Thank you to everyone who showed up at DANK Haus this past Wednesday for our 40th Ward Development Town Hall! It was great to see so many neighbors excited about the upcoming infrastructure improvements coming to our ward.
Couldn’t make it? We’ve got you covered. You can see some highlights from the presentation below, or check out our livestream on Facebook!
2024 Development Projects
At the 40th Ward, development is one of our biggest priorities, as we strive to create a more livable and equitable ward that benefits all of our neighbors. We focus on strategic neighborhood development initiatives in key areas such as:
- bike and pedestrian safety;
- affordable housing;
- accessible transit;
- economic development;
- and public art,
Below, you can see what some of the major upcoming projects are that will speak to these priorities. To learn more about our approach to development, check out our Neighborhood Development page; you can also check out our Major Projects page to keep tabs on the projects below!
Streets
There are two types of major streets projects:
- Streetscapes: Major street project that typically includes full resurfacing, beautification (e.g. landscaping, identifiers, lighting upgrades, and pedestrian and bike safety improvements);
- Arterial Street Resurfacing: Resurfacing of high-capacity roads meant to carry long-distance traffic through neighborhood centers; these projects also include pedestrian and bike safety improvements;
- Collector Street Resurfacing: Resurfacing of low-to-moderate capacity roads that move traffic from local streets to arterial roads.
Streetscapes
Lincoln Avenue Streetscape
Lincoln Avenue Streetscape will include several different project phases:
- Section 1 Construction includes Lincoln Avenue from Foster to Catalpa, and Catalpa Avenue from Lincoln to Western. Construction on this section began last fall, and is expected to wrap up this year. In addition to street resurfacing on both Lincoln and Catalpa, some of the features include diagonal parking, pedestrian safety improvements, and landscaping on Catalpa; a new parkway plaza on Catalpa and Lincoln, and parkway improvements, new lighting, and landscaping on Lincoln Avenue.
- Section 2 construction includes Lincoln Avenue from Foster to Western, and will commence in the next few weeks! You can check out our blog announcement to see more of what that section will cover, including protected bike lanes, pedestrian safety improvements, and parkway upgrades, including new lighting and landscaping.
- Ainslie Arts Plaza: as part of Section 2 construction, Ainslie Arts Plaza will also be getting a makeover, including a new stage, festoon lighting, seating, landscaping, and storage.
Lawrence Avenue Streetscape
Lawrence Avenue Streetscape is nearing the finish line! Some of the improvements popping up on Lawrence Avenue between the Chicago River and Western Ave are: pedestrian safety measures like new refuge islands and bumpouts; new street lighting, street furniture like trash bins, bike racks, and benches, as well as a newly paves street and sidewalks with pavers. We expect that the remaining work will be completed by this fall.
Elise Malary Plaza
Andersonville’s first pedestrian plaza, on Catalpa Avenue between Ashland and Clark, is coming in 2025! Check out the project page for more details.
Arterial and Collector Resurfacing
We have seven (!!) major arterial resurfacing projects coming the the 40th Ward in 2024, each of which will also include bike and pedestrian safety upgrades, as well as three collector resurfacing projects.
Arterial Resurfacing
- Damen Avenue from Bowmanville to Ainslie, which will include raised crosswalks and bumpouts, among several other improvements;
- Ashland Avenue from Ridge to Winnemac, which will include a slew of pedestrian safety and transit improvements including pedestrian islands, bumpouts, in-lane bus stops, and a new traffic signal at Ashland and Berwyn;
- Ravenswood Avenue from Peterson to Winnemac, which will include a bumpouts, bike-friendly speed humps, a neighborhood bikeway, and sidewalk replacement;
- Western Avenue from Foster to Leland, which will include bumpouts and pedestrian islands to make crossing easier for pedestrians;
- California Avenue from Peterson to Winona, which will include a series of bumpouts at key intersections;
- Bryn Mawr Avenue from Virginia to Lincoln, which will include bumpouts and a potential raised crosswalk;
- Pratt Boulevard from Western to Ridge, which will include protected bike lanes and bumpouts.
Keep an eye on our Major Projects page for more on each of these projects!
Collector Resurfacing
Several collector streets that are in need of repair will also receive a full resurfacing, including:
- Thorndale Avenue from Western to California
- Granville Avenue from Campbell to Kedzie
- Ainslie Street from Wolcott to Western
Bikes
2024 will see some major steps forward in improving the northside bike network, including:
- Protected bike lines on Lincoln Ave and Pratt Blvd;
- New neighborhood bikeways on Winnemac and Ainslie;
- The long-awaited Leland Greenway!
In 2025, we also expect to see more improvements coming, including:
- An expansion of both the Berwyn and Rockwell bikeways;
- A potential neighborhood bikeway on Granville Avenue.
Transit
The new Metra station has officially opened as of May 2024! This year, we are working with the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) to improve pedestrian and bike safety in the area surrounding the station, especially on Peterson Avenue, to ensure that transit riders can get to and from the station safely.
Parks
We’ve got several major parks improvement projects happening in 2024, including:
- Winnemac Park, which will include a new baseball diamond, tennis court upgrades (including pickleball striping), drainage improvements, and ADA improvements to pathways;
- Warren Park, which will include a cricket field renovation, batting cages, new pickleball and volleyball courts, upgrades to the shuffleboard, horse shoe, and bocce ball courts, and a beautiful new nature play area.
- West Edgewater Green (Park 599): Chicago’s newest park is almost complete! We anticipate that construction will conclude at the end of Q2, after which we look forward to celebrating the ribbon cutting with the community.
- Emmerson Park, which includes new workout equipment and renovations to the tennis courts;
- Green Briar Park, which includes newly renovated tennis and basketball courts.
As part of last year’s People’s Budget, we’re also working with West Ridge Nature Preserve to complete a design for storage and/or a new installation in the park. We look forward to having more detail to share on that soon!
Housing
Construction on the 40th Ward’s new stabilization housing project, the Haven on Lincoln, is scheduled to begin this fall! In addition, we have several new mixed-use and residential developments coming to the Ward at:
- 5035 N. Lincoln Avenue, which is already in progress;
- 2919 W. Lawrence Avenue, which is expected to begin this fall;
- 5400 N. Ashland Avenue, which is expected to begin in spring 2025.
Economic Development
As part of the implementation of the Western Avenue Corridor Study, our office is initiative a proactive rezone of the entire 40th Ward stretch of Western Avenue, which will update zoning districts along Western to align with recommendations of the study and support the community’s priorities for land use and development. While
this zoning change is proactive, and therefore there are no proposed development projects at this time, we look forward to seeing the new development potential this will bring to Western Avenue!
Public Art
In addition to the Ainslie Arts Plaza, we are also continuing our efforts to develop Lincoln Avenue North into an arts district by investing in a new public mural at 4827 N. Lincoln Avenue.
Menu and People’s Budget
In addition to the major projects above, we’re also always working to improve our local infrastructure through our Menu program. Each year, our ward is allocated $1.5 million in funds to either repair existing infrastructure (e.g. residential street resurfacing, sidewalk and curb and gutter repairs, alley repairs, etc) or install new infrastructure (e.g. pedestrian and bike safety improvements, parks installations, new street lighting or traffic signals, etc).
Every ward has its own method of allocating funds; in the 40th Ward we use the participatory budget process, which we call the People’s Budget. The community votes on how we should allocate $1M of those funds (the other $500K is reserved for emergency repairs or urgent projects that come up throughout the year), by voting on:
- How much we should spend on infrastructure repairs vs. new infrastructure projects;
- Which new infrastructure projects we should fund.
For more on how the Menu repair process and the People’s Budget process works, see below!
Menu Repairs
You can submit a repair request anytime through our Menu Repair Request form. Find out more about how we prioritize repairs and the timeline for each year’s decision process on our Menu page.
Want to know which projects have been funded so far this year? Check out our 40th Ward infrastructure map.
People’s Budget Project Proposals
2024 People’s Budget is now underway! If you have an idea for a project you’d like to see in the 40th Ward, check out our criteria for PB project proposals, and submit your proposals anytime between now and August 31st, 2024.
Get Involved
As you can see, there’s a lot happening in the 40th Ward this year. But none of it can happen without our neighbors! If you want to get more involved in improving your community, check out our Volunteer Page for opportunities to contribute, like:
- The People’s Budget Committee, which works to assess People’s Budget proposals to help us determine each year’s PB ballot. The PB Committee meets monthly from July-August, and every other week from August-September on Zoom.
- The Environmental Board, which works to develop policies and initiatives to further sustainability and environmental justice both in the ward and city wide. The Environmental Board meets the 2nd Monday of each month from 7-8pm on Zoom.
- The Safe Streets Board, which works to identify areas of concern and make recommendations to improve pedestrian and bike safety through infrastructure improvements. The Safe Streets Board meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month from 6-7pm on Zoom.