As Naperville looks to improve its bike and pedestrian plan over the next 20 years, initial resident feedback shows that more bike lanes and connections to parks and trails are two top items of interest.
The full report on the results of public input surveys was shared with the Transportation Advisory Board at its Thurs., Sept. 3 meeting.
Company hired to evaluate bike, pedestrian pathways
The city’s Transportation, Engineering and Development Business group hired A. Epstein and Sons International last year to conduct public surveys on bike and pedestrian travel in Naperville and evaluate the current conditions.
At the TAB meeting, Epstein identified four goals of the Naperville bike and pedestrian transportation plan:
- Improving connectivity between areas in the city
- Educating the public on responsible and courteous travel
- Ensuring infrastructure equally serves all Naperville residents
- Coordinating safe travel plans across city departments, schools and regional agencies.
Community gives feedback
Over the past year, Epstein gathered public input during three pop-up events, two community stakeholder meetings, three regional partner agency meetings, one open house and an online map that garnered more than 500 responses.
Pop-up participants gave feedback on treatments to make low-speed, low-volume streets more cyclist- and pedestrian-friendly.
Most (58%) said they would prefer marked bike lanes, with others voting for curb extensions (26%) or shared lane markings (16%).
53% of pop-up participants also wanted sidepaths as the preferred way to make high-speed, high-volume streets more friendly for pedestrians.
When asked about which destinations they would most like to access by walking and biking, the largest share of participants (42%) said trails and parks, followed by schools and services (24%), commercial (18%), or transit (16%).
81% of open house participants were in support of removing on-street parking in some locations to make room for bike lanes.
At the open house event, 90% of participants felt the proposed recommendations for Naperville’s bike and pedestrian plan — which includes more connectivity between areas and safer pathways — met their expectations for improving biking and walking comfort.
On the interactive online map, residents were encouraged to pin locations of concern, suggest route options and leave comments. There were 853 “likes” across all comments indicating consensus over areas for improvement.
Proposed recommendations
From community feedback and the company’s own analysis of existing conditions, Epstein gave suggestions for improvements that could be made, including:
- Expanding connectivity between north and south Naperville
- Adding appropriate infrastructure to reduce traffic stress
- Providing sidewalks on both sides of busy roads
- Giving alternate routes on lower-speed, lower-volume streets.
They suggested 10 intersection improvements, five policy recommendations, 112 infrastructure projects, four program recommendations and 12 enhancements to existing facilities.
The full details of the preliminary bike and pedestrian plan can be read online.
The proposed updates would be implemented incrementally through 2050, totalling more than $54 million.
Recommended updates to 1997 plan
The previous bicycle and pedestrian plan was adopted by the city in 1997. In 2006, it was updated to accommodate more bicycle routes.
In 2025, the city hired Epstein to review the plan and recommend updates for Naperville’s transportation network.
Next steps
TAB received the recommendations from Epstein at Thursday’s meeting and asked questions about the proposed plan.
TED will continue to work with Epstein to make further improvements to the plan. TED intends to bring an updated version of the plan to the October TAB meeting for approval and present it to the city council in late October or early November.
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