Bike infrastructure work in 2026: Elk Grove bridge behind schedule; Poplar Creek, Fox River Trail detours

This is a compilation of bicycle infrastructure projects in 2026. (See all the work that was done in 2025.) Last updates: Aug. 22 for Poplar Creek update; Aug. 3 for Fox River Trail detour, Old McHenry Road, Lake County’s Butterfield Road; July 31 for Mount Prospect, Elmhurst updates; July 12 for Salt Creek Trail reopening; July 9 for Fox River Trail in Geneva; July 4 for Poplar Creek update; June 30 for Elk Grove bridge update; June 22-23 for Bartlett paths, Elk Grove bridge update, New Wilke Road path; June 17 for Deerfield Road project.

Elk Grove bridge out of Busse Woods not yet finished

A bridge that Elk Grove Village is building from the Busse Woods Forest Preserve to the east side of Arlington Heights Road was not yet finished as summer began even though it was expected to be completed in the spring.

A lot of the bridge and ramp work was done by the fall of 2025. A truss over Arlington Heights Road was put in place Oct. 14; the Daily Herald captured the installation with cool drone pictures. The concrete on the bridge looked complete within the following month.

The ramp on the east side was taking shape in October, too. By the spring of 2026, the west ramp was also built.

By June 22, the fencing around the east ramp was removed, but the ramp itself was still closed.

The village’s web page on the project hadn’t been updated since February, but I asked for an update: “The bridge is anticipated to be opened this fall once all the railings are installed and lighting is complete,” Kenneth Jay wrote in response. (I guess there also will be lighting!)

You can see the ramps’ design that the village says mimics infrastructure designs around the village, such as that of the clock tower on Biesterfield Road. But only makeshift wood railings line the bridge.

Elk Grove Village leaders, with support from residents, decided to build the bike-pedestrian bridge to connect to The Vue, a development with rowhomes and apartments plus stores that’s also taking shape.

“The bridge also features a lookout facing Busse Woods, two switchback ramps for ADA accessibility, and will be wide enough for two-way pedestrian and bicyclist traffic,” the village said in its publicity.

The bridge, just a block south of the intersection with Higgins Road, is viewed as a safer way for Elk Grove residents to access Busse Woods and its trails, as people often jaywalk across Arlington Heights Road now to reach a sidepath. 

The bridge also will provide a safer way to ride out of Busse Woods into Elk Grove Village and ultimately south to DuPage County if desired.

The new bridge is costing $9.3 million, according to village documents, well above the cost of other suburban bridges.

The village also led construction of the forest preserve’s two bridges over Higgins Road — one just to the west of the Higgins-Arlington Heights Road intersection — and a bridge from Rohlwing Road over I-290/Route 53.

Poplar Creek Trail detour at Golf Road is how temporary?

What’s up with the Poplar Creek Trail closure and detour at Golf Road, by Hoffman Estates? Those of us who live in the area have asked the question.

Well, nothing is happening with the trail itself; it’s just interrupted by construction to improve the intersection of Golf and Barrington roads.

That’s a project of the Illinois Department of Transportation.

“The $6.7 million project, which involves reconstructing and widening the intersection to allow for new dedicated right turn lanes, constructing ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps, installing modernized traffic signals and drainage improvements, is anticipated to be completed in November,” an IDOT news release said March 25.

But don’t fear, the Cook County forest preserve district suggested at one time. It posted a notice about the Poplar Creek detour that said it was expected to last until mid- to late July.

Looking at the intersection in late June and early July, though, it didn’t seem like the trail could reopen that quickly. The southwest intersection, and the trail with it, was majorly chopped up. And that was just one corner of the intersection so far.

Whoops. Now that notice has been updated. “with completion targeted for early fall.”

By late August, the northwest corner of the intersection was also chopped up.

On the plus side, the crew seems to be building refuge islands across the future right-turn lanes. One’s already completed at the southwest corner.

The detour from the south funnels riders to and, worse, across the busy Barrington Road at Bode Road. It has people riding north on the sidewalk on the east side, crossing Golf Road there, then crossing Barrington again at the hospital entrance road. Crossing Golf Road is not so great; a square of sidewalk on the northeast corner had rocks in it on Aug. 22.

Heading south on the trail along Barrington Road from Shoe Factory Road, there weren’t even detour signs to cross the street at the hospital entrance. You wouldn’t have known there was a detour if you hadn’t been on the south side of the trail.

But by late August, a detour sign finally appeared for the southbound riders. You cross Barrington via the little sidewalk leading to a traffic light, then take the Barrington Road sidewalk south and cross Golf to ride to Bode.

Early on a lot of riders reported that it wasn’t so difficult to just work their way around the construction at Golf Road, especially when workers were not there. That got a lot harder as time went on. But people have still been doing it, cyclocross-style, all summer.

Be careful whichever way you take!

Fox River Trail closure in Geneva requires detour

The City of Geneva in late July announced a detour for the quarter-mile of the Fox River Trail it is closing at least through mid-September.

The city is updating its wastewater system infrastructure, and the trail happens to run right by it just south of Island Park. Signs posted nearby said the trail will be closed through Sept. 17; the city said online “the trail is expected to reopen in late September, weather permitting.”

In the meantime: “Northbound cyclists and pedestrians will be detoured onto a temporary gravel path connecting to an existing Wastewater Treatment Plant roadway,” the city said. “The detour will navigate trail users directly through the facility’s campus back to the Fox River Trail. Southbound trail users will follow the same route in reverse.”

No detours had been posted or announced when the project began in late June, raising questions among riders. They were faced with riding a little on Route 25 or even Route 31 in roundabout ways.

Salt Creek Trail reopens under new bridge at I-294

Cycle Brookfield members reported July 11 that the Salt Creek Greenway Trail under the Tri-State Tollway has finally reopened.

The Salt Creek Trail had been at the mercy of the massive Tri-State construction project for a few years now, with no detour. The trail that meanders through Cook and DuPage counties was blocked between Cook County’s Bemis Woods on the east and Oak Brook Park District property on the west.

See more in local news.

Trail link along Barrington Road in South Barrington to happen

At long last, a key trail link along Barrington Road through South Barrington is getting built, after at least a decade of discussion on it.

A 10-foot-wide off-road path will be built on the west side of Barrington Road between Algonquin Road/Route 62 and Central Road. It’s part of an Illinois Department of Transportation project that also would widen Barrington Road between Algonquin and Mundhank roads.

The trail will finally provide a link between the Cook County forest preserve trail along Algonquin Road and the Poplar Creek forest preserve and trail to the south. The Algonquin Road trail leads to the Paul Douglas Forest Preserve to the east and the Crabtree Nature Center to the north.

Not to mention the link will provide a way for bicyclists to ride between Hoffman Estates and South Barrington, with all their restaurants, shops, recreational options and offices. Each suburb’s neighbors like Schaumburg, Streamwood, Barrington and Barrington Hills will benefit, too (though a good trail link all the way to Barrington would be nice, too).

Plus more bicyclists could more easily reach the Pace bus center at the Jane Addams Tollway right off Barrington Road.

The overall right-of-way will be widened for the path and a new lane of traffic in each direction between Algonquin and Mundhank, as well as new left-turn lanes at Barrington and Algonquin.

Property intrusion seemed to be a local worry for years, but a community advisory group had been discussing the project, including a need for more multimodal transportation along the corridor, since at least 2016. The Chicago Tribune reported on the project in 2018, with officials projecting 2021 or 2022 construction.

“One of the interesting parts is to allow more bicycle riding,” South Barrington Trustee Joseph Abbate said at the time. “That’s always been something the village has looked for.”

Now completion appears to be expected in October 2028, according to IDOT contract information.

The Barrington Hills Observer reported on the project in March as South Barrington Mayor Paula McCombie has provided updates, reiterating that it’s not a village project. She said the project is beginning with tree removal; that’s already been seen between Algonquin and Mundhank roads.

The project is listed on the village’s roads page; the IDOT page it links to was broken as of May 21.

Bartlett fixing beat-up Bartlett Trail segments

The Village of Bartlett is continuing to fix up rough sections of 8-foot-wide paths through town.

It has been working on the paths for at least a couple of years now. The village said it was continuing work through last year on paths off Newport Blvd. and Struckman Blvd.; indeed, those trails look done and good.

For fiscal year 2025-26, the village has said it will “continue on remaining 8′ path sections.” That seems to be bearing out on the western section of the Bartlett Trail, off West Bartlett Road between Route 59 and downtown.

Sections were already repaved or getting repaved in June — and the Bartlett Trail really needed it there. One new section even includes new brick work by benches.

In fiscal year 2026-27, the village has the “ComEd Path,” or the east section of the Bartlett Trail about a half mile south of downtown, on its list, as well as the “Rt 59 Underpass” and the Naperville Road railroad crossing.

The underpass was on the 2025-26 list, too, but a website note says the village “will continue to apply for grants for larger bike path projects (Rt. 59 Underpass).”

A budget excerpt shows the underpass costing $1.24 million, while the Naperville Road railroad crossing is expected to cost $750,000.

Arlington Heights widens New Wilke Road bike route path

The Village of Arlington Heights at last is making the connection between the Busse Woods Trail and its village bike route official with a full multi-use path along New Wilke Road.

New concrete was laid down on a portion of the 8-foot-wide sidepath between Golf and Algonquin roads. Then north of Algonquin Road, sidewalk has been turned into a full 8-foot-wide concrete path, too.

That completes the full path from the Busse Woods offshoot trail at Golf and New Wilke roads to the village’s on-street bike route at White Oak Street.

The work is part of reconstruction of the intersection of Golf and Algonquin roads. With that work expected to continue until the fall, there still may be interruptions in the path. “Sidewalk closed” signs appeared at the intersection during the summer.

There also was a slab’s worth of the path south of Algonquin Road still full of slippery stones on June 22.

But the full path is good news for bicyclists who want to ride from Busse Woods south through Arlington Heights to, say, Rolling Meadows, Palatine, Mount Prospect or Long Grove.

Meanwhile, the village in August was repaving the first leg of the on-street bike route, White Oak Street. Riders could face ground-up road or even closures during the day. But the road needed the repaving; it’ll be great to have it smoothed over soon.

Old McHenry Road repaving is done

The resurfacing of Old McHenry Road from Cuba Road in Lake Zurich to just east of Quentin Road by Forest Lake was all done in July. And most of that 3-mile section now has a nice wide shoulder.

Old McHenry Road is a favorite road ride for serious cyclists because it’s pretty and fairly lightly trafficked, until the Hawthorn Woods area at least. Now it’s smoother, still pretty and a little more spacious with the shoulder. Only in some spots does a gutter intrude on the shoulder.

Northwest of Route 22, the shoulders do now have rumble strips, but there’s still plenty of room to the right of them.

This repaving precedes a much larger project coming to Old McHenry Road starting around Quentin Road and heading northwest. A grade separation is planned, meaning the road will go under the railroad tracks between Quentin and Midlothian roads. A multi-use path will be added off one side of Old McHenry — a huge help for bicyclists looking to get through Hawthorn Woods.

Then intersection improvements are planned at Quentin Road, Midlothian Road, Fairfield Road and Echo Lake Road. Construction, once said to start in “2027+,” is now expected to begin in 2029, according to this project web page.

Spring Creek Road now fully repaved in Barrington Hills

The Village of Barrington Hills finished repaving the great cycling road Spring Creek Road by completing the eastern half of it this year.

The scenic road, one of the many good ones in the village though not officially a “McHenry County Scenic Drive,” was one of three on Barrington Hills’ road construction list this year, along with Rock Ridge Road and Hawthorne Lane.

The repaving work was completed in about a month. The west end of the road was repaved in May 2025.

The rolling Spring Creek Road offers great views of the horse farms and other real estate, plus a sunflower field on the west end in season. I wrote about the road as one of my favorites in 2025.

Key bike path segment to be built in Vernon Hills, Libertyville

About a 1.1-mile trail is expected to be built this year off Butterfield Road from Gregg’s Parkway in Vernon Hills north to Golf Road in Libertyville, after the Lake County Board approved a contract for the work, the Daily Herald reported in July.

The path is to be built on the east side of Butterfield from Gregg’s to Huntington Drive. That links on the south to bike paths in Vernon Hills neighborhoods and around retail south of Route 60, and ultimately to the Des Plaines River Trail.

Then the path jumps to the west side of Butterfield to link north to Libertyville Township bike paths and ultimately to the North Shore Bike Path, which runs east along Route 176 all the way to Lake Bluff.

The project was identified as a “priority gap” by the Lake County Division of Transportation in 2024, the Herald wrote.

The Herald reported that the project is expected to begin at the end of August and be completed by the end of the year. The county’s project page says only that construction is expected to start in the fall.

New Elmhurst bridge coming over Route 83

The City of Elmhurst is building a bridge over Route 83 just north of North Avenue, connecting the Cricket Creek Forest Preserve on the west with neighborhoods on the east.

The path from the bridge on the west will also connect to the Salt Creek Trail, which would allow Elmhurst residents another way to ride north to Addison or ultimately Elk Grove Village, or southeast to as far as Brookfield.

Planning for the bridge began in 2019. Construction has been expected to be complete by the fall of 2026, but the City of Elmhurst has not updated on the project. In late August, land cleared on the east side and some fencing in the preserve on the west were the only indications of work.

The city says the project was developed in response to resident requests and an aldermanic referral for better access across Route 83 for pedestrians and cyclists. The Illinois Prairie Path provides a crossing on the south side of the city, but residents over a 4-mile span north of St. Charles Road don’t have such a crossing — something that was recognized as far back as 2011, in the city’s Bicycle Plan.

The bridge will have a 10-foot-wide path, and either asphalt or crushed limestone, it appears 8 feet wide, will lead up to the bridge on either side. The Salt Creek Trail is crushed limestone at that point.

On the east side, the path will continue through wetlands and ultimately along Fay Avenue, past eight homes; new homes were built on the road, according to Patch. Many residents objected to the path crossing their driveways as the city council gave the project final approvals in August and September 2025, Patch reported.

Mount Prospect bridge to be built over Route 14

Mount Prospect at long last will be building a bridge between Melas Park and Meadows Park, which are separated by the four-lane Northwest Highway and three Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

In 2025 it was suggested the bridge would be built in 2026, but the work is starting only in the second half of 2026 — especially after a divided village board didn’t approve the final contract, with the mayor’s tiebreaker vote, until May 19, the Daily Herald reported.

A July 30 Daily Herald report said the work was to begin in earnest in August. The northeast section of the Melas Park trail was to be closed, the report said.

As the Daily Herald first reported, the Illinois Department of Transportation had in late April sought a contractor for the construction for the village board’s approval. “Construction would commence this summer and reach completion by the end of 2027,” a village summary said in March.

The bridge and ramps are expected to cost $9.6 million.

“The closest pedestrian crossing to the project location is approximately 2/3 of a mile away at Central Road,” the village summary said. “This limitation discourages residents from biking and walking in Mount Prospect and surrounding communities.”

The bridge will be constructed at the northeast corner of Melas Park and the southwest corner of Meadows Park. The village first applied for a grant in 2017 to build a bridge, but the village board did not approve the first engineering contract in 2018; that happened on a subsequent effort in 2020.

While the village web page about the bridge says it’s part of the village’s “Comprehensive Plan and Bicycle Plan,” it labels the project specifically the “Melas-Meadows Pedestrian Bridge.” Nevertheless, the paths up to and on the bridge appear to be 10 feet wide in the illustrations and schematics, and Melas Park already does feature a striped bike trail through and around it. A couple of bicyclists are drawn on the renderings among the many pedestrians.

The Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights park districts jointly run Melas Park, while Mount Prospect’s runs Meadows Park; Melas is actually owned by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

The bridge comes as the village is exploring bike routes along its arterial roads.

Schaumburg’s Braintree Drive to get off-road path

An 8-foot off-road path is part of plans to rebuild or resurface Braintree Drive in Schaumburg starting in 2026. A “compact roundabout” is also planned at Weathersfield Way.

Braintree from Bode Road south to just north of Weathersfield Way will be resurfaced; that makes up two out of three segments of the Braintree project. Parking would be added on both sides of the road and residents’ aprons rebuilt. Diagrams are available online.

The sidepath would be built off the west side of the road in place of the existing sidewalk. The off-road path is now proposed to be 8 feet wide, as opposed to 10, to reduce the number of trees that would have to be removed. A similar move was made on Salem Drive this year.

The overall plans involve improving Braintree Drive from Bode Road all the way south to Wise Road. Construction on the northern two segments, between Bode and almost Weathersfield, is beginning in the spring of 2026 and scheduled to last into the fall.

The segment from the roundabout at Weathersfield to Wise Road involves fully rebuilding Braintree Drive. That work is also is beginning in the spring and is expected to last into 2027.

All of Braintree now has 4-foot bike lanes, but those would be removed in favor of the sidepath — in keeping with a village trend in which residents are said to prefer bike paths off the street, for safety’s sake. But some residents object to the sidepath crossing their driveways, for fear they won’t see bicyclists, scooter riders and others speeding on the path.

Hoffman Estates adding path off Gannon Drive

The Village of Hoffman Estates this year is adding a multi-use path off the east side of Gannon Drive as part of the reconfiguration of the quarter-mile street between Golf and Higgins roads. In addition to turning the four-lane street into three lanes, with a turn lane in the middle, the village wanted to provide a safe bicycle-pedestrian route to Hoffman Estates High School north of Higgins Road, and to the retail along and around the road. The path will be 10 feet wide.

Touhy Avenue getting rebuilt north of O’Hare

Preliminary work to reconstruct Touhy Avenue between Elmhurst and Mount Prospect roads in Cook County began in late fall 2025, and the real work will take place in 2026 and 2027.

Part of the project is a side path on the north side of Touhy and the east side of Elmhurst Road.

Touhy will be elevated over the I-490 tollway under construction now and nearby railroad tracks, Mount Prospect Road and Old Higgins Road will be realigned, and the intersection of Touhy and Elmhurst will be improved.

Touhy Avenue is identified as a corridor for bicyclists to connect to areas surrounding O’Hare International Airport in Cook County’s O’Hare Area Bike Network Study. It could ultimately link, say, Park Ridge and Rosemont to Elk Grove Village.

Franklin Avenue/Green Street to be rebuilt south of O’Hare

Franklin Avenue/Green Street in Franklin Park and Bensenville will be reconstructed, with a new off-road path included.

The two-lane road will turn into a five-lane road, and the side path will be installed on the south side, from Marian Court to Runge Street.

The work on the 1.8-mile stretch started in the fall of 2025 and is expected to continue into 2027, though the project page suggests “substantial and final completion” in the summer of 2026.

Franklin Avenue/Green Street is identified as a corridor for bicyclists to connect to areas surrounding O’Hare International Airport in Cook County’s O’Hare Area Bike Network Study. It could ultimately link, say, south Elk Grove Village and Bensenville to Franklin Park, River Grove, Elmwood Park, Schiller Park, Rosemont and the Northwest Side of Chicago.

Old Orchard Road to get path in Skokie

A lot of work has been happening for a couple of years already on Old Orchard Road in Skokie between Woods Drive and Skokie Boulevard. Ultimately, a multi-use path will be built on the south side of the stretch and connect to the North Branch Trail.

Widening the bridge and road over I-94, new turn lanes and other intersection improvements aimed at relieving congestion are planned. The road of course goes by Old Orchard mall.

The county’s project web page also says the project will “increase safety and expand access to pedestrians and people biking.”

The posted timeline had the south side of Old Orchard, with the side path, getting done in 2024 and 2025. But the project is behind schedule.

“Crews are still working on the southern side of the project,” wrote Ashley Newton, a spokesperson for the project. “They will be building the new south half of the bridge over I-94 in 2026. The new path uses that new bridge to connect the east and west sections of existing pavement.”

“They still have all the path, roadway and bridge construction to complete before the path opens wide from Skokie Boulevard to Woods Drive,” Newton wrote.

Then the north half of the project has to be done. The timeline shows total completion in 2027.

Ela Road in Cook County resurfaced

Cook County in the spring of 2026 resurfaced Ela Road between Central Road on the south, through the Paul Douglas Woods surrounded by north Hoffman Estates, then through Inverness and up to Dundee Road.

The work includes curb and gutter replacement. That’s particularly important because Ela is often used by bicyclists to get across that section of the northwest suburbs and ultimately to Lake County, all the way to Lake Zurich.

There was no mention at all of bicycle infrastructure. The county assured 3-foot shoulders all along the resurfaced road, but that’s not quite how it turned out.

The Lake County stretch of Ela is nicer, with wider shoulders especially after work recently around Long Grove Road. It’s even a full bike lane up to and a little past that road. But on the Cook County side, we struggle to have a 3-foot-wide shoulder. Gutters, driveways and even grass intrude on that in some spots. See how the newly paved road looks.

Key West Branch DuPage River Trail link to take shape

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County has finally gotten going in March 2026 on what it’s calling the final link of the 26-mile West Branch DuPage River Trail.

The link, proposed for at least a decade and presented at a public open house seven years ago, will connect the Blackwell and West DuPage Woods forest preserves. It’ll be about three-quarters of a mile long and 10 feet wide, and it will include an S-curve bridge that crosses both the river branch and Roosevelt Road.

“With the completion of trail segments through downtown Winfield and along Fair Oaks Road from 2016 to 2018, the only remaining unfinished segment is located between Blackwell and West DuPage Woods forest preserves,” the district’s project web page says.

Construction is expected to be finished in June 2027 — five years after the expected date that appeared in the 2019 open house exhibits. The district has been navigating Federal Highway Administration requirements through the Illinois Department of Transportation since 2015, Kevin Horsfall, planning and development director, told the forest preserve board last fall, the Daily Herald reported.

The trail overall connects the North Central DuPage Regional Trail on the north around Bartlett to Naperville and Will County on the south. It continues south as the DuPage River Trail in Will County.

Like the North Central regional trail, the West Branch trail may not always be easy to follow along its full path; it overlaps with trails in various forest preserves and along roads. But the bridge over Roosevelt Road will be very helpful.

Arlington Drive bridge, trail done in Hanover Park

The Arlington Bridge on Arlington Drive West off Greenbrook Blvd., in the Greenbrook Tanglewood neighborhood of Hanover Park, reopened in May 2026 after it was closed for most of 2025. New asphalt now adorns the road and the Mallard Lake Trail alongside it.

This is a key road-riding connection through Hanover Park to Schaumburg. Riders coming from Bartlett could enter this subdivision on Arlington Drive West, make their way on the residential streets to Arlington Drive East (which itself could use a repaving), continue north on Bartels Road (pretty smooth) and get to Central Road.

No longer will riders have to take the path off the west side of Greenbrook Blvd. to the clumsy crossing to the Route 20 side path that rumbles by retail. But of course, the side path does provide what some may view as a safer off-road option, that difficult crossing notwithstanding.

The paved Mallard Lake trail in the neighborhood heads south and ultimately leads to the Mallard Lake Forest Preserve, with its circling gravel trail. Or riders can take a right turn toward the Hawk Hollow preserve with its scenic prairie trail.

Shermer Road bike lanes planned in Niles

Bike lanes are in the works for Shermer Road between Waukegan Road and Dempster Street as part of what Niles has been calling the “future of cycling and pedestrian experiences.”

Niles is working with Morton Grove on the plan, as Shermer “was selected as a potential regional trail connecting the communities of Niles, Morton Grove and Glenview,” Niles’ page on the project says. Construction was “estimated to begin” in 2026.

Niles also has been working on a new bike-pedestrian path along Oakton Street from Waukegan Road to Caldwell Avenue, including over the Edens Expressway, and improved bicycle accommodations at Waukegan Road and Cleveland Street to better connect to the North Branch Trail.

“As part of the Niles Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan, these upgrades will improve safety for all people using the road and are essential to creating a safer, more accessible, and enjoyable environment for cyclists and pedestrians,” the village has said.

Shermer Road sidepath being finished in Northbrook

Meanwhile, a sidepath along Shermer Road in Northbrook was being built in 2025 and getting finished up in 2026 in Northbrook.

The 1.5-mile path is being done along with resurfacing and repair along Shermer between Willow Road and Walters Avenue. The Village of Northbrook says the path was recommended along Shermer in the village’s 2018 Master Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan.

The village is updating on the project’s progress each week, with asphalt work on the path said to be completed in late April.

Oakton Street in Skokie: Auto lanes to be cut, bike lanes added

The Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways is remaking a 1.8-mile stretch of Oakton Street between Skokie Blvd. and McCormick Blvd. in Skokie to reduce the number of auto lanes and add bike lanes.

Construction is “anticipated” for 2026 after feedback was collected in the fall of 2024 and into 2025. Some of the bike lanes will have some protection: concrete barriers east of Lawndale Avenue, buffers west of it. There will be two auto lanes plus a center turn lane.

“By providing buffered bike lanes, the level of comfort for biking will dramatically improve and we anticipate bicycle ridership to grow on Oakton Street for through traffic, destinations along Oakton Street, and also to connect to the North Shore Channel Trail at the east end of the project limits and the Skokie Valley Trail just west of the project limits,” the county wrote in a July 2025 newsletter.

Church Street bike lanes added in Skokie

The Oakton Street work comes after Church Street in Skokie was repaved with painted bike lanes between Linder Avenue on the west and McCormick Blvd. on the east.

The 2 miles of bike lanes provide a connection to the North Branch Trail to the west and the North Shore Channel Trail along McCormick Blvd. to the east. The lanes also would connect to an extension of the Skokie Valley Trail that’s proposed in town.

Some of Church Street around Gross Point Road actually has a buffered parking lane, wider than a bike lane. The number of parking spaces along the road had to be reduced for the bike lanes, and Cook County and the Illinois Department of Transportation control the road around Gross Point, the village’s web page on the project says.

Cook trail (including DPRT) and Big Marsh trail improvements

The Forest Preserves of Cook County released its updated 5-year Capital Improvement Plan at the end of January, and there are sections that involve trail improvements.

Mentioned for 2026:

• Midlothian Meadows loop trail
• Catalina Grove trail spur
• Beaubien Woods-Carver Park trail connection
• Major Taylor Trail in Whistler Woods
• Palos preserves trails

And mentioned for both current and future projects: the Des Plaines River Trail. In 2026, new boardwalks were installed south of Lawrence Avenue and Robinson Woods South as the forest district continues to steer the trail away from flooding areas. The trail between Lawrence and Irving Park Road is consistently wide and smooth now. Read the full separate story here.

Restriping and restroom rehabs: Nick Petty and Maria Larkin of the Cook County forest district told the Arlington Heights Bicycle Club the following trails were to be restriped in 2026:

• Burnham Greenway
• Busse Woods
• Deer Grove
• I&M Canal
• Orland Grove
• Paul Douglas
• Major Taylor
• Thorn Creek

The Poplar Creek and Tinley Creek trails saw restriping in 2025, Petty and Larkin said.

They also touted the restroom renovations in the works, which the Capital Improvement Plan also touts. The work includes new roofing, flooring, plumbing fixtures, lighting and water bottle filling stations. Larkin said Busse Woods is among the preserves where renovated restrooms are opening. 

Meanwhile, on the Southeast Side of Chicago: The Chicago Park District and Friends of Big Marsh are working on the “Big Hill” in Chicago’s Big Marsh Park. The “Big Hill” will be a set of new mountain bike trails on the southern edge of the Southeast Side park.

Ground on the hill was broken in October 2025, and it’s expected to be open mid-spring 2026. It’s the last component of a 2014 “framework plan” for Big Marsh Park as a bike park featuring two jump lines, a dirt pump track and a beginner-friendly singletrack.

Big Marsh Park sits on a former waste and slag dump right on Chicago’s border with the Little Calumet River; Dolton and Burnham are on the other side. Residents of those and other nearby suburbs don’t have a perfect way to bicycle to the park, but they could access it by taking Torrence Avenue to 122nd Street to Stony Island Avenue, or Burnham Avenue/Avenue O to 126th Place to Torrence to 122nd to Stony Island.

Path planned for Washington Street in Lake County

As the Daily Herald reported, Lake County is planning to build 1.5 miles of off-road path on Washington Street between Third Lake on the west and Almond Road on the east. It would fill one of two gaps in 9.5 miles of bicycling infrastructure between downtown Round Lake and the Des Plaines River Trail.

The bulk of the new path is planned for the north side of Washington Street from Route 45 to Almond Road. A small portion of the path shifts to the south side between Almond and Mainsail Drive, where it would join an existing county path west.

Plans were first presented to the public in 2022, the county’s web page on the project says. A timeline on the page shows construction first planned for 2024, but early in 2026 it was going through final approvals, and construction is expected to be done by October, the Herald reports.

A new off-road path along Washington Street east of Hunt Club Road in Gurnee will be filling the second gap as construction at the intersection continues this year. It’ll be about a quarter-mile long between the intersection and an existing path on the north side of Washington. That path goes to the Des Plaines River Trail and just past O’Plaine Road.

Another off-road path was built last fall on the west side of Hunt Club Road from Washington Street to Dada Drive.

The path off Washington Street and then bike lanes now extend west from Third Lake to Cedar Lake Road. Connections to the Millennium Trail are planned for later.

A bike path on the west side of Route 45 from Washington Street to Dada Drive is in the Illinois Department of Transportation’s multiyear plan, but a construction date has not been set, the Herald reports, citing Shane Schneider, director of the Lake County Division of Transportation.

Oak Park to keep adding Neighborhood Greenways

Oak Park in 2025 was awarded $250,000 from Cook County to help fund construction in 2026 of its Neighborhood Greenway-Bike Boulevards, Ralph Banasiak reported in the Daily Herald.

The bike boulevard system has been under construction since 2023. According to the July 2025 Oak Park Bike Plan Update, it’s a network of low-traffic, residential streets designed to prioritize bicycle travel and improve safety for riders of all ages and abilities.

Improvements include designated lane markings, signage, bicyclist/pedestrian- activated flashing beacons, speed limit reductions, curb bump-outs and other traffic calming facilities.

The plan for 2026 is 10.6 new miles of boulevards. The village is expected to seek bids in early 2026, begin construction in the summer and finish in October.

Russell Road roundabouts coming in Lake County

Lake County says about a half mile of Russell Road will be improved in 2026 with roundabouts at Kenosha Road and Lewis Avenue.

The single-lane roundabouts will include 4-foot bike-friendly shoulders on the repaved road between the roundabouts. Utility and tree-clearing work was done in 2025. 

The project has been in the works since 2019, with the last public hearings on it in October 2021. Crashes were cited as a reason to add the roundabouts.

Other Lake County road and bridge work

The Lake County Department of Transportation also listed the following for its 2026 projects.

Resurfacings:

• Cedar Lake Road – Hart Road to Monaville Road
• Cedar Lake Road – Townline Road to IL 60
• Fairfield Road – Nippersink Road to IL 60
• Martin Luther King Jr. Drive – IL 131 to Commonwealth Avenuexx
• Russell Road – Kilbourne Road to IL 132

Bridge repairs:

• Robert McClory Bike Path at IL 173
• Dilleys Road at Mill Creek
• Pulaski Drive at US 41
• Russell Road at the Des Plaines River

You can see an interactive map here.

Deerfield Road work with new path could begin by year’s end

A reconstruction of Deerfield Road from Milwaukee Avenue to Saunders/Riverwoods Road in Lake County could begin by the end of 2026. It would include a new multi-use path.

The work over about 2 miles is expected to include additional lanes at the Milwaukee Avenue intersection and a three-lane curbed roadway from the Des Plaines River to Saunders/Riverwoods Road, plus the path. It spans Riverwoods, Buffalo Grove and Deerfield.

“The multi-use path is planned to connect the existing Buffalo Grove path on the southwest side of the Milwaukee Avenue intersection to the bike path bridge over the Des Plaines River, and ultimately to the existing Deerfield Road path on the northeast side of the Saunders/ Riverwoods Road intersection,” the Lake County Division of Transportation web page on the project says.

The division said it has completed its preliminary engineering and environmental (Phase I) study. “Construction activities are expected to begin as early as this winter,” it said in a Facebook post. “This is a large project with construction expected to last into 2029.” But the project web page says “a fall 2026 project letting is planned, with construction anticipated in 2027–2028, depending on project readiness and funding availability.”

Deerfield also has a web page on the project. It has construction beginning in “early 2027.”

Will County: Plum Creek Greenway extension underway

A 1.5-mile extension of Will County’s Plum Creek Greenway will connect the 1-mile segment in the Plum Valley Preserve and the 3.15-mile segment at Goodenow Grove Nature Preserve in Crete Township. It’s expected to be complete in the fall.

Contractors are installing a 600-foot and a 200-foot section of a precast concrete pedestrian boardwalk to elevate the path in a sensitive ecological area. A bridge that will span Plum Creek will be installed in April. The 150-foot bridge will be the largest single-span bridge in the Will County forest district. 

The trail extension will consist of 0.5 mile of crushed limestone, 0.5 mile of asphalt and 0.5 mile of street route. It is being added to the existing 1-mile crushed limestone trail segment that extends south from the Plum Valley Preserve entrance and dog park.

Future phases of the trail will provide a critical north–south connection, extending north into Cook County and south to Beecher via the proposed Vincennes Trail. See the Forest Preserve District of Will County’s report for more.

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