are buffered bike lanes, buffered bike lanes with parking, stand-alone bike lanes, combined bike/parking lanes, and traffic calming striping.

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What are the differences?

Is your head hurting yet? If you saw the graphic before any explanation there would definitely be an annoying ache in the brain.

Buffered Bike Lane: Two lines separated vehicles and bicycles on the shared pavement with no street parking allowed. - City of Rockford Public Works Department

Buffered Bike Lanes w/Parking: This is the same as above but with parking. - City of Rockford Public Works Department

Bike Lane With Parking Lane: This is a lane for vehicle, a lane for bikes, and a space for street parking. - City of Rockford Public Works Department

Combined Bike/Parking Lane: This is exactly how it sounds but there may or may not being a marking on the ground. - City of Rockford Public Works Department

Bike Route/Traffic Calming Striping: There are no signs for bikes and is intended to calm traffic. - City of Rockford Public Works Department

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These markings may not appear overnight, this is part of a 10-year process. In true social media fashion, a few people jumped at the chance to complain about the plan or toss in complaints entirely unrelated to bicycle lanes.

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