Chicago's Snowplowed Bike Paths: Bring Your Ice Skates

Much is being made of the fact that the Chicago Park District is regularly plowing the snow off of the city's bicycle paths.

The ice blocking the bike path
at Foster Ave. is almost 3 feet thick

Lauren Cohn, the Minnie Mouse-voiced former FOX 32-TV news reader, has been complaining about it regularly on WLS-AM radio.

There, the transplanted New York J.A.P. assumes a pseudo-conservative pose with John Kass each morning from 9 AM until Rush finally comes along to restore conservatism to the 50k mega-station.

Cohn worries that efforts to clear the way for dog walkers, joggers and the few stray winter cyclists would be better spent on the streets.

Consequently, she's endorsed a city trial balloon that calls for taxing bicycles.

That leaves us with little doubt that before her rightist political epiphany, brought on by the exigencies of unemployment, she spent a good part of her adult life casting primary ballots for the likes of tax-loving fellow New Yorkers, like Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer.

The ice patch at Peterson Ave.
 is only about 2 ft. thick

Anyway, Ms. Cohn needn't fret that winter cyclists have it any easier that the 4 wheeling gas guzzlers.

You see, we discovered, that altho Chicago's bike paths are snow-plowed, they are not salted.

Consequently, at key junctures, bike path users are confronted with impassable ice logjams. Some are up to 3 feet in depth.

Today we took a little bike trip on the Legion Park bike path, which runs along the Chicago River from Peterson Ave., South to Lawrence.

It was pretty nicely plowed of snow. But at the Peterson/Lincoln Ave. underpass, we found a virtually impassable 2 foot thick block of ice on the pavement. At the Foster Avenue underpass, it was closer to 3 feet thick. (see accompanying photos.)

Just imagine some jogger or winter bike commuter barreling down the path at twilight right onto these de facto, skating rinks. What laughs! As good as something right out of the Stooges.

And if anyone should get hurt, the good news is, the Foster Ave. bike path ice floe is within crawling distance of the Swedish Covenant Hospital emergency room.