December 13, 2025 2025 road, bike trail construction: Old Plank Road, McClory trails done! Suburban road construction and even trail work are happening in 2025. Here’s an ongoing list of temporary obstacles on bicyclists’ routes, plus some notes on future projects.
December 13, 2025 O’Hare Area Bike Network Study: An early (very early) look at corridor plans Planners on Dec. 11 revealed early ideas for new corridors that would enable bicyclists to ride around O’Hare International Airport safely and make key connections across the area.
December 6, 2025 Local news 2025: Quentin Road plans through Deer Grove; Naperville’s new bike plan Quick bicycling news involving Quentin Road through Cook County’s Deer Grove preserve; Naperville involving its bike plan; Mount Prospect involving new paths; and much more.
November 21, 2025 Arlington Heights’ unique new e-bike law: Avoid age limit by taking this quiz on road riding Arlington Heights trustees amended its e-bike law to require a minimum age of 16 after they rejected the concept of age limits just two months earlier. But at the last minute, they offered a unique caveat.
November 6, 2025 Our best fall colors of 2025: Less the preserves and more the neighborhoods It seemed like we waited longer this year for the fall colors, didn’t it? And what we’ve seen while riding around has been more muted. That means we just had to look a little harder.
October 27, 2025 Behold Streamwood’s new bike-ped bridge over Route 59 The bridge Streamwood residents have been waiting for is open at last, and the first bicyclists and pedestrians have crossed over Route 59. Here’s a good look at it.
September 23, 2025 Busse Woods Trail status: A few bump fixes, many more to come In May, a Cook County forest preserve planner acknowledged “multiple segments in need of repair” on the Busse Woods Trail and even a full resurfacing in the future. So what’s happening?
September 18, 2025 Des Plaines River Trail update by Irving Park Road: Work to come this and next year Could the renovation of the “North Section” of Cook County’s Des Plaines River Trail be done by the end of this year? The county says … mostly.
September 16, 2025 6 suburban bicycling infrastructure projects get Cook County grants Cook County boosted bicycling to the tune of over $1.5 million when the county announced Invest In Cook grants for projects in five suburbs — Niles, Oak Forest, Oak Lawn, Oak Park and Streamwood — and the Cook County forest preserve district.
September 14, 2025 Pictures: Streamwood bridge’s trusses over Route 59 are in place! The final trusses of the new bridge over Route 59 have been assembled! You can now see the bike/pedestrian bridge being built just north of Irving Park Road to connect two Streamwood neighborhoods.
September 6, 2025 Bike the Drive ’25: Bicycling an open Lake Shore Drive, with no wind! The 2025 edition of Bike the Drive in Chicago may have been one of the most glorious I’ve ridden, because there was no wind! And a prominent local club helped me set a fast pace.
August 12, 2025 Cicada season: Searching by bike for the shrill of 17-year cicadas in 2024 It’s time for the “dog-day” summer cicadas to sing, if you haven’t noticed. That had me thinking of my adventure last year to bike in search of those 17-year cicadas. Remember them and the spaceship sound? Here’s a recap.
June 5, 2025 Two bike network studies in near suburbs: O’Hare area, ‘West Cook’ Two “subregional” bicycle network studies near Cook County and DuPage County suburbs: The “O’Hare Area Bike Network Study” and the “West Cook Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.”
June 4, 2025 The Stearns Road missing link: Bike-ped projects not getting state funds About three dozen suburban bicycle-pedestrian projects were rejected for new state funding. Among them was a much-needed off-road path along Stearns Road. See the list of other nice ideas around the region.
May 29, 2025 Des Plaines River Trail: The latest work on the Cook County side I heard that a renovation of another major portion of the Des Plaines River Trail in Cook County could be complete by the end of this year. Is it true? Here’s what it looks like now.
May 28, 2025 Classic bike trails: The Deer Grove Forest Preserve Sometimes the best place to have a nice little bike ride is the place where forest preserves began in the Chicago area: Deer Grove. It has 15 miles of trails and great scenery.
May 21, 2025 4 bridge/underpass projects happening: Mount Prospect, Streamwood, Barrington, Elk Grove Four major bridge or underpass projects important to bicyclists in the northwest suburbs are happening now and next year. Here’s a peek at what they look like.
May 16, 2025 Schaumburg’s move to off-road paths: Updates on Salem, Walnut, Martingale 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 away from bike lanes.
May 9, 2025 Work (major work?) coming to bumpy Busse Woods Trail Some needed patchwork is coming to the Busse Woods Trail in the northwest suburbs, and after that, major repaving could happen.
April 30, 2025 Is Cook County removing all the bollards at bike trail intersections? We on our bike club noticed that on the Poplar Creek Trail bollards have been removed and strips of new pavement laid down in their place. Is this a Cook County trend?
