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
