Park Ridge

Compromising with a short stretch of sharrows in order to allow for a road diet with bike lanes on the rest of the project area would be far safer than the status quo, for drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists alike.

IDOT wants to strip parking on a short stretch of Busse Highway in Park Ridge to make way for bike lanes. Residents are pushing back. But a 4-to-3 conversion would be a better strategy.

Park Ridge aldermen have delayed a plan to build a stretch of multiuse path along a busy highway that would have made it easier for kids to walk and bike to school, in order to avoid chipping in city funds on the project. Another factor in the decision may have been concerns from local school board members that the trail would tempt children to make unsafe crossings at unsignalized intersections to access the bikeway.