Work on the recently approved Oak Park Bike Plan has begun –and its initial costs are less than expected.
On Aug. 5, Oak Park’s village board approved spending for the first round of new bicycle infrastructure laid out in the bike plan that the board ratified in July. This round of improvements will cost the village $809,903, less than the $1.4 million that was budgeted, according to village staff.
The cost is also offset by a Cook County grant Oak Park received in 2024, which will pay for 5% of the work — about $40,500. The South Elgin-based company Maintenance Coatings Co. is the contactor on the project.
Trustee Brian Straw said that the work coming in under budget is a great start to the rollout of the plan, which village officials hope will drive increased interest in cycling in Oak Park by making the entire village safer for bike riders.
“That’s a savings of approximately $600,000 on this project and it is a great project,” he said. “You’ll be seeing a lot of neighborhood greenways being installed and being installed in the next several months. That is something I am very excited about.”
The work is related to establishing the wide-ranging neighborhood greenway system laid out in the plan. This includes signage and pavement markings along Lemoyne Parkway and portions of Lombard Avenue, Harvey Avenue, Scoville Avenue, Elmwood Avenue, Home Avenue and Kenilworth Avenue, according to the village.
Adding more neighborhood greenways was a central part of the bike plan, which also included measures creating new protected bike lanes, increasing bike-share access and a variety of other traffic calming strategies.
“A centerpiece of the plan is the development of Neighborhood Greenways, a network of low traffic, residential streets designed to prioritize bicycle travel and improve safety for cyclists of all ages and abilities,” the plan said. “These greenways are intended to calm vehicular traffic, enhance street crossings, and provide seamless connections to key destinations like schools, transit hubs, and local businesses. The study identified an initial series of east-west and north-south routes and a toolbox of infrastructure components that can help prioritize bike travel through the community.”
Once the work’s completed, new greenways will connect north and south Oak Park via Lombard and Harvey Avenues and east and west Oak Park via Lemoyne Parkway.
With the approval of the construction contract, village staff are drafting an ordinance that will lower the speed limit to 20 miles per hour on portions of Lemoyne, Lombard, Harvey, Scoville, Elmwood, Home, and Kenilworth, according to village staff.