New Ela Road in Cook County: Easier to ride?

Cook County has finished repaving Ela Road from Hoffman Estates to Inverness — and that's big because the road serves as an unofficial gateway to Lake County and its more open roads. The road runs about 8.5 miles from just north of the Jane Addams Tollway to Lake Zurich. But we road cyclists have had to lean on Ela's shoulders, whose width and condition were inconsistent. Are they any better now? I took a good look (with video).

Traffic light coming for Great Western Trail riders

DuPage County announced this week that it will install a rider- and pedestrian-activated traffic light at the Great Western Trail and County Farm Road. Such a safety measure has been sought for more than a decade, and it comes three years after a refuge median was installed to help people cross. Also, there was an actual official update about the Salt Creek Trail at I-294. In local news.​

Poplar Creek detour?

The Poplar Creek Trail by Hoffman Estates has shown a detour because of construction at Golf and Barrington roads. But the detour is neither entirely safe nor pleasant. So riders are just going around the barriers. It's in the construction round-up.​

The new e-bike/e-moto law, in summary

The state legislation that will regulate e-motos as "motor driven cycles" and set a new minimum age for Class 1 and 2 e-bikes could still be confusing, especially when you consider e-scooters, too, and the rules on what can be ridden where. I tried to summarize the legislation as quickly as I could.

The new e-bike/e-moto law was influenced heavily by Ride Illinois, an advocacy group I volunteer for. Learn what it does and how to support it.​

The big rides continue

As summer officially begins, big events are closing out June:

• Janesville Morning Rotary Club Pie Ride, Saturday in Janesville, Wis.
• Pat Mac Ride, June 26 between Chicago and Michigan City, Ind.
• Bike MS: Tour de Farms, June 27-28 in Kane and DeKalb counties
• Bike to the Barn, June 27 in Naperville

​Find more info and links, plus regular community rides, on the calendar.​

COMING SOON: I just returned from Sicily, where I rode bikes in traffic. Does that sound scary? I'll write about the experience and compare it to our traffic.

Meantime, maybe don't ride and drive like the Italians do just yet. Stay safe!

THANK YOU, DONORS:
Arlington Heights Bicycle Club, Alan White, Mitchell C. Jones, Bill Triplett, John Heer, Terry Witt, T L Szensy, Douglas H. Hoffman, James Krause, Melynda Findlay Shamie, Eric Slagter, Jeffery Norman, Kathleen Hays, Andrew L. Campbell, Mark Rathe, Robert M. Yedinak, John S. Perry, David Waycie, David Michels, Cynthia DeVoss, Cheryl Zalenski, Richard H. Jordan, Mark Joseph Dugo, Richard Wadleigh, Colleen Stevenson, Randy Barich, Michael D. Staples, Michael Vander Weele, Hilliard B. Grossman, Kevin V. Barba, Bill Kragh, William F. Haley, Todd Stocke, Colleen Sanderson.

I create the Suburban Chicago Bicycling website and newsletter with the help of readers like you.
​Buy me a cup of coffee, as they say?

At top: Ela Road looks pretty, right? And not just the new asphalt. Just beware the intrusions.

For even more, read old newsletters. And please forward this to anyone interested.