Naperville will install 17 new sidewalks in 2026 and 2027 as part of the city’s sidewalk program.
The initiative began in 2004 as part of a larger effort to improve walkability in Naperville and connect existing gaps in the city’s sidewalk system. Consistent with to prior years, Naperville will spend $300,000 both years.
“Our original focus was to make sure that on neighborhood streets we had walk routes for getting to and from school and then we were able to continue adding sidewalks in other gap areas as we started to achieve that,” said Jennifer Louden, director of the city’s Transportation, Engineering and Development department.
To date, Naperville has put in close to 15 miles of sidewalk in 129 gap locations.
“Over 20 years, we’ve actually been quite successful at completing the gaps,” Louden said. “We have sidewalks on just about every street now on at least one side of the street.”
Locations that will receive new sidewalks next year include:
- 6th Avenue from Center Street to Ellsworth Street;
- Douglas Avenue from Webster Street to Washington Street;
- Killdeer Drive from Foxcroft Road to Starling Lane;
- Laird Street from Wilson Avenue to Douglas Avenue;
- Wright Street from Villa Avenue to Wehrli Drive;
- Wright Street from Wehrli Drive to Hillside Road;
- Wright Street from Hillside Road to Prairie Avenue;
- Highland Avenue from Wright Street to Columbia Street;
- Vest Avenue from Lockwood Circle to Bauer Road.
In 2027, new sidewalks will be added at these locations:
- Parkway Drive from Jefferson Avenue to Benton Avenue;
- Sleight Street from Eighth Avenue to the cul-de-sac;
- 10th Avenue from Main Street to Washington Street;
- Main Street from 12th Avenue to 13th Avenue;
- Main Street from 13th Avenue to 14th Avenue;
- Webster Street from 13th Avenue to 14th Avenue;
- Wright Street from 8th Avenue to 5th Avenue;
- Willow Road from Maple Lane to Golden Larch Court.
Originally, Franklin Avenue from Julian Street to Huffman Avenue was part of the list but has since been removed after the residents at 26 N. Julian St. told city officials that the plan was not practical.
“The thing about our property is it has a very steep incline,” Donna Malone said at the Oct. 7 Naperville City Council meeting. “(A) 75-foot elevation drop makes the sidewalk difficult to engineer and to walk so no one is really walking on this side of the street.”
Malone also said her property also has a rock wall, which doubles as a city-mandated flood prevention measure, that would get broken up if a new sidewalk was added. There is a continuous sidewalk on the other side of Franklin Avenue, giving pedestrians a safe place to walk, she said.
Louden said the city keeps an inventory of sidewalk gaps in the city and uses a scoring system to prioritize where walks should be added.
Those factors include proximity to schools, connectivity to preexisting sidewalks, locations where one side of the street already has a sidewalk, speed and volume of cars using a specific street, and constructability, according to a presentation at a September Transportation Advisory Board Meeting.
“From there, we send out surveys to residents to gage their support for installing the sidewalk and so we survey the residents that are adjacent to those locations,” Louden said.
Based on those responses, the city narrows the list further and examines how many sidewalks they think they can realistically put in over the next two to three years. Locations opposed by two-thirds of property owners are removed from consideration.
Residents are notified again before the list goes to the Transportation Advisory Board for a recommendation and then to the city council for final approval.
cstein@chicagotribune.com
