Projects

The BPT Advisory Board is in the process reaching out to all K-8 Aurora schools (six districts, plus private schools) to offer support in getting biking and walking safety education into the K-8 curriculum per the Bike Walk Education in Schools Act passed in 2018. To receive a list of free age-appropriate resources and curricula, to start a bike/walk safety initiative in your school, or to give feedback, contact COABPT@gmail.com.

Located in the City of Aurora, a minor west side portion of the project is in Kane County and the rest falls under DuPage County jurisdiction. The proposed multi-use path along Montgomery Road will include constructing an 8-foot asphalt path from Waubonsie Creek Trail to Middlebury Drive on the south side and removal of a 5-foot existing sidewalk to build the new path. The path will tie up to the multi-use path that was recently constructed on Montgomery Road just west of Eola Road intersection. The proposed path will continue east of Ridge Road on the south side of Montgomery Road between Ridge and Middlebury and loop back to the north side of Montgomery from Middlebury to connect to the Middlebury West Park located across Bar Harbour Road. The curb ramps at all major intersection crossing will be ADA compliant with detectable warning signs. The project length is approximately 5,830 feet (1.10 miles). Project construction begins mid-spring 2019.

Located in the City of Aurora within Kane County, the project is located west of the Fox River, east of Orchard Road, and south of I-88 on Edgelawn Drive, a major collector that runs north to south between Sequoia Drive and Jericho Road. Limited from north to south by Indian Trail Road and the Virgil Gilman Trail, the proposed work on Edgelawn is a combination of 5’ wide bike lane striping, placing of shared lane markings (sharrows) and striping 7’ wide urban shoulders (combined bike lane/parking lane) between Indian Trail and the Gilman Trail. To accommodate the bike lanes along the length of Edgelawn, the two through lanes in each direction between Garfield Avenue and Kenilworth Place will be reduced to one lane each direction. To accommodate the bike lanes, the shoulders are proposed to be widened up to 4 feet in each direction between Kenilworth and Prairie Street.

The bike route also is proposed to extend east via Prairie and follow north on LeGrande Boulevard, west on Garfield, and north on Gladstone Avenue to terminate at Gladstone and Galena Boulevard intersection opposite to West Aurora High School. Prairie is proposed to have 5’ wide bike lanes striped along the stretch from Edgelawn up to S Western Avenue on both sides of the street along with associated pavement markings and signage for way-finding. The stretch between Western and LeGrande on Prairie will host a 7’ wide combined bike and parking lane on both sides of the street along with sharrows. This combination will allow Aurora University patrons to be able to park on Prairie to maintain the current scenario. LeGrande, Garfield, and Gladstone will have sharrows placed to facilitate bicyclists' travel. The project length is approximately 3.9 miles (20,600.00 feet). The anticipated project construction is mid-to-late 2020.

A bridge over the Fox River for bicyclists and pedestrians will create a safe and direct path from the Aurora Transportation Center (a terminal station on the BNSF line) to the Fox River Trail. Visitors to RiverEdge Park will be able to park on the west bank of the river and walk to the venue. This construction will provide a direct route to the Metra station and eliminate the mile-long detour from the near west side via New York Street or Illinois Avenue. Grants from Kane County and the Fox Valley Park District provided the initial funding for the bridge. A grant from the Dunham Fund added to the available funds. Transit funding and a redesign provided the final pieces needed to begin building a bridge with concrete piers, no stairs, a minimal slope, height that matches that of the Illinois Avenue bridge, a solid earth base on two banks, and re-routed bike trails curving away from the river to meet the bridge. As of May 2019, four concrete piers from the east bank- to and over Blues Island - are now being completed. Once the deck is added, the man-made coffer dam will be relocated to the west bank to finish the western half of the bridge.