The 4th edition of the Chicagoland Bicyle Federation map is now out. I received mine in the mail
yesterday. The map covers Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties in
northeastern Illinois.
It's not free; it's a fund raiser for the CBF and can be ordered for $6.95 from their web site
biketraffic.orgbiketraffic.orgOpen ↗
The cartography is similar to the last edition (which is a compliment). They fixed what I thought
was the major problem with the third edition when they changed the route color scheme. It used to be
that the best bike routes were in dark green, and heavy car traffic routes were in dark gray --
these colors were too close.
While it is now true that the Illinois Dept of Transportation has a free bike map of this region,
there is a basic difference in philosophy. The CBF map is a map designed to show you how to get
anywhere you'd want to go -- the purpose is enabling. The IDOT map seems really designed to show you
routes that are too heavy; no attempt is made to create a network of useful routes.
Visit the URL(s) of the Bike-Chicago Email List at: surf.tobikechicagoOpen ↗
home.mindspring.combikechicago.htmlOpen ↗