Ok, it's a grid, but most of the neighborhoods have commercial/arterials spaced every half-mile. At the quarter miles you're in solidly residential areas often broken up by industrial clusters. Routing for cyclists becomes far more difficult, with much greater exposure to stop signs, street glass/debris, and the funky Chicago-style roundabouts. Cross-street visibility is far worse on these side streets where the brick three-story walk-ups are ubiquitous, due to unrestricted curb parking. And do drivers really stop at the ubiquitous stop signs? Plus in this Devon Avenue area there is so much double-parking to load/unload groceries and the family, that the BOL will not truly belong to the cyclist. And in this area and others, there is zero opportunity to widen the street. Then there's winter snow removal on the sidestreets ...

I'm mainly using Rogers Park as an example, but the same issues exist in many other parts of the city as well.

I think a better trade-off is public-service messages to drivers, to check for clearance before opening a door, and to know they are responsible for cyclist injury and equipment damage they may cause, AND to cyclists to be visible and vigilant. If it gets on TV and the local Net services, it might sink in better. It can also be an opportunity to establish minimum day/night cyclist visibility requirements, as well.

The best place to communicate to a huge range of drivers might be the back page of the newspaper, right with the Cubs, Sox, Bulls, Bears, and Hawks!