Elgin’s new pilot program to make bicycle lanes more visible in the city is starting with sections of Wing Park Boulevard and North Edison Avenue.
Crews have added green paint to the bike lane along Edison between Larkin and Lawrence avenues and continued it along Wing Park Boulevard to the point where it ends at the Wing Street. The bright color is intended to increase driver awareness of the dedicated bike routes for improved safety, Public Works Director Aaron Neal said.
“The city of Elgin’s bike lanes are safe for cyclists,” Neal said. “This pilot project is an opportunity to see how we can further enhance their safety as well as benefit motorists and pedestrians because all share the road.”
The Edison/Wing Park Bouelvard section was chosen first because it has low-to-moderate traffic and leads to Wing Park, Neal said.
It also made sense because this stretch of road was scheduled for restriping this year and adding the green paint could be done similutaneously, he said. Every year, the city restripes more than one million linear feet of pavement, including the bike lanes, he said.
All 16 miles of existing bike lanes will be painted by the end of the year, Neal said.
The city wants to get feedback about the program. If it’s successful, more bike lanes may be added later, he said.
City staff came up with the idea after looking for ways to enhance services and amenities, Neal said. Other communities in Illinois, including Chicago, and across the country have added similar markings to their streets and seen increased driver awareness of cyclists, he said.
That’s important given that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that bicyclist fatalities increased by 8% in 2022.
Ride Illinois, a nonprofit whose goal is to make biking safer and more accessible, is also seeking ways to improve cyclists’ safety, according to its website, rideillinois.org.
The group has been monitoring proposed state legislation on the subject, including one bill that would allow municipalities to build safer intersections and another that would modify the Illinois Vehicle Code so motorists are prohibited from driving unnecessarily close to cyclists, the site said.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
