Kudos to Winfield for adopting a bike plan

Kudos to Winfield for becoming the latest suburb to adopt a bike plan. The newly adopted plan will guide Winfield in creating a connected bike network that will help residents and visitors access all the great places in the village.  

An inspiring feature of this plan is its bold vision, which asserts “Winfield will be the most bike friendly community in the Chicago region.” Go Winfield! 

To achieve its vision, the west suburban village will add bike lanes to streets, create side paths and complete its sidewalk network.

Another great element of the plan is that it links cyclists to nearby communities, trails and the DuPage River.

The village’s bike network will be divided into two categories: Neighborhood Routes that connect one neighborhood in Winfield to another and Regional Routes that connect the village to surrounding communities.

Nearly 5 years ago, Winfield residents came together to first talk about bicycling in their community. They developed a map of commonly used bike routes and streets that they wished would be more bike friendly.

In early 2013 Active Trans began working with the community group to help shape their map into a more complete bicycle plan.

The plan adopted by the village includes guidance on how to create a connected network of bike routes, ideas for how to modify their municipal policies to better support bicycling and ways to educate and encourage residents about bicycling.

Is your community ready for a bike plan? Active Trans can help. Please contact Amanda Woodall, director of policy and planning, at amanda@activetrans.org for more information.

Top photo is a community bike ride in Winfield and bottom photo depicts one of the community meetings Active Trans held while helping develop a bike plan for the community.