Chicago to Install Solar-Powered Floating Bike Path to Lessen Pollution

Chicago is paving a way to lesser pollution in its city by enticing cyclists to ride their bikes more through a solar-powere floating bike path with picturesque river views.

The new project, tagged as RiverRide, is the brainchild of entrepreneur James Chuck, The Guardian reports. The RiverRide idea involves building a bike path floating on the Chicago River to eliminate traffic and car hassle for bikers.

RiverRide is a response to Chicago's goal of becoming a bike-friendly city. However, in order to achieve that, there should be separate, protected bike lanes from other vehicles to eliminate the risk of accidents -- and this is where Chuck's idea comes into play.

“If you look at photographs of Chicago a hundred years ago, you couldn’t throw a penny in the river without it landing on the deck of a boat or a barge. Now we’re not using the river at all,” said Chuck.

Built using a technology used for pontoons, RiverSide will have floating segments attached at the end of the lane at the river's bank. It will also have solar-powered lighting as well as rectractable roof that will enanle cyclists to use the facilities even in bad weather.

“The beauty of the floating system is that it’s quick and easy to install and dissemble ... If you want to pick it up and reuse it somewhere else, that’s perfectly possible,” says Kristian Räme, spokesperson for Finnish firm Marinetek, a technology partner of Chuck's company Second Shore.

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