Elmhurst council adopts 40-year sidewalk master plan, 13-1

The Elmhurst City Council on Feb. 18 approved a sidewalk master plan that maps out up to 40 years of sidewalk construction across the city, with an initial three‑year target to complete priority ‘safe routes to school’ segments.

The 13–1 vote on the report came after more than an hour of discussion and committee-level work described by supporters as the product of multiple years of referrals and nine committee meetings. The plan groups identified sidewalk segments into three phases (14 segments in phase 1, 33 in phase 2 and 49 in phase 3) and sets staged completion targets: roughly three years for phase 1, seven years for phase 2 and 30 years for phase 3.

Committee chair Alderman Michael Brennan said staff developed a rubric to rank the 96 staff‑identified segments by safety factors, proximity to schools, parks and transit, and connectivity. "Because of the sensitivity for safe routes to school, we put a 3‑year completion target on…