Speed limit reductions in Skokie’s residential streets go into effect Monday

Skokie drivers will have to ease off the gas starting next week, when the village sets the majority of its residential streets to a uniform speed limit of 25 mph.

The change, which is set to go into effect on Monday, March 2, will reduce the speeds on more than 1,000 residential blocks in Skokie from 30 mph to 25, in part to promote better road safety, said Samantha Maximilian, Skokie’s senior engineer. 

County roads like Oakton Street or Crawford Avenue, and state roads like Dempster Street or Skokie Boulevard will remain unchanged at their current speed limits of 30-40 mph, depending on location.  

Likewise, the speed limits of certain arterial roads in the village, like Howard Street, Gross Point Road and Niles Center Road will not be changed. The 10 Skokie streets that already bear a speed limit of 20-25 mph will also remain untouched, Maximilian said. 

The Skokie Village Board voted unanimously, with two trustees absent, in June 2025 to adopt an ordinance to reduce speed limits in local residential districts. The ordinance provided nine months before it went into effect so the village could conduct a public education campaign. 

According to the ordinance, traffic engineers consider different factors —  like road characteristics, driveway density, restricted visibility and pedestrian presence — when determining speed limits, but typically use the speed at which 85% of motorists drive.

A traffic study the village conducted in the summer of 2024 reportedly found that 96% of drivers in Skokie are already driving at 25 mph, not 30 mph, when traveling in residential neighborhoods with low traffic volume and two-way lanes. 

A village website on the speed change said that the alignment will encourage “greater consistency and predictability on the road.”

The speed limit change also stands to bring safety benefits like shorter stopping distances, fewer and less severe crashes, and reduced risk of fatalities in the event of collisions, the village website says. 

“This change reflects both our data and our ongoing efforts, really, to maintain safe residential streets,” Maximilian said, noting that Skokie has 150 miles of streets in total.

“We’re trying to show that even modest reductions in vehicle speeds can significantly reduce the severity of crashes, especially in areas that you would typically see children, a pedestrian or bicyclist,” she said. 

The village’s traffic study said slower speeds improve a driver’s field of vision, a speed of 20 mph has a 5% chance of fatality, a number that significantly increases at 30 mph

The average stopping distance at 25 mph is 80-85 feet and the stopping distance at 30 mph is 109 feet, the study said.

In a presentation before the board last May, Maximilian said the change will make Skokie consistent with surrounding suburbs like Evanston, Wilmette, Morton Grove, Niles, Des Plaines and Mount Prospect which all have 25 mph, municipality-wide speed limits in place. 

Maximilian also noted that a 2024 community survey found that 63% of respondents thought that speeding is a “moderate to major problem in Skokie.”

The other village-owned roads that will not see their speed limit changed are Ionia Avenue, Waukesha Avenue, Pratt Avenue, East Prairie Road (between Dempster Street and Golf Road), Frontage Road (between Gross Point Road and Howard Street) and Lawler Avenue (between Golf Road and Old Orchard Road).

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