Elgin looking to link to bike trails to east

Officials hope a bike route planned for Elgin's northeast side will help fill a gap between the Fox River Trail and paths to the east.

The city's proposed Bikeway Route 1 would link an existing on-street bike route at Kimball Street and Douglas Avenue in downtown Elgin with an off-street route at Indian Drive and Congdon Avenue.

The route would run west along Congdon to Prospect Boulevard, then south to Slade Avenue, and then west to Douglas.

“Ultimately you could go from the Fox River Trail to Busse Woods in Elk Grove Village on a bike route, whether that be on bike lanes for a certain portion or off-street bike paths,” said Paul Bednar, the city's parks development coordinator who is staff adviser to Elgin's bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee.

A public meeting for residents to review the proposed route will be held Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Ballroom of The Centre of Elgin, 100 Symphony Way. Work could begin on Route 1 next year after the project's design and construction is approved by the city council.

The Elgin path would be on-street, except for a five-block stretch on Congdon roughly from Preston Avenue to Indian Drive. Current plans call for replacing existing sidewalk with the path.

On-street bike lanes on Congdon and Prospect could reduce the amount of street parking, but new lanes on Douglas won't, Bednar said.

The $422,800 project is being partially funded with a $338,200 grant from the federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality improvement program.

Communities to the east like Hoffman Estates are working on filling additional gaps to improve regional bike travel, Bednar said.

Another proposed bike route on Elgin's southwest side would cost $3.4 million, with a $2.7 million grant from the same federal program already secured last November. That larger project is still in the design stages, said Omar Santos, Elgin engineer.

The routes are part of a larger bikeway master plan developed in 2008.