Des Plaines, IL
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In late 2018, the City received notification from IDOT about a planned resurfacing of Busse Highway. The introduction of safer bicycle facilities along Busse Highway was recommended in the City’s Comprehensive Plan as well as the Northwest Municipal Conference regional bike planning and Northwest Highway Bike Corridor Study. Consistent with the recent planning and with the encouragement of the Des Plaines Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, the City requested that IDOT include bicycle facilities along Busse Highway as part of the project.
Under current and projected conditions, a four-lane cross-section is not needed to accommodate the low motor vehicle volumes along Busse Highway. The wide cross-section and low volumes on roadways like this can contribute to higher speeds. These higher speeds, combined with the turning movements occurring from the through lanes, can contribute to higher crash rates. The current movement, when four-lane roadways like this come up for resurfacing or reconstruction, is to reallocate the roadway space to improve safety and better meet community needs.
For Busse Highway, the recommendation is to convert the existing cross-section from four lanes to three lanes (two through lanes and a center turn lane) with bike lanes on each side. Since this is only a resurfacing project, the pavement width does not change. Substantial research and experience has shown that converting four through lanes to three lanes, known informally as a “road diet", has many benefits without compromising roadway capacity.
The City of Park Ridge is performing a similar engineering study for a road diet with bike lanes on their length of Busse Highway. There is not yet a date for the IDOT resurfacing project, although it is expected to be in the near years (e.g. 2021, 2022) of their current six-year Highway Improvement Program, pending funding.