Niles Bus Oriented-Development Plan for Milwaukee Avenue

This project was initiated in March of 2005 and is now complete. The Niles Village Board approved the Milwaukee Avenue Plan on January 24, 2006.

The Village of Niles continues to implement the BOD Plan recommendations to improve transit-oriented development and increase access to transit. Since 2008, the Village has installed paver crosswalks, decorative fencing, new traffic signal poles with arms, street furniture, sidewalks, pedestrian light poles, and street trees along Milwaukee Avenue. These improvements foster pedestrian and transit environments while spurring community and economic development.

Through the CMAP Local Technical Assistance (LTA) program, a Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan was completed, and adopted by the Village in March 2014. This plan identifies steps the Village can pursue to further develop the pedestrian and bicycle networks throughout the Village.

Pace continues to advance Transit Signal Priority (TSP) and Arterial Rapid Transit (ART) along the corridor. Through an RTA Innovation, Coordination, and Enhancement (ICE) project, Pace will test the integration of transit signal priority technology that will allow CTA and Pace buses to interact with multiple types of traffic signal systems located on the same arterial.

Pace received a CMAQ grant in 2014 to fund the following components of Milwaukee Avenue ART from Jefferson Park to Golf Mill: Phase 1 Engineering, stations, real time information, ART vehicles, and queue jump lanes (where appropriate), which are elements of the Pace TSP Planning for the Milwaukee Avenue Arterial Rapid Transit. Pace held public open houses for its Milwaukee Avenue ART service in 2015 to solicit feedback.

Milwaukee Avenue was the first Pace ART line - now titled Pace Pulse - to be implemented. Construction on shelters and other supporting infrastructure began in the summer of 2017 and the line fully launched in August if 2019. For more information visit the Pace website.