Chicago Protected Bike Lanes Barely Passable After Big Overnight Snow Storm

Of course the big news of the day is that it snowed last night.  A lot.  Word is that this was the fifth single largest accumulation in Chicago history, depositing over 19" of the chilly white stuff.  So yeah, I rode my bike into the office this morning.

I had to walk the bike along side streets near my home in Logan Square.  But once I got to the main roads it was smooth sailing.  Armitage was clear as was Milwaukee Avenue.  In fact, with so few other vehicles on the road it was actually more pleasant than usual.  That is, until I got to the protected bike lanes.

The Kinzie and Dearborn bike lanes were passable, but just.  It seemed that Streets and Sanitation attempted to clear them, but there was a lot of deep, mushy snow in numerous spots.  With 26" x 2" Schwalbe Winter Marathon tires inflated to 40 psi (about 10 psi below the manufacturer's recommendation) I was able to blast through most of it.  I got struck a couple of times but managed to stay upright.  I am concerned, however, that if/when the snow freezes the bike lanes will become very treacherous.  Hopefully the City will go over them again before the evening rush.  Here's also hoping that businesses along the lanes will refrain from dumping their own unwanted snow deposits into the  bike lanes.

I have posted some brief video clips from my commute this morning so you can check out the conditions for yourself.  The video starts in the Kinzie bike lane, then (abruptly) transitions to Dearborn.