Proposed North Aurora bike path hits another snag

A bicycle path that would have connected the Kane Mid-County Trail on the west side of North Aurora to the Fox River Trail is going nowhere.

The North Aurora village board this week declined a $114,428 grant from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning for the Ruby Bikeway. It is named after former village president Mark Ruby, a fan of bicycling.

It did so because the state will not let the path cross Route 31 at Oak Street, the village's preferred spot.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is planning to widen the intersection at Oak, including installing left-turn lanes and a traffic light, next year. It told the village it was too far along in planning to add the bike path, said Village President Dale Berman.

That leaves two other places for the path to cross: at Airport Road, and at State Street. The village previously rejected both sites.

At Airport Road, the steep grade on the east side of the road would require putting switchbacks in the path as it approached the river, to slow bicyclists down. And at State, "the traffic is so darn heavy," Berman said.

So, the board figured "we can't use that money, so we might as well turn it back so someone else can use it," Berman said.

"If we can come up with something on our own, we'll do it," Berman said, saying it could be tied into intersection improvements done if the Valley Golf Course on Route 31, or sites near it, is redeveloped, as the village hopes it will be. "We need to wait for the best opportunity. We just didn't have the place."