Naperville’s Transportation Advisory Board approved an update to the city’s bicycle and pedestrian plan Thursday night – the first update of its kind in decades.
The plan, which includes over 100 infrastructure projects, now heads to the Naperville City Council for final approval. All of the projects and policy proposals laid out in the plan are recommendations that are meant to be tackled over the course of the next 20 to 30 years.
“The value of this plan is ultimately to help residents move around Naperville safely, comfortably and confidently. It is about improving access to our schools, parks, libraries, businesses, transportation, healthcare – all destinations within our community – for residents of all ages,” said Ted Bourlard, executive team member of the Naperville Environment and Sustainability Task Force.
Suggestions in the plan include everything from adding or improving existing bike lanes to help bicyclists more safely reach key destinations to adding markings or new signs at heavy traffic intersections in the city’s bike network to make them safer.
Gartner Road was identified as one high-priority area where a bike lane should be added to help residents better reach areas like the Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve and DuPage River Trail.
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Ten intersections in the city were also identified for improvements, including Eagle Street and Aurora Avenue and Hillside Road and Washington Street. Both have bike lanes that conflict with right-turn lanes for vehicles.
Last month, the Transportation Advisory Board reviewed a draft of the plan. Some revisions were made to the plan following that meeting, most of which were minor. The biggest change was the adoption of a feasibility study for an off-street bicycle connection through the downtown.
“Currently, we have an off-street (trail) … the DuPage River Trail that runs along the western branch of the DuPage River, but then at Villa Avenue on the south of the downtown, and then at Jefferson (Avenue) to the north of the downtown, that becomes on-street (biking),” said Mike Prousa, Naperville’s transportation manager.
Some residents at the last meeting raised concerns about not feeling safe while biking through that roughly two-mile stretch in Naperville’s bike network, leading city staff to recommend reviewing the downtown and seeing what options the city has for that connection, especially for the section north of Aurora Avenue and south of Jefferson Avenue.
“We were already addressing some of those concerns through the plan, but we just made it a little more specific to have a recommendation for a feasibility study for an off-street bicycle connection through the downtown,” he said.
That concern for safety while biking in the city’s downtown was reflected at Thursday night’s meeting.
“I ride with my young kids and I think there’s a very simple test for our bike infrastructure: Would you feel comfortable riding it with your child?” said Nick Falk. “At places like Aurora (Avenue) and Eagle (Street), my answer today is no.”
Falk also urged the Transportation Advisory Board and the city to be creative in thinking about how to improve bicycling in downtown, including going beyond signs and painted markers on streets.
“Other communities like Carmel, Indiana … have found creative ways to use public land to build beautiful, separated bike infrastructure that works alongside parks, pedestrians, cars and existing community assets,” he said. “Naperville should give itself permission to think just as ambitiously.”
Improving bicycle access in Naperville has been a major priority for the city in recent years. In Naperville’s 2023 community survey, 63% of residents rated the ease of biking in Naperville as “good” or “excellent.” In the 2026 community survey, that number dropped to 52%.
The plan estimates that implementing all of the infrastructure improvements identified would cost around $54 million. However, Prousa said that none of the projects included in the plan are guaranteed to be implemented.
“A lot of these routes, especially routes that include sidepaths or even bike lanes, there’s a lot of engineering, constructability, potentially utility conflicts that could force these routes to change,” he said.
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To ensure that the plan does not collect dust on a shelf, city staff would provide progress updates twice a year to the Transportation Advisory Board.
“It’s something that we’re really proud of,” Prousa said. “I’m excited for Naperville to get a little bit more invested into bike and pedestrian infrastructure throughout the city and it will improve quality of life and all the different modes of transportation.”