Portage Park is built around the places that make a neighborhood feel like home: schools, parks, libraries, local businesses, transit stops, places of worship, and busy residential blocks.

But for too many people—especially children, older adults, and families traveling on foot or by bike—getting to those destinations has meant navigating fast traffic, long crossings, confusing intersections, and streets often used as shortcuts by drivers passing through.

A NETWORK FOR SAFER EVERYDAY TRIPS

The Portage Park Neighborhood Bike Network is the start of bringing more clarity to the streets for all users. The Chicago Department of Transportation selected four new bikeways that are now under construction: neighborhood greenways on Berteau Avenue, Long Avenue, and Hutchinson Avenue, plus extending a dashed bike lane on Central Avenue.

In addition to creating safer conditions for people biking, each of these projects will include safety upgrades for people walking, as well.

Together, these street projects are intended to form a connected, family-friendly network linking residents to Portage Park, schools, the Jefferson Park Blue Line, the Metra UP-NW, Wright College, businesses, and existing bike routes.

SAFE ROUTES TO FAMILY-FRIENDLY DESTINATIONS

The need for traffic calming is especially clear around Portage Park and nearby schools. Berteau’s planned 1.8-mile greenway will improve access to Wright College, Rickover Naval Academy High School, Portage Park Elementary School, and Portage Park itself.

Long Avenue’s greenway extension will connect the park to Berteau and Hutchinson and continue north toward the Jefferson Park Blue Line and the UP-NW Metra.

Patrick Corcoran, a local safe streets advocate, estimates that roughly 8,000 K–12 students attend schools in the network area, with thousands more at Wright College. “The short-term benefit is safe, easy access to local resources,” he said. “That’s just simple stuff like getting from the school to the park, getting from the park back to your house, getting from your house to the library—the basics.”

IMPROVEMENTS FOR PEDESTRIANS

Though this is branded as a bike network, this project comes with pedestrian crossing improvements at multiple locations along Berteau and Long, including Central, Montrose, Sunnyside, and Milwaukee. The project also brings fresh pavement markings, clearer traffic control, and redesigned intersections that can make movements more predictable for everyone.

There will be curb extensions, upgraded crosswalks, and improved signals. Corcoran said the intersection updates will create “better visibility, better signalization, clear directions for the pedestrians and for the drivers,” adding that “fresh markings—that all makes it safer.”

MANAGING CUT-THROUGH TRAFFIC

On Portage Park’s residential streets, one of the most persistent dangers is the cut-through traffic. “A lot of people in our area are trying to get through from point A outside the neighborhood to point B outside the neighborhood,” said Corcoran, who has lived near the area for 14 years. “Our interest in getting the kids to school safely is at odds with someone’s interest in getting to their job in Elmwood Park as fast as possible.”

For Corcoran, after seeing a noticeable uptick in dangerous driving during the pandemic, he knew it was time to mobilize and engage his neighbors. He said the number of fatal crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists in the neighborhood has been deeply alarming.

In 2023, a driver struck and killed 16-year-old Josh Anleu at the intersection of Waveland and Long. A few blocks away and just several months later, a driver struck and critically injured 18-year-old Ernesto Vargas.

“I went out there knocking on doors to see if people had security footage of the hit and run, and Alderwoman Cruz did the same thing,” Corcoran said.

It was evident that changes were needed.

A COMMUNITY-LED PUSH FOR CHANGE

The Portage Park project represents long overdue changes to not just the area’s infrastructure, but the Northwest side of the city as a whole.

Many residents came to the CDOT informational session on the project earlier this year citing points of conflict in the area. The open house brought in more than 300 people, with many waiting in line to get in.

Corcoran and his neighbors are pleased with how supportive elected officials in the area have been. Alderwoman Cruz and Alderman Sposato have been on board with the project, and several other elected officials have expressed their support.

Active Transportation Alliance

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