Evanston residents and avid bicyclists weighed in on the city’s 2026 Bike Plan Update at a joint 3rd, 8th and 9th Ward meeting on Tuesday.

Among residents’ chief concerns were east-west corridors, Chicago Avenue improvements and safety for all ages and abilities. Many in attendance were longtime riders and advocates for improved bicycle infrastructure in Evanston.

“Right now, if you enter Evanston from Rogers Park, it looks like Evanston is encouraging you not to come,” Evanston Transit Alliance member John Fervoy said. “It’s just a narrow sidewalk that pedestrians and bikes are on with cars speeding by.”

It’s been over a decade since Evanston adopted its most recent bike plan. The city’s update, set to be completed this year, will build on the 2014 plan and reflect changes in ridership, infrastructure and bike safety in Evanston.

Chris Sous, assistant city engineer and project manager for the bike plan update, presented the project’s progress and objectives at Tuesday’s meeting. The first of two joint ward meetings, the forum was the latest engagement strategy to get public feedback on the plan. The second public feedback meeting is set for Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. at the Robert Crown Center.

The updated plan will provide residents with maps of Evanston’s bicycle network, an analysis of completed and uncompleted 2014 corridors and new crash and safety data, Sous said.

Main Street is one east-west corridor where residents said they want to see improvements made to bicycle infrastructure.

“It’s an old street, and it’s not wide enough,” Evanston resident and longtime bicyclist Mike Moran said. “We don’t want to mow down all the trees, so that’s a problem.”

Moran added that when Main Street hits Skokie, there’s a bike lane on both sides. But on the Evanston side, bike lane infrastructure is limited.

Sous said the city used residents’ feedback from September’s Bike the Ridge event, along with bike count data collected in October, to help identify key areas for improvement. Residents can also make suggestions and highlight needed improvements through the Community Remarks Online Engagement Portal, which currently has over 250 comments.

At the center of Evanston’s bike infrastructure plans are two upcoming projects on Church Street and Chicago Avenue. Both are currently in the planning and design phase and have received millions in outside funding from the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

The Church Street Pedestrian and Bicycle Improvements project will create a two-way bike lane from Dodge Avenue to Evanston’s western city limits and a shared-use trail from Church Street to Harbert Park. Residents can expect the project to start in 2027, Sous said.

With over $13 million in outside funding, the Chicago Avenue Multimodal Corridor Improvements project will incorporate two-way protected bike lanes from Davis Street south to Howard Street. Sous said the project will also address traffic signal improvements and pedestrian walkability.

The earliest the city can begin the Chicago Avenue project is 2028, when the CMAP funding becomes available, Sous said.

Some residents expressed concerns about the Chicago Avenue project’s impact on parking for local businesses. To accommodate bicycle infrastructure, Sous said some parking will be reallocated to side streets.

Another area of concern was the segment of Chicago Avenue between South Boulevard and Howard Street. Sous noted that the corner of South Boulevard and Chicago Avenue was a high-accident location for bicyclists and pedestrians. The high-speed traffic near the cemetery makes riding at night feel like a “suicide attempt,” one frequent rider said.

Sous said the larger Chicago Avenue project aims to address these issues, but those improvements will not be seen until at least 2028.

Some attendees expressed frustration over the lengthy timeline for seemingly simple improvements.

“It is frustrating that we can’t just paint lines,” Ald. Juan Geracaris (9th) said. “But there are a lot of hoops we have to jump through.”

Jurisdiction issues are among the obstacles that complicate the improvement projects. While some streets are under Evanston’s control, other segments fall under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Department of Transportation. Claims over jurisdiction from IDOT cost money and make Evanston responsible for long-term maintenance.

“It’s not just lines on the map as it may seem,” Sous said. “It’s dollar amounts and, really, history of why IDOT may have taken it over.”

After the feedback phase, city staff will go back to the drawing board to develop a draft document, Sous said. Then, after another round of engagement, city staff will bring the plan to City Council.

Geracaris emphasized the importance of transparency and community feedback throughout the bike plan update process.

“It’s really important to talk to people who are cyclists, who actually go about their daily business on their bike,” Geracaris said. “I’m looking forward to hearing what their pain points are, what we’re doing right and what we can do better.”

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