CDOT, aldermen share plans for new greenways

Wood and Cortland Streets in Bucktown are slated to get big improvements for people walking and biking.

On May 25, the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), along with 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins and 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack, hosted a public meeting to solicit community input on a proposed neighborhood greenways for these two critical links in the local street network.

Neighborhood greenways are slow-speed, low-traffic streets that have been altered to make them safer and more pleasant for biking and walking. These goals are accomplished by using a toolbox of different street improvements, such as curb bump-outs, improved crosswalks and traffic diverters.

These bike- and pedestrian-friendly streets aren't new to the Wicker Park/Bucktown neighborhood. Wood Street already boasts a neighborhood greenway between Milwaukee Ave. and Augusta Blvd., just south of the newly proposed study area.

The new project would strengthen connections for people walking and biking to a number of neighborhood destinations, including the 606 and Bloomingdale Trail, local retail corridors, and transportation hubs like the Clybourn Metra station.

This most recent project is part of a bumper crop of exciting new neighborhood greenway projects, including a low-stress connection between Edgewater and Evanston and a potential new greenway project on Manor Avenue in Ravenswood Manor.

First introduced as part of CDOT's Streets for Cycling Plan 2020, neighborhood greenways are a key component of Active Trans' Bikeways for All Network Vision, as well as our Safe Crossings campaign.

You can learn more about the Cortland and Wood neighborhood greenways on CDOT's Complete Streets website.