Every new street that the Village of Oak Park paves will be geared toward pedestrians and cyclists, as well as cars, based on a new policy adopted last week.
Trustees OK’d, on Jan. 3, what’s called a “complete streets” rule book for future road projects. With that guideline, any new road designs will try to incorporate everything from bike lanes to more frequently changing crosswalks.
Village engineer Jim Budrick thinks the new policy will be helpful in the future, as society moves away from the automobile as the dominant people-mover.
“We basically have a checklist to follow,” he said. “It’s a helpful tool so we’re consistent with all the projects we do in the years ahead.”
Items on that checklist include handicap-accessible sidewalks, countdown pedestrian signals and bus shelters. Oak Park also hopes to figure out ways to measure the success of complete streets here going forward (such as the number of accidents, traffic patterns, etc.).
Oak Park includes some exemptions in the policy — such as when there is proof that there’s no need for complete streets in one area, when the costs of a particular element are excessive, or when the project is just ordinary maintenance of a road (i.e. pothole patching).
Elected officials expressed a few concerns about the new rule book, though they ultimately voted 7-0 in favor of it.
Village Trustee Colette Lueck worries that the exemptions could render the new policy useless, and hopes the village is careful in monitoring who asks for them.
“They’re fairly significant, and the exemptions could almost undo the policy, depending on how they’re interpreted,” she said.
Trustee Glenn Brewer hopes that Oak Park is careful not to overspend on its streets, just to stick to the policy.
“All I’m saying is we need a good understanding of whether the Chevy is serviceable and will get us what we need or whether, in this particular situation, we do need the Porsche, for other than just appearance’s sake,” he said.
Budrick said Oak Park has already been operating under the complete-streets mindset for the most part — with its network of sidewalks, handicap ramps, public transportation and bike pathways. Really, he said, the new guidebook is more about tracking the improvements in the future.
“Oak Park is probably one of the most complete-streets communities in all of the country right now,” he said.
