News Updates

What’s in a corridor plan? Village of La Grange creates one with support from CMAP

Corridor plans focus on a specific street or district, helping communities turn broad planning goals into targeted strategies for redevelopment, transportation, infrastructure, and placemaking.

The Village of La Grange recently accepted its South La Grange Road Corridor Plan, developed with support from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s (CMAP) Technical Assistance program. Building on the 2024 La Grange Forward Comprehensive Plan, the corridor plan outlines practical steps to improve safety, support businesses, strengthen infrastructure, and create a more distinct identity for South La Grange Road.

What’s included in a corridor plan?

Corridors serve several purposes at once. They connect neighborhoods, carry regional traffic, support businesses, and provide access to schools, parks, transit, and other destinations. 

A corridor plan examines transportation, land use, market conditions, infrastructure, and community priorities to create a coordinated strategy for a specific roadway or district. While each plan reflects local needs, corridor plans commonly include: 

• Existing conditions and market analyses 
• Community engagement and a shared vision 
• Transportation and safety improvements 
• Land use, redevelopment, and property improvement strategies 
• Infrastructure and environmental recommendations 
• Design, placemaking, and implementation guidance 

Together, these elements help local officials, residents, businesses, and partner agencies make informed decisions about future investments. 

Highlights from the South La Grange Road Corridor Plan

Developed through community engagement and technical analysis, the plan reflects input gathered through a farmers market pop-up, interviews with property owners and businesses, an open house attended by roughly 50 residents, steering committee meetings with public comment, and an online survey completed by 593 participants.

• Improving safety and accessibility. The plan recommends working with the Illinois Department of Transportation to evaluate, design, and implement a new signalized intersection at 51st Street and test curb extensions at 48th and 49th Streets. It also calls for studying a potential speed-limit reduction from 35 to 25 mph, considering raised medians and dynamic speed feedback signs, and working with local school districts on Safe Routes to School initiatives, Bike and Roll to School Days, and family-led bike bus routes.

• Supporting corridor vitality. Recommendations include helping commercial property owners modernize older buildings, evaluating vacant and underused spaces for new tenants or adaptive reuse, and considering temporary uses such as pop-up stores, coworking spaces, business incubators, art installations, and startup space. The plan also recommends seeking targeted redevelopment guidance from the Urban Land Institute, exploring land assembly and financing options, supporting small-scale developers, and connecting homeowners with rehabilitation resources.

• Enhancing infrastructure and resilience. The plan identifies green infrastructure practices that can complement the Village’s larger investments, including bioswales in the South La Grange Road right-of-way and a potential green alley program incorporating permeable pavers and improved drainage. It also recommends educating residents about rain gardens, grass pavers, and other ways to manage stormwater and reduce flood risks on their properties.

• Strengthening community character. Design guidelines support a more welcoming southern gateway through trees, landscaping, wayfinding signage, public art, outdoor seating, pedestrian-oriented buildings, and context-sensitive architecture. The plan also recommends incorporating some or all of the guidelines into the Village’s zoning code and engaging local artists, property owners, schools, churches, and community organizations in public art projects.

The plan includes an implementation framework identifying potential timelines, funding sources, technical resources, and partner organizations to help move recommendations from vision to action. 

More corridor planning underway across northeastern Illinois

La Grange is one of several communities partnering with CMAP through its Technical Assistance program on corridor planning.

Other plans currently underway include: 

• Lockport — 159^th Street 
• Maywood — Roosevelt Road (project engagement website) 
• Plainfield — Lockport Street/Main Street 

Learn more about CMAP’s Technical Assistance program and explore completed plans from communities across northeastern Illinois.