Busse Woods Bike Path

Busse Woods, one of the most popular recreational destinations in northern Illinois, needed connections to an existing bike path to provide safe crossings at Oakton Street and Northwest Point Boulevard for pedestrians and bicyclists to access the path. The design needed to provide access to the existing trails with minimum disruption to the Busse Woods Forest Preserve.

Elk Grove Village wanted to provide new access points to Busse Woods and turned to Hampton, Lenzini and Renwick, Inc. (HLR) to design and construct these vital connections. The Busse Woods Bike Path project was designed to provide better and safer access from the businesses and residents east of Busse Woods to the Forest Preserve District trail system.

HLR prepared the plans and bid documents along with construction inspection for the locally funded project that included ADA compliant pedestrian facilities and traffic signal modifications at Northwest Point Boulevard and Oakton Street.

Significant coordination was required with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County including tree removal mitigation, design of shade tolerant seed mixtures, and signage for the new entry points.  Other coordination necessary included the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for impacts to wetlands, Illinois Department of Transportation for work at the Northwest Point intersection, and Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways for improvements at Oakton Street. All pedestrian facilities were designed and built ADA compliant in accordance with PROWAG.

Project was completed in 2019. Project benefits included:

• New signalized pedestrian crossings of Arlington Heights Road
• Improved access to the Busse Woods bike path from adjacent business and residential areas
• Minimized impacts to environmental resources