There was movement this week in Schaumburg’s efforts to add off-road paths, including a key change in construction happening right now and a new step toward the village’s shift away from neighborhood bike lanes.
Without comment on May 13, the village board approved a staff recommendation to reduce the width of an off-road path on Salem Drive to 8 feet instead of 10 feet. The staff suggested the change to preserve more of the 31 mature trees on the parkway in the southwest-side neighborhood. The reconstruction (pictured above) started in March.
The trees’ roots must be pruned to accommodate the path. “An analysis provided by the Village Forester identified that root pruning in the design location will infringe on the structural root zone and could significantly damage the stability of the parkway trees,” the village’s recommendation reads. All 31 trees would have to be removed if the path is 10 feet wide, it said.
Reducing the path to 8 feet means only 14 of the trees must be removed. The path presumably will be used by bicyclists, pedestrians, skaters and scooters.
Concern for the trees had the staff recommending bike lanes instead of the off-road path in 2023. But the village’s Transportation Committee, made up of a few trustees, overrode the recommendation, saying an off-road path was safer. Parking spaces will be painted on the sides of the new Salem Drive, replacing 4-foot-wide bike lanes on the street now.
An off-road path is also part of the reconstruction of nearby Braintree Drive, scheduled for 2026— width unspecified, though there’s a clue in the engineer’s plans that the company is figuring on a 10-foot path. A segment of nearby Weathersfield Way was recently rebuilt with 10-foot off-road paths, though bike lanes remain on the most of that street elsewhere. Paths are common along the village’s busier, four-lane streets, such as Plum Grove Road, Meacham Road and Wise Road, and the village is continuing to fix damaged paths this year.
Walnut Lane
The village this week also reiterated its intention to explore installing an off-road path during the 2027 reconstruction of Walnut Lane from Schaumburg Road north to Bode Road, also on the southwest side of the village. The village board, again without comment, approved a contract to design and engineer the project. The proposal specifically suggests an 8-foot path.
Walnut Lane from Schaumburg Road south to Weathersfield Way was reconstructed in 2020, with bike lanes removed, parking slots added and bumpouts installed, as well as an 8-foot bike path off the west side of the road.
Martingale Road area
Also approved was a proposal for a new off-road path along Martingale Road on the village’s east side, as well as offshoots on Higgins Road to the north and Schaumburg Road to the south. The work, scheduled for 2027, was presented to the public earlier this year and has been in the works since at least 2022.
“The goal of this network expansion is to create continuous bike facilities that improve access to existing and planned infrastructure, residential areas, businesses, and employment centers,” a village summary says. The path along Martingale will be 1.5 miles long and connects Higgins Road, with the Streets of Woodfield shopping center nearby, to hotels and businesses along Martingale, then homes and parks along Schaumburg Road.
The path along Martingale, a four-lane road, will start out on the east side, then shift over to the west at one point, with a refuge island aiding in the crossing. It will be 8 feet wide.
The schematic for the path along Higgins shows several driveway crossings, with no real crossing aids at Meacham Road, though striping is suggested for the crossing at National Parkway. The Higgins path will be 10 feet wide, while the new Schaumburg Road path will be 8 feet wide. Paths do already extend north on Meacham Road and National Parkway.
Spring South Road
One other project in the works is small but would happen at a key intersection.
The village is evaluating improvements to the path on the west side of Spring South Road up to Irving Park Road — specifically widening it from 5 feet to 10 feet, not to mention smoothing out its bumps. The path is less than a half-mile long, but the area gets busy with a mosque at the corner as well as the Schaumburg Boomers ballpark and Metra station down the street south.
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Definitely opposed to the multi-use path on Walnut Lane! Anyone who lives in this area witnesses constant use by walkers, walkers with pets, and children playing. The path under consideration opens the lane to vehicles that travel at higher speeds and often with drivers less concerned with other users creating a safety hazard!