2025 biking highlights in Illinois: Trikes as bikes, e-bikes, new laws and path plans
Cold weather, hazardous conditions and limited daylight all encourage temporary hibernation these wintry weeks. For some, this time to reflect means making resolutions and setting goals.
Distance, speed, and elevation are common personal targets. The more competitive consider races, medals, and podiums. Some of us harbor more modest biking goals. Not crashing is my go-to. Biking somewhere unfamiliar is another favorite.
Useful, too, is contemplating past-year accomplishments at a macro level.
In general, suburban Chicago biking earned broad coverage in 2025. Not just in this humble column, but in news reporting, too. E-bikes, unfortunately lumped in with e-scooters and other e-moto devices, earned headlines across Chicagoland due to public safety concerns.
Over 30 suburban municipalities in northeast Illinois reacted to safety issues about the operation of various electric-assist devices, passing ordinances regulating them. Results have led to a patchwork of rules regarding their use on trails, sidewalks and roadways, with some municipalities even requiring driver’s licenses for certain riders.
Clearly a statewide approach seems to be the next step with legislative guidance to ensure safety, but also to clarify legal operation across municipal boundaries. Distinguishing between legal classes of e-bikes and e-motos in the Illinois Vehicle Code is a top priority in 2026 for Ride Illinois, the statewide nonprofit bicycling advocacy group.
Broad suburban biking coverage
A compilation of e-bike ordinances is organized by municipality in Suburban Chicago Bicycling, a free biking blog that debuted last January, greatly expanding suburban coverage of all things biking.
Launched by former Daily Herald editor and avid cyclist Neil Holdway, it delivers regular coverage of metro biking trails and roads, rides, advocacy, and tips. Offering something for everyone, each category is tagged for casual riders, serious cyclists, and families.
Holdway’s passion for cycling and three-decade journalism career shines through in the website’s clean layout, his incisive writing and extensive knowledge of Chicagoland’s roads, trails and forest preserves. Plus, his crisp photos really pop: handlebar views of colorful trails, panoramic prairie sunrises and towering bridge infrastructures inspire you to ride the venues yourself.
His blog also offers one-stop “link shopping”: county transportation departments, forest preserves, advocacy groups (Ride Illinois, Active Transportation Alliance), and special interest groups like Chicago Area Mountain Bikers (CAMBr), Illinois Prairie Path, Friends of the Great Western Trails, not to mention a Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Bike fatality drop?
Statewide bike fatalities may have declined slightly from 2024 based unofficially on Illinois Department of Transportation snapshot data. IDOT’s Illinois Fatal Crash Data displayed 28 bike deaths on Illinois public roadways as of Dec. 31, 2025, versus 32 same day in 2024.
Complete statistics will be available later in 2026 as IDOT accumulates more Illinois law enforcement records through the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Official 2024 Illinois Fatal Crash Historic Data, for example, revealed 37 “pedal cyclist” fatalities, five more than its Dec. 31 total.
Bike-train fatalities aren’t included in IDOT’s data. At least four such deaths occurred in 2025 based on Biking Fatalities in Illinois, a database/map maintained by Ride Illinois that captures fatal crashes involving Illinois bicyclists regardless of location. Initially loaded with 2018-2023 fatality data provided by IDOT, Ride Illinois posts data from media reports concerning fatal bicycle crashes.
New bike legislation
The General Assembly approved several biking-related bills. SB2247 will keep e-bike and e-scooter riders safer. It requires their electrical systems and batteries meet safety standards certified by an accredited lab, and prohibits assembling/reconditioning rechargeable lithium-ion batteries from used ones.
SB2285 amends the Illinois Vehicle Code to include tricycles as bicycles, meaning trike riders are protected by the same laws as cyclists. Every human-powered device and low-speed electric bicycle with two or more wheels, not less than 12 inches in diameter and with operable pedals, are now included.
Transportation bill HB2983, affecting multiple statutes, requires the Illinois Rules of the Road, and all driver education courses, to contain information advising motorists about laws and best practices for safely sharing roadways with non-motorists. It requires motorists to shift into another available lane before overtaking or passing a bicycle or individual.
With implications for pedestrians and bikers alike, SB1559 requires the Illinois Department of Transportation to conduct a traffic study after fatal pedestrian crashes at state highway intersections. As part of the study, IDOT shall identify issues associated with serious injuries or fatalities of both pedestrians and bicyclists.
Municipal bike P-plans
Several suburbs completed and approved transportation plans, some exclusively focused on biking and walking. In March, Mount Prospect completed its Arterial Bike Network Study to provide a network strategy to construct bike facilities along arterial and other high-traffic streets.
Oak Brook’s Shared Use Path & Bike Route Master Plan (March) provides improved safety and connectivity to the village’s existing network and to regional trails like the Salt Creek Trail. Last May saw municipal approval of Aurora's Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan.
In October, Hoffman Estates City Council adopted Hoffman in Motion, with a section highlighting walking and biking. The DuPage County Active Transportation Plan, initiated in early 2025, is expected to wrap up by the end of the first quarter in 2026.
Bellwood, Berkeley, Broadview, Hillside, and Westchester partnered with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and developed the West Cook Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan. The partnership approach will help create a complete and connected network of bikeways and sidewalks allowing community members to access important destinations throughout the West Cook area — from the Salt Creek Trail to the Illinois Prairie Path.
• Join the ride. Contact Ralph Banasiak at alongfortheridemail@gmail.com.