Chicago Sun Times: "Belmont Cragin youth victorious after two-year fight brings bike lanes to neighborhood"

The Chicago Department of Transportation plans to add more than 12 miles of bike lanes in Belmont Cragin. More lanes are coming to nearby Hermosa, as well.

In 2019, a teen was biking along a busy street in Belmont Cragin when the door of a parked car suddenly swung open.

“Because there weren’t any bike lanes, he got ‘doored,’” said Zair Menjivar who, like that teen, is a member of the Belmont Cragin Youth Leadership Council. “He was hurt pretty badly and broke his collarbone because of the accident. Thank God everything is OK and he’s healthy now.”

The near-death incident became a big concern for the council, a program of the nonprofit Northwest Side Housing Center, putting a spotlight on the need for bike lanes in the neighborhood.

“That was really the spark for us,” said 18-year-old Menjivar. “He was riding so close to the parked cars out of fear because people are driving their cars so fast on Belmont Avenue and there weren’t any bike lanes for him.”

For more than two years, teens fought for bike lanes, calling their community a “transit desert.” Bus service is sporadic. There are no CTA L stops and just one Metra station, right at its southern edge.

Finally, in August, their yearslong fight bore fruit, as new bike lanes started sprouting in the Northwest Side neighborhood.