REMINDER: Please attend an important meeting tonight (5/3) to support active transportation improvements in Wilmette
(And if you cannot, please send a quick, supportive email — see below)Central Avenue Reconstruction Project – Public Meeting
Wilmette Village Hall, 1200 Wilmette Ave.
Here is the text that someone sent today — an example of a note that is short, to the point, and won’t take anyone more than 60 seconds to write and send.
To the members of the Wilmette Municipal Services Committee,
I wanted to express our support of redesigning Central Avenue in a way that accommodates all users of the road. For example, creating shared bike lanes would be terrific. Downtown Wilmette continues to attract more people of all ages and abilities. Not making Central Street more accessible to all – when we had the opportunity – would be a huge loss to our community.
Thank you.
Thank you for your support!
– Wilmette Citizens for Active Transportation (WCAT)
Information from Village website:
Central Avenue Reconstruction Project
Meeting #3 Update
The next meeting of the Municipal Services Committee to discuss Central Avenue is scheduled for May 3, 2017 at 5:00 PM at Wilmette Village Hall in the Council Room. The Committee will continue to discuss back-in diagonal parking in the downtown as well as bike accommodations on Central Avenue from 11th Street to Sheridan Road.
Bike Accommodations: Central Avenue is not currently wide enough for bike accommodations, travel lanes and parking on both sides of the street. At the last meeting, the Committee discussed the following three design options:
Option 1: Existing roadway configuration (no bike lanes)
Option 2: Dedicated bike lanes (similar to Sheridan Road)
Option 3: Shared travel / bike lanes
The Committee determined that Option 2 was not feasible because of the loss of parking that would be required to build safe, dedicated bike lanes.
On May 3, the Committee will continue discussions of Options 1 and 3. With Option 3, parking would be maintained on one side of the street from 11th to 4th Street. There would be no parking between 4thStreet and Sheridan Road because of the narrow roadway.
The agenda materials for the meeting will be posted on the Village’s website www.wilmette.com the Friday prior to the meeting and like the last meeting, the meeting will be televised and available for viewing on the Village’s website.
As a cyclist and Wilmette resident who walks down Wilmette Ave often I have two comments.
Wilmette Ave is one of the worst roads on the entire North Shore due to cracks and pot holes near the curbs. Very dangerous in many spots.
While walking on Wilmette the kids whiz by without any comment about passing. In addition to being startling it’s also dangerous for pedestrians. Can parents and schools be instructed to teach children the importance of saying “passing” one one side or the other? Same goes for wearing helmets.
Safe riding for everyone!