Nine suburbs of Chicago are now on The League of American Bicyclists’ “Bicycle Friendly Community” list after the organization in January announced how it scored the latest round of applications for the honor. One is back standing above the others.
Evanston is in the “Silver” level again after it let its ranking with the league lapse. It had earned the Silver level in 2016 and 2012.
The other eight suburbs are in the “Bronze” category. Four of those either got it back or renewed the rating in late 2025.
Aurora renewed its Bronze level, after earning it in 2016 and 2021.
Batavia kept its Bronze level running; it was awarded it again in 2025 after it earned the rating in 2013, 2017 and 2021.
Elmhurst is back at the Bronze level after a lapse since its Bronze award in 2013.
And Niles has earned a Bronze rating for the first time.
The other suburbs on the bike-friendly list are:
- Schaumburg: Bronze, last awarded in 2024, first awarded in 2003.
- Highland Park: Bronze, last awarded in 2024. It has been at least an “Honorable Mention” since 2014 and first won a Bronze in 2018.
- Wilmette: Bronze, last awarded in 2023 after it first achieved that level in 2018.
- Warrenville: Bronze, last awarded in 2022. It has been at least an Honorable Mention since 2009 and first won a Bronze in 2015.
Honorable mentions and others
Meanwhile, Grayslake, Skokie and Kane County now hold Honorable Mentions.
The League cited a need for more bike lanes and paths in both Skokie’s report card and Kane County’s report card. Grayslake in its report card was encouraged to create more bike paths and “improve public decision-making processes” for making bicycling better.
Geneva applied to the League for the first time in 2024 and received an Honorable Mention, which lasts only one year without further action. DeKalb is in a “grace period” after it was last awarded a Bronze in 2020. Oak Park’s and Glenview’s rankings have lapsed after they were last awarded a Bronze in 2015, and Naperville’s has after it earned Bronze in 2013.
Chicago had earned a Silver level as recently as 2015 but has let its ranking lapse. No Chicago suburb has a “Gold” rating; Urbana is the only town in Illinois to hold that distinction among the 16 from the state on the League’s bicycle friendly list. There are also “Diamond” and “Platinum” levels.
Municipalities, as well as interested businesses and universities (including Northwestern), go through a hefty application and judging process to earn recognition. “A community recognized by the League as a BFC is one that encourages people to bike for transportation and recreation through the five Es: equity, engineering, education, encouragement, and evaluation,” the League says.
Towns that make the list reflect “the resolve of local leaders, advocates, planners, educators, public agencies, and residents to make their communities safer and more supportive for people who bike.”
About the 2025 Silver winner: Evanston
Evanston has been busy improving bicycling over several years, and city leaders are now re-kick-starting a couple of long-sought plans that have languished.
The college city has many designated north-south bike routes, and it has some protected bike lanes — along Sheridan Road through the Northwestern campus, along much of Dodge Avenue, and along Church and Davis streets downtown and beyond.
Plans to improve much of Chicago Avenue with a protected bike lane have been in the works since 2020. A two-way protected lane that connects the northern end of the major north-south thoroughfare to Wilmette via Sheridan Road was completed in the spring of 2018.
Now the city aims to extend that protected lane all the way to its southern border, but city leaders said in a public meeting Jan. 27 that the work is not expected to be done until mid- to late 2029, Streetsblog Chicago reported. The project did get Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program funding last year.
Plans to extend a protected bike lane on Church Street from Dodge Avenue west to the city limits also have been in the works. They include a shared bicycle-pedestrian path on the east side of the North Shore Channel between Church and Dempster Street, with an underpass below Dempster that would lead to Harbert Park, Evanston Now reported.
The city first began holding public meetings on this project in 2021; it resumed after a four-year pause last summer, Evanston Now said. Now construction is not said to start until 2028 at the earliest.
This all as Evanston is updating its bike plan in 2026. A good map shows all its bike routes, and the city is collecting feedback on an online map now.
The Bronze winners
Aurora identifies bike routes on its thorough map by “comfort” level — most, moderately and least comfortable. The system keeps bicyclists off busy streets like New York Street and Galena Blvd., but there are plenty of east-west and north-south options. There’s an off-road path along Orchard Road on the far west side, and the Virgil Gilman Trail runs through the city.
Aurora’s advisory board helped the city achieve its Bronze rating. And now with its 2025 Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, the city is looking to create more bicycling facilities like protected bike lanes and bike boulevards.
Batavia created a Bike and Pedestrian Plan in 2023; one goal is to “build on the existing network of off-street trails, side paths, and local bikeways to create a connected bicycle network.”
The city in 2025 moved forward with a ramp up to the Peace Bridge from the lower Fox River Trail on the east side, allowing bicyclists to ride up to the bridge rather than climb stairs to it. The bridge leads to the Batavia Riverwalk and the Fox River Trail. The ramp is scheduled to open in the spring of 2026.
Elmhurst, back at the Bronze level after about a decade, has the very active Elmhurst Bicycle Club, but its calendar shows rides seemingly everywhere but Elmhurst. The club has gotten sharrows painted on some streets to offer bicyclists suggested routes. The city does have a Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, last updated in 2020; you can find it on the “City Plan Documents” page of the city’s website.
Niles’ bike route map shows a single bike route: Robert Amling’s Memorial Bike Route. The village has a few more bicycling facilities, like sharrows (even in a green painted box) on many streets, as well as a protected bike lane on Howard Street.
But the suburb is working on a lot more. Its 2022 update to the village’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan recommended 7.3 miles of new shared-use paths and 10.2 miles of new on-street bicycle facilities. New bike lanes on Shermer Road and a path along Oakton Street are a couple of the latest results.
The next applications for the League’s Bicycle Friendly Community status must be turned in by June 17 this year.
Photo at top of Church Street in downtown Evanston courtesy of the City of Evanston.
• Do you find information like this valuable? This free website is made possible almost entirely by readers like you. Consider donating to help defray the costs of gathering and presenting this material.
