Joliet: a city with two bike lanes may get more

City staff will consult with bicyclists on potential lane locations

Sign on Drauden Road marks the start of a one-mile section of street containing Joliet's only bike lanes. Nov. 17, 2022.

Joliet is kind of a one bike-lane town, but that could change.

The city has begun to explore the possibility of adding to the one section of street that now has bike lanes.

There are bike paths in assorted areas of Joliet. But the only bike lanes that are part of a city street are on a one-mile section of Drauden Road, where lanes run in both directions making it two lanes.

Marker on Drauden Road marks one of the two bike lanes in Joliet. The other is on the other side of Drauden Road. Nov. 17, 2022.

The Joliet City Council Public Service Committee this week discussed the possibility of adding more.

“There’s some areas where it can be done, and some areas where it can’t be done,” Committee Chairman Larry Hug said at the Monday meeting. “At least we’re starting to plan where we can and can’t put them.”

The plan for now is to begin discussions with the Joliet Bicycle Club to learn where bicyclists think bike lanes are needed most.

Hug on Thursday said he may suggest creating a citizens advisory commission to help the city plan for future bike lanes.

Hug proposed the staff study into bike lanes after being approached by bicyclists on the matter.

“I talked with several bike riders who said there are many communities who are way ahead of us on this, and they’re right,” he said.

The only other bike lane now in the works is part of the Houbolt Road bridge being built over the Des Plaines River, which will include a bike lane with a wall separating bicyclists from trucks and traffic.

An artist's rendering of the future Houbolt Road bridge.

The single bike lane on Drauden Road was created a few years ago when the city reduced the four lanes between Caton Farm Road and Theodore Street to three lanes to create a center lane that could be used for left turns into subdivision streets.

The lane reduction opened the opportunity for adding the bike lanes, Joliet Traffic Engineer Russ Lubash said.

The Drauden Road bike lanes also provide a connection between bike paths along Caton Farm Road and a ComEd right-of-way that crosses Theodore Street, he said.

Another opportunity for a bike lane is a four-lane stretch of River Road that runs from Theodore Street to the city boundary with Shorewood. The road narrows to three lanes on the other side of Theodore Street and in Shorewood, so narrowing the half-mile section to three lanes with a bike lane is possible, Lubash said.

Both River and Drauden roads are in the newest residential section of the city.

But Lubash said older sections of Joliet also could have streets that can handle bike lanes.

“I think it all depends on what the width of the road is and what the width of the right of way is,” he said.

One older section of Joliet where Lubash said bike lanes look unlikely is Chicago Street downtown.

A bicyclist rides along Batavia's Island Avenue in a "sharrow," a shared lane for both bicycles and motor vehicles. The pavement marking in the foreground designates a shared lane. The city of Batavia has placed the markings along the length of Island and Shumway avenues to provide cyclists with a better link between the four legs of the Fox River Trail that converge in downtown Batavia.

The city has considered adding bike lanes in a redesign of the street. But the city also wants to create more room for motorists and wide sidewalks for outdoor dining, and it will be difficult to accommodate all three with available space, Lubash said.

Instead, the city is considering what are called sharrows on Chicago Street where lanes would be marked to indicate they are shared by both cars and bicycles.

“You’re basically sharing the lane,” Lubash said, noting sharrows exist in other cities including Chicago.