Community Development - Bicycle Plan
The Village of Skokie Planning and Engineering Divisions along with a consultant team lead by Schreiber/Anderson Associates and Gewalt Hamilton Associates, Inc. completed the Village's first comprehensive bike plan. The plan is part of the Transportation section of the Comprehensive Plan.
The Village of Skokie Bicycle Facilities Plan was adopted by the Village Board on July 21, 2003. The bike plan designates bike routes, bike paths, and on-street bike lanes for easier access to popular community destinations. The plan also suggests improvements, such as bicycle parking facilities and improved signage to identify routes. Dedicated bike lanes on Howard Street have been installed between Hamlin Avenue and Niles Center Road to complete the first east-west bike route. Signage has been provided on north-south and east-west bike routes throughout the Village. Additional bike parking has been installed at the Skokie Swift Dempster Station and at new developments throughout the Village as a result of new bike parking requirements in the Village Code.
Learn more about current and future bike routes in Skokie by clicking here.
Model Communities Multi-Use Path
The Village of Skokie was awarded a $91,500 grant through the Model Communities Grant Program to prepare plans for a multi-use path along the ComEd right-of-way from Oakton Street south to the Village of Lincolnwood limits. The Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grant is funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control through the Cook County Department of Public Health and the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago. The intent of the grant is to make suburban Cook County a healthier place to live, work, and play. This grant is being supplemented with $32,000 of Downtown TIF funds to design the subject multi-use path segment from Oakton Street south to the Skokie Village limits on the ComEd right-of-way.
In April 2011, the Board of Trustees approved a contract for Phase I Conceptual Design and Phase II Engineering agreement with T.Y. Lin International Great Lakes, Inc. (TYLIN) for the design of this multi-use path. The concept plan has been completed and is ready for presentation at the August 15, 2011, Village Board meeting. In July, the Appearance Commission approved the conceptual design of the path, park concept, and landscaping as required by Village Code for public improvements projects.
This segment will connect with the path segment to the north of Oakton Street on the abandoned Union Pacific right-of-way which has been designed, is currently being reviewed by IDOT, and will be constructed this fall. The south end of the path segment will connect with the path segment under design by the Village of Lincolnwood. This path is part of the larger Skokie Valley Trail that will run from Chicago to Waukegan. This segment is designated as a high priority in the Northwest Municipal Conference's regional bicycle plan. The estimated cost of constructing Phase I of the path segment is $680,000, and the Village has applied for a $544,000 grant through the Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) to fund the path's construction.
TYLIN and Altamanu, Inc., the sub-contracted landscape architecture firm on the project, have developed a phased program for the construction of the multi-use path. The objectives of the path design are to:
- Develop a multi-use path on the 0.8-mile ComEd right-of-way between Oakton Street and the Village limits with the Village of Lincolnwood.
- Connect the low/moderate-income neighborhood to the south of Oakton Street with parks, institutions, and employment centers to promote opportunities for recreation, physical activity, and general transportation.
- Properly drain the path area for safety purposes. Direct connection to the Village's sewer system must be avoided. The water runoff from the path must be retained on-site. Landscaped areas such as rain gardens and bio swales are encouraged to be used to convey and retain water where possible.
- Landscaping for the multi-use path must be aesthetically-pleasing and be of plants native to Illinois that are self-sustaining. Trees and other landscaping must be planted in a way that will not interfere with the operation of the ComEd right-of-way.
- The entrance area to the path at Oakton Street must be enhanced to improve the appearance of the area that is across from the new CTA Yellow Line Oakton Station in Downtown Skokie.
At each street crossing, there will be an entrance plaza to the pathway. In addition, there will be small plazas along the path where connections are made to Oakton Community College, parks, and residential areas. The crossing of Howard Street and Lincoln Avenue will be at-grade, and the Lincoln Avenue crossing will have a pedestrian safety island.
The first phase of construction will consist of land grading, path construction, concrete base installation for the gateways, prairie plantings, bioswale installation, existing lawn area improvements, pavement markings, and regulatory/guide signage. The second phase of construction will include amenities at the path entrance plazas, the development of seating/picnicking areas, and bicycle racks. Phase I will be bid in such a way that some Phase II amenities could be constructed during Phase I if the base bids are below budget.
Staff recommends that the Board approve the conceptual Phase I design plan for the Skokie Multi-Use Path south of Oakton. Pending the Board's approval, TYLIN will continue with the engineering design and construction drawings for the path, for which the contract was previously approved.
The public is welcome ask questions or provide comments about the concept plan. Please submit questions or comments in writing to carrie.haberstich@skokie.org.