Monday, August 5, 2013

Will IDOT Support Plans to Connect Skokie and Lincolnwood Bike Facilities?

According to the Skokie Review, the Village of Lincolnwood is seeking state funding from the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program to move forward with a number of planned improvements to Lincolnwood Park and Centennial Park. Among the plans is a joint venture between Lincolnwood and Skokie which involves building a pedestrian/bicycle plaza in Skokie and connecting it to Lincolnwood's ComEd bike path near Lincoln and Jarvis Avenues. IDOT is currently embroiled in a controversial decision to not fund anymore protected bicycle lanes in Chicago until they complete a further review.

According to Ashley Engelmann, assistant to the Lincolnwood public works director, the Village of Skokie has approved the plan and agreed to cosign the grant application. The pedestrian/bicycle plaza is expected to cost approximately $160,830.00 with $128,664.00 covered by the grant. Assuming the grant is approved, Skokie and Lincolnwood will split the remaining cost of the project at a cost of approximately $16,000.00 per village. 

According to the Skokie Review, the plans for the project include "a monument sign that would indicate where Lincolnwood and Skokie borders meet, new benches and bike racks and a landscaped circular area." The Illinois Department of Transportation denied a previous application for the same project last year. If the grants are denied again, the projects will remain on hold.

The Illinois Bicycle Lawyers of Keating Law Offices are hopeful that IDOT will approve funding for the Lincolnwood-Skokie pedestrian/bicycle plaza. We firmly believe that bicycling is an extremely effective method of both transportation and exercise, and we fully support allocating funds to construct bicycle paths connecting Chicago-area suburbs. 

Keating Law Offices is a Chicago-based firm of trial lawyers who represent clients throughout Illinois. They are the leading Illinois firm in the field of bicycle litigation. If you have any questions regarding this post or an issue involving bicycle law or litigation, please contact Illinois Bicycle Attorney Mike Keating at 312-208-7702 or MKeating@KeatingLegal.com 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.