Federal Funding Cuts to Bike Lanes Highlight Ongoing Challenges for Chicago’s Bicycle Infrastructure Plans 

Trump Cutting Federal Funding to Infrastructure Projects Deemed Anti-Car  

CHICAGO – The U.S. bicycle commuter lives in a perpetual state of fear. For Chicago cyclists though, things are looking better. Last year, a single cyclist was killed in a vehicle accident, which is amongst the lowest in the nation. Still, the People for Bikes, a non-profit bicycle advocacy group, ranked Chicago 2,497 out of 2,901 cities for bicycle safety. Chicago is considered the least safe major city in the nation, ranking behind Los Angeles, Houston, and San Antonio. Despite improvements, cyclists in the city still face significant dangers. 

Nationally, very few people actually commute by bicycle. In Chicago, only 0.7% of commuters are cyclists, just above the national average of 0.54%. This is in spite of Chicago’s extremely bikeable geography. 

Despite the dangers, cycling in Chicago has seen significant growth. According to The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the number of bike commuters has risen by 119%, outpacing the growth in any of the top 10 largest U.S. cities. Much of this growth is credited to improvements in the city’s bike lane infrastructure, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration has added more than 100 miles of bike lanes, with 82% of the added mileage being low-stress-protected bike lanes or greenways. 

Federal Cuts to Bike Infrastructure Aren’t New 

The Trump administration’s seemingly anti-bike lane stance for funding isn’t new for the federal government, but there are some new justifications. In a memo published by the DOT, they target projects with “leftist social requirements,” such as those addressing climate action, diversity, and equity. In contrast, projects that “give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average” are being prioritized. The “fertilization president” and his administration want Americans to have more babies, how policy will affect this though, is still unclear. Regardless of justification, this is a continuing national trend that focuses on funding for car-centric infrastructure while cutting resources for sustainable, non-car transportation. 

Although Chicago does not rely exclusively on federal funds for its bike lane projects—funding comes from bond money, TIFs, and aldermanic menu money—the federal cuts represent a larger ideological battle that affects local and state governments.  According to the Active Transportation Alliance (ATA), which advocates for non-car infrastructure, combating the perception that bike lanes are “anti-car” remains a significant challenge:

“[Anit-car] is one of many anti-bike-lane rhetorics that we must educate people on… Historically, the majority of federal dollars are spent on roads and highways and underfund transit, bike, and pedestrian improvement projects. We know adding a new travel lane or expanding the highway does not solve the traffic issues, but investing in multi-modal options does.” 

The Role of IDOT and State-Level Challenges 

One of the primary obstacles to creating a truly connected bike network in Chicago is the presence of roads managed by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). Although IDOT manages only 9% of the total road area in Chicago, its roads account for a staggering 45% of the city’s traffic fatalities. IDOT relies heavily on federal funding—53% of its budget—meaning that national funding priorities heavily influence how and where infrastructure is developed. The ATA says that, “Generally, IDOT does not approve making any changes to roads they own and makes it difficult to implement pedestrian or bike improvements.” 

Even before the Trump administration’s cuts, the federal government’s historic focus on road and highway infrastructure has created an uneven distribution of resources. The federal government spends the majority of its transportation dollars on car-centric infrastructure, and this pattern is reflected at the state and local levels, where agencies like IDOT must navigate complex funding obstacles, all of which contribute to the absence of non-car infrastructure on their roads. 

The Misconception: Bike Lanes and Traffic Congestion 

Despite Chicago’s ongoing efforts to reduce congestion, most commuters will continue to rely on cars until reliable and easy-to-access alternatives are widespread. 77% of Chicago commuters use cars to get to work. This reliance on cars has led many to view bike lanes as detrimental to traffic flow. Chicago’s streets are some of the most congested in the country—the city ranks as the third-worst for traffic congestion in the U.S., with commuters spending an average of 87 hours in traffic last year, totaling 422,236,000 hours of delay citywide. 

However, the perception that bike lanes worsen traffic is misguided. Countless studies have shown that bike infrastructure can actually reduce traffic congestion by providing more people with alternative transportation options. As more people choose to bike or use public transit, fewer cars are on the road, which in turn reduces overall traffic. 

The federal cuts to bike lane funding are part of a broader political debate about the role of cars in cities. The cuts are not unprecedented, but they mark a renewed commitment to prioritizing automobile infrastructure over sustainable, multimodal transit. In a 2023 interview with Business Insider, Senator Mitt Romney criticized bike lanes, saying: “Removing automobile lanes to put in bike lanes is, in my opinion, the height of stupidity. It means more cars backing up, creating more emissions.” 

A Call for Safer Streets and More Investment 

Despite the uncertainty created by federal funding shifts, cyclists still continue to fill Chicago’s growing network of protected lanes. And with IDOT-controlled roads accounting for nearly half of the city’s traffic deaths, advocates say the next phase of the city’s bike network will depend on whether state and federal agencies are willing to meet the demand already showing up on Chicago’s streets.