Thank you to everyone who showed up at the Chicago Waldorf School this past Tuesday for our 40th Ward Development Town Hall! We were thrilled to see so many neighbors engaged and excited about all of the new infrastructure improvements coming to our ward.
If you weren’t able to make it, you can see a video recording below, view the presentation, or read on for a summary of what we covered.
You can also check out our Neighborhood Development page and our Major Projects page to keep tabs on the projects below!
Major Projects Coming in 2025
Lincoln Avenue Streetscape and Ainslie Arts Plaza
Section 1 of the Lincoln Avenue Streetscape, from Foster to Catalpa, was completed last year! This year, contractors are hard at work on Section 2, from Foster to Western.
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.
As part of this project, Ainslie Arts Plaza will also be completed! The new and improved plaza will include a new stage, festoon lighting, seating, landscaping, storage, and more.
Street Resurfacing Projects
There are five (!!) arterial resurfacing projects happening this year in the 40th Ward:
- Damen Avenue Phase 2:, a continuation of last year’s resurfacing of Damen Avenue, this project will include a full resurfacing of Damen Avenue from Farragut to Bryn Mawr, and Bryn Mawr from Damen to Ravenswood, and will include sidewalk and curb improvements, bumpouts, raised and decorative crosswalks, newly painted bike lanes, and much more!
- Ravenswood Avenue: the long-awaited resurfacing of Ravenswood will begin this week, and will include a full resurfacing from Peterson to Wilson, as well as a slew of pedestrian and bike safety improvements including a newly painted neighborhood bikeway, bumpouts, bike-friendly speed humps, new sidewalks, and more.
- Ashland Avenue: the similarly long-awaited Ashland resurfacing project will begin this summer! In addition to a full resurfacing from School to Ridge, this project will include major pedestrian safety improvements, including pedestrian islands, bumpouts, in-lane bus stops, and a new traffic signal at Ashland and Berwyn.
- Pratt Boulevard: Pratt is currently under construction, and will include a full resurfacing from Western to Sheridan, new protected bike lanes, and bumpouts at key intersections. While the planning for this project predated our office, we’re proud to be able to play a small part in bringing it across the finish line!
In addition to the active projects listed above, the Western Avenue resurfacing is currently wrapping up. Improvements included new pedestrian islands along the corridor, bus boarding islands, bumpouts, and a bikeway along Winnemac Avenue.
While we’re excited about these improvements, we also know that construction will bring a lot of headaches! Neighbors in West Edgewater and West Andersonville areas in particular should plan for additional time on their commutes, as Damen, Bryn Mawr, Ashland, and Ravenswood will all be undergoing construction this year (see the map below for what sections will be impacted). Streets will not be closed, but lanes may occasionally be closed to traffic!
In addition to these major street resurfacing projects, several residential streets will also be resurfaced this year:
- Berwyn Ave from Washtenaw to Lincoln
- Rockwell St from Lawrence to Ainslie
- Argyle St from Rockwell to California
- Rockwell St from Lunt to Coyle
- Manor Ave from Lawrence to Montrose
Berwyn, Rockwell, and Argyle have already been repaved; the northern section of Rockwell and Manor will likely be completed this construction season. We hope to authorize more street resurfacing projects in the coming months, and will announce those as they are authorized!
Traffic Safety
Construction on the Granville Traffic Safety project will begin this summer! Granville is one of the top 10% of the most dangerous residential streets in Chicago, with some sections ranking in the top 5% or even 1%. This year, the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) will address this issue by implementing a series of one-way sections to discourage non-local traffic, as well as installing traffic calming infrastructure at key intersections near parks and schools.
We are deeply grateful to the community members who advocated for better traffic safety along this corridor, and helped shape this proposal!
In addition to Granville, CDOT will also continue its expansion of the Far North Side Bike Network, including:
- Lincoln Avenue protected bike lanes
- Pratt Boulevard protected bike lanes
- Berwyn Bikeway completion
- Rockwell Bikeway expansion
- New Ainslie Greenway
- New Rosehill Bikeway
Elise Malary Plaza
Andersonville’s first pedestrian plaza, Elise Malary Plaza, on Catalpa Avenue between Ashland and Clark, is coming in 2026! While we had initially anticipated construction in 2025, construction was pushed to 2026 after several design changes requested by the community, and in order to facilitate the installation of the traffic signal at Ashland and Berwyn.
The plaza will include pavers and sidewalks, raised planters with native pollinator plants, shade structures and landscaped screens for separation from adjacent parking lots, lighting, bench and island seating, bike racks, and decorative trash bins.
The plaza is named for Elise Malary, a Black Trans woman who was a fierce advocate for the LGBTQ+ and Black and Brown community. We look forward to this space being used for many community gatherings, farmers markets, concerts, and more once it is completed.
Haven on Lincoln
Construction on the 40th Ward’s new stabilization housing project, the Haven on Lincoln, began this spring!
Due to changes on both a federal and a city landscape, the City had to change its plans for the operation of the Haven, though the core functions of the shelter will remain the same.
Both already implemented federal budget cuts and potential cuts to Medicaid — which would have funded the operations of the Haven—made it untenable for the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) to directly operate and fund the program long-term. Rather than launching an unsustainable program, CDPH, along with the Departments of Housing (DOH) and Family and Support Services (DFSS) worked with our office to identify an alternate operator.
The Haven on Lincoln will now be operated by Cornerstone Community Outreach, an experienced
homelessness services provider with 30+ years of operations and funding support from DFSS.
Cornerstone will provide shelter, wraparound supportive services, and health care to residents
experiencing homelessness at the Haven on Lincoln.
The building as designed fits well with Cornerstone’s medically integrated shelter model, and will continue to serve as a non-congregate shelter, with 37 units, a third of which will be able to function as double-occupancy units if needed. Case management services will be available on site, and healthcare and clinical recovery services will be available through partner organizations. The Haven will also be able to serve as an overnight warming center in the event of extreme heat or cold temperatures. The program will still operate 24/7 with on-site staffing and security, benefitting the residents staying there and the surrounding community.
The City will continue to complete the construction process before transitioning the building to Cornerstone for program operations. Construction for the Haven on Lincoln is underway, and is expected to be completed early 2026!
Parks Projects
The Winnemac Park Improvement Project is currently underway! The tennis and pickleball courts were completed last year, and the new turf field is currently underway, with projected completion by this fall.
The Warren Park Improvement Project is currently in the bidding process! We hope to have an update soon.
In addition to these two projects, we also had two winning People’s Budget projects that we are looking forward to making progress on this year:
- Mather Park: 40th Ward residents voted to repave the pathways and replace the benches as part of last year’s People’s Budget! We also visited Mather Park to perform an assessment of other improvements we hope to be able to fund through the Lincoln Avenue TIF, including new basketball, tennis, and pickleball courts.
- West Ridge Nature Park: a new storage facility at West Ridge Nature Park was the winning project in the 2024 People’s Budget! We’re waiting on final designs, after which we will approve this project for installation.
2026 People’s Budget
If you want to have a voice in future infrastructure improvements, this year’s People’s Budget is now underway!
Each year, every ward is granted $1.5 million in infrastructure improvement funds. In the 40th Ward we use a participatory budget process to determine how we spend those funds, which we call the People’s Budget—because it’s your tax dollars, and you deserve a voice in how they are spent! 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.
If you have an idea for a new infrastructure project you’d like to see in the 40th Ward, submit a proposal! For information on what we look for in potential projects, check out our criteria for PB project proposals