The where, why and how as Wilmette’s Lake Avenue improvements accelerate

A Village of Wilmette committee has agreed to recommend several proposed improvements to a portion of Lake Avenue but is split on whether to encourage bicyclists to ride on the roadway itself.

The proposed east Lake Avenue improvements, between Green Bay Road and Sheridan Road, were discussed during a Municipal Services Committee meeting on Monday, July 21.

The trustees who serve on the committee unanimously supported improvements to the Green Bay Road trail and to a “problem intersection,” but a majority did not recommend adding bicycle or shared lanes to the easternmost portion of Lake.

In a presentation, Melissa McGee, with Christopher B. Burke Engineering, said the purpose of the proposed improvements is to “improve pedestrian and bike safety” on Lake Avenue, and includes recommendations from the village’s Master Bike and Active Transportation Plan.

‘I don’t think we should encourage bike traffic‘

All three trustees supported a plan to add bike lanes and street parking to a portion of Lake from Green Bay Road to 11th Street; however, they disagreed on adding lanes, or even “share the road” signs, to the section from 11th Street to Sheridan Road.

According to McGee, the village’s Transportation Commission voted 6-1 to not recommend the plans to add bicycle lanes to Lake, but staff are continuing to recommend them because the plan supports the Master Bike and Active Transportation Plan.

Trustee Gerry Smith said he wants to see more data or another alternative, expressing concerns about speeding traffic interfering with bicyclists.

“Cars are screaming up and down the road there,” he said. “Our residents have talked about accidents that they’ve seen further east. … I need to see a little bit more data.”

He later added that he would like to see if it’s possible to redo the parkway to allow bikes.

Trustee Gina Kennedy, the chairperson of the committee, said while she believes that narrowing the roadway could make it safer for bicyclists, she did not feel comfortable with even posting on-road signage — which trustees called “sh-arrows” — letting drivers known that bicyclists use the road.

“(Narrowing lanes) does work to calm traffic,” she said. “Adding bikes into the mix, though? I’m not sure that accomplishes that, and maybe only makes it somewhat worse.”

Kennedy specifically cited data provided by McGee that revealed most bicyclists in Wilmette, 51-56%, are “interested but concerned” about riding, while only 4-7% describe themselves as “highly confident,” which are the riders most likely to bike in the street.

“If it was something that families felt comfortable using, that might be one thing, but it’s clearly not the case and it’s not going to be the case no matter what we paint on the pavement,” Kennedy said, later adding, “I don’t think we should encourage bike traffic (on Lake). There are other routes to the beach.”

Trustee Mark Steen, on the other hand, said he supported adding sh-arrows to the eastern portion of Lake. He disagreed with the assumption that adding them would lead to an increase in bicycle traffic on the road.

Using data from the bicyclist app Strava, McGee presented a map that showed most bicyclists in Wilmette utilize Central Avenue, which does not have any accommodations for bicyclists, while Greenleaf Avenue, which is signed for bicyclists, sees about the same amount of traffic as Lake.

And while she didn’t have the data readily available, McGee recalled that only two accidents involving bicyclists occurred on Lake over a five-year period.

Steen said, in his opinion, that data proves that bicyclists will utilize any roadway whether it’s signed for them or not.

“The implication is that bikes share this lane,” he said about signage. “That, to me, does have an incremental calming effect and it’s not clear to me that it adds incremental unsafe biking on the road.”

He also said that he supports the village’s active transportation plan and believes allowing bikes on Lake will help implement it.

“I’m going to come out for it because I do think the sh-arrows will help with the core piece of what we’re trying to do, which is the traffic calming without creating undue risk,” he said.

Despite the split recommendation, Kennedy noted that the full Village Board will have the final say in the matter.

‘Problem intersection’ and Green Bay Road Trail

While they disagree on bike lanes, trustees were united in their recommendations to fix what was described as both a “problem” and “difficult” seven-leg intersection at Lake, Wilmette Avenue and 11th Street.

That was described by McGee as “confusing,” and she said of the 93 Lake Avenue accidents that were reported over five years in the proposed area for improvement, a third of them happened at that intersection.

She said the seven-way intersection includes a four-way stop and has a sharp intersection angle and 80 conflict points, or locations where vehicle travel paths intersect. Most four-way stops have 24.

Trustees recommended a proposal that would cut off northbound traffic at the southwest leg of 11th Street, while also converting the northwest and southeast legs to right turn only lanes onto Lake.

“It improves safety at the intersection by addressing the primary crash patterns that are happening here,” McGee said. “And it reduces the number of conflict points from 80 to 36.”

The plan would also create a curb “bump-out” along Wilmette Avenue, which would help shorten walking distances for pedestrians.

While trustees supported the proposal, they also questioned if it may end up causing more issues down the road. They specifically cited the upcoming opening of nearby Small Cheval and renovations to Plaza del Lago that could lead to an increase in traffic in the area.

Much of the discussion centered on a T-shaped piece of concrete that would direct traffic eastbound on Lake from the southeast portion of 11th Street. Trustees questioned if they absolutely needed to approve the structure, or if they could leave it out and wait to see what happens to traffic.

Village Engineer Dan Manis said that if the trustees decide to go with signage instead of a physical structure, other parts of the design would have to be revisited, since they were designed with all proposed improvements in mind.

Steen said that, while he has issues with parts of the proposal, he can’t think of a better solution.

“It’s clear that I don’t love the answer, but that’s the fact of the geometry of the intersection, not the work that (consultants and staff) have done,” he said, later adding, “It is likely that we won’t solve all the problems, that we will need to budget for more solutions, whether they be at this section of somewhere downtown.”

Kennedy offered similar comments and said she’s concerned about the behavior of drivers on the road.

“I’m really terrified of the downstream effects of what we do here,” she said, “and that’s why, while I favor this, I think we need to keep looking at this area and saying, ‘What can we possibly do to make it safer than it is now and safer than it might be in the future?’”

Trustees also unanimously supported altering the Green Bay Trail where it crosses Lake Avenue just east of Green Bay Road.

The proposal calls for eliminating the slanted crossing adjacent to the Wilmette Fire Station and replacing it with one that is perpendicular to the road.

The proposed Lake Avenue changes will next go to the village’s Historic Preservation Commission in August or September, while a final public information meeting will be held around the same time.

The plans are expected in front of the full Village Board sometime in October or November.

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