As an Oak Park resident, avid runner and cyclist, and advocate for sustainable transportation, I’ve watched opposition to the proposed O’Hare Flyer with frustration. Residents should question major infrastructure projects, but we’re rejecting an opportunity before meaningfully exploring its benefits.
Imagine reaching downtown Chicago from the western suburbs in minutes, connecting to Union Station, the CTA, and destinations throughout the region. Imagine visitors arriving at O’Hare Airport and accessing our communities without renting a car. A potential Forest Park station could bring new visitors and economic activity to Oak Park, River Forest, and neighboring communities.
The Flyer represents something we desperately need: alternatives that reduce car dependence, congestion, emissions, and the environmental consequences of continually expanding roads.
Why stop there?
I’ve suggested incorporating a continuous multi-use trail alongside the rail corridor, connecting northwest suburbs toward downtown. Such a trail could provide a safe, direct, convenient corridor for commuting to and from the Loop by bike. It would also create a route separated from dangerous car traffic for runners, walkers, and cyclists, connecting neighborhoods fragmented by highways and bicycle infrastructure that leads nowhere.
The trail could become a regional recreational attraction while supporting local businesses, much as the Illinois Prairie Path has done.
The Flyer proposes using existing railroad corridors rather than carving new routes through established neighborhoods. That’s an important distinction from the highway construction that historically divided communities.
Questions about safety, noise, property impacts, and environmental protection deserve serious answers. But those are reasons to engage with developers with an open mind and help shape the project, not reject it outright.
Rather than simply opposing the Flyer, our elected leaders should ask: What would make this project genuinely beneficial to residents? A transit station? Trail connections? Better pedestrian infrastructure? Meaningful environmental protections?
Great communities don’t become great by reflexively opposing change. They become great by helping shape it.
Jack Davidson
Oak Park
