Riding Along Edgewater's Granville Neighborhood Greenway!!!

by Clive Benedict Mendoza (EEC Intern)

Intersection: Granville/Greenview

The Edgewater Environmental Coalition wants to thank the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), the 48th Ward, and community members who have supported safer streets and better connections throughout Edgewater. Neighborhood greenways help make our streets more than routes for getting from one place to another. They can connect people to green spaces, public transit, schools, places of worship, and local businesses that make a neighborhood feel like home.

Credit: City of Chicago, Existing Bike Network map

For this ride, I brought along my friend Abigail Wheeler, a fellow Loyola University Chicago student originally from Indiana. I wanted to share a part of Edgewater that I love while giving her an opportunity to experience the neighborhood through a fresh perspective. Abigail also helped photograph the neighborhood along the route, and documenting the places and infrastructure that make this part of Chicago so special.

It was particularly a good rider for her because it was the first time she had been able to use her bicycle properly in the city. As she explained, she was excited to see how the bikeway worked because, where she is from, "bike lanes, let alone bikeways, are not that big of a thing.” Her experience offered a valuable reminder that bicycle infrastructure can introduce people to a different way of navigating their communities, even when they have not grown up with these fully flesh out networks.

Summary Highlights

• Explore the Granville Avenue corridor between North Clark Street and North Sheridan Road, with the ride ending at Berger Park.

• Discover local restaurants, independent businesses, a neighborhood bookstore, a bicycle shop, community gardens, and the Edgewater Branch of the Chicago Public Library.

• See how neighborhood greenways can connect children, families, students, and residents to schools, grocery stores, public transit, and parks.

• Learn why equitable transit-oriented development and accessible, safe cycling routes matter for a thriving Edgewater.

Keep reading for the full experience:

Starting on Clark Street

The ride explored West Granville Avenue from North Clark Street toward North Sheridan Road, ending at Berger Park. This stretch is part of a broader effort to improve traffic safety and bicycle connections along Granville Avenue. The 40th Ward’s Granville Traffic Safety project provides more information about the corridor improvements, including traffic calming, refreshed crossings, and bicycle route markings.

The neighborhood around North Clark Street is a great reminder that streets are not simply transportation corridors. They connect people to places where they eat, shop, gather, and spend time with their neighbors. Nearby, residents can visit Alexander’s Restaurant, catch a performance at Raven Theatre (whom EEC has partnered with in the past), enjoy George’s Deep Dish, or browse Heirloom Books.

One especially useful local destination is Gary’s Cycle Shop. Having a bicycle shop near a neighborhood cycling route is worth highlighting. Safe infrastructure makes it easier to ride, while nearby bicycle businesses can help people keep their bikes in working order and access the equipment they need. A neighborhood where cycling is supported by both infrastructure and local services makes riding more practical for everyday life.

The surrounding Clark and Granville area also offers access to additional neighborhood businesses, with more shops and services along nearby Granville and Devon avenues.

Intersection: Granville/Clark

Greenview Avenue

As Granville connects with North Greenview Avenue, the nearby Hayt Elementary School offers an important way to think about who benefits from safer streets. Neighborhood greenways around Edgewater create opportunities for children to ride alongside friends, parents, teachers, and neighbors. With comfortable routes and thoughtful street design, cycling can become a more realistic part of how families travel to school, visit one another, and explore their community.

This matters because a thriving neighborhood should allow families to meet their everyday needs without making every trip dependent on a car. Access to schools, grocery stores, parks, and other essential resources helps residents participate in community life. When those destinations are connected by streets that feel safer for walking and cycling, children can gradually gain more independence while families have more ways to get around.

Nearby, Masjid e Noor is another important part of the neighborhood. Its presence reflects the religious and cultural diversity that helps make Edgewater a welcoming place to live. Places of worship are community institutions where people gather, build relationships, and support one another. Safe and accessible streets help residents reach these spaces, just as they help people reach schools, parks, and businesses.

Glenwood Avenue

At North Glenwood Avenue, the nearby Glenwood neighborhood greenway illustrates why individual bicycle routes are most useful when they connect to a wider network. A greenway can make one stretch of a trip more comfortable, but its value grows when riders can continue onto other neighborhood routes and reach more destinations without having to navigate every busy street alongside motor vehicles.

This connected approach is particularly important for younger riders and people who are still building confidence on a bicycle. A network of neighborhood routes gives people more choices and can help them make cycling part of their everyday routine. It also helps residents travel between community spaces rather than treating each park, school, or business as a separate destination.

Nearby St. Gertrude Catholic Church is another example of the institutions woven into Edgewater’s neighborhood fabric. Schools, churches, mosques, local businesses, and public spaces all contribute to the life of a community. The transportation network connecting them should work for the people who rely on these places.

Lakewood Avenue

North Lakewood Avenue brings us near Granville United Methodist Church. Alongside Masjid e Noor and St. Gertrude Catholic Church, it highlights the presence of different religious institutions within the broader neighborhood.

Edgewater’s religious diversity is something to value. People should be able to gather with their faith communities, maintain meaningful traditions, and build relationships with neighbors whose beliefs and backgrounds may differ from their own. Accessible public spaces and safer streets help make that possible by connecting residents to the places that matter in their lives.

A neighborhood greenway may seem like a small piece of transportation infrastructure, but its benefits extend beyond the ride itself. When people can move through their community more comfortably, they have more opportunities to participate in local life, support neighborhood institutions, and encounter the diversity that makes Edgewater distinctive.

Broadway

North Broadway is one of Edgewater’s most active commercial corridors, bringing together restaurants, small businesses, community spaces, and everyday destinations. It is also where the relationship between bicycle infrastructure and busy streets becomes especially important.

During our ride, Abigail was particularly impressed by the intersection of Granville Avenue and Broadway. As she reflected, “It made me feel much safer when crossing busy streets.” She was referring to the divider between the bicycle lane and the motor vehicle lane, which helped create a clearer separation between different road users. That kind of design can make a meaningful difference to someone who is still getting familiar with urban cycling.

Abigail also appreciated the route’s usability. “It was very easy to use the lanes, and I did not have to go out of my way to get to them,” she wrote. That convenience matters. A bicycle route is more useful when it is intuitive, direct, and connected to places people already need to reach.

Broadway offers plenty of reasons to make the trip. Food destinations include YATAI Asian Street Food, Vee-Vee’s African Restaurant, Beard & Belly, Honeypie Bakeshop, Desi Boys Pizza, Kathmandu Cafe, Ethiopian Diamond, Lickity Split, En Lai Asian Grill, and Loaves & Witches. Together, these businesses reflect the range of food and cultural experiences available in the neighborhood.

Beyond restaurants, Green Element offers a reason to rethink how we shop for clothing. Buying secondhand can extend the life of garments, reduce demand for new production, and make sustainable fashion more accessible. Supporting thrift stores and other local businesses is one practical way residents can make more thoughtful consumption choices while keeping their spending within the community.

The Vedgewater Community Garden adds another dimension to the corridor. Community gardens create opportunities for neighbors to grow food, learn from one another, and care for shared green space. They also help people build a more direct relationship with what they eat and the environment around them. The Edgewater Environmental Coalition hosts volunteer opportunities at Vedgewater, and community members interested in growing their own vegetables can inquire about opportunities to garden in an assigned plot. Visit the EEC calendar to find upcoming activities.

The nearby Edgewater Branch of the Chicago Public Library is another essential community resource. Libraries offer far more than books. They provide access to information, learning, technology, and public space. Connecting residents to these resources through walkable and bikeable streets helps make the neighborhood more accessible to people at different stages of life.

Granville Red Line Station, Winthrop & Kenmore Avenue

The Granville Red Line station is an important destination along this route because it connects neighborhood travel with Chicago’s wider public transportation network. Abigail appreciated how easy it was to reach the station from the bikeway. She also noted that “there were plenty of bike racks next to the path which was useful.” Bicycle parking near transit makes it easier for people to combine cycling and rail travel, rather than having to choose one mode for an entire trip.

This is one reason Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD) matters. ETOD supports neighborhoods where housing, businesses, jobs, schools, grocery stores, and public transportation are accessible to one another. The goal should not simply be to bring more activity near transit. It should be to ensure that people who live in the neighborhood can benefit from those connections, including families, workers, students, older adults, and residents who do not own a car.

Around the Granville station, people can visit Ann Sather, Granville Anvil, Falafel Kabab Station, Flaco’s Tacos, Kin Yum Tum Zaab Real Thai Street Food, Gino’s North, Tamashii Ramen, Pete’s Pizza, and Metropolis Coffee Company. Metropolis is a popular coffee stop for Edgewater neighbors and Loyola students alike.

Falafel Kabab Station is a personal favorite of mine. I have fond memories of bringing friends there for a meal after college club activities. Being able to share a neighborhood restaurant with friends is part of what makes a place feel familiar and meaningful. It is also a reminder that transportation improvements can support more than commuting. They can make it easier to visit the businesses and gathering places that become part of our everyday lives.

Nearby, there are also neighborhood greenways along North Winthrop Avenue and North Kenmore Avenue which offer additional connections for people traveling through north and south of Edgewater. The more safely and conveniently people can move between streets, transit stations, shops, schools, and parks, the more practical it becomes to leave the car behind for at least some trips.

Ending at Sheridan Road: Berger Park and Edgewater Prairie Park

The ride ended at Berger Park, near North Sheridan Road. The park offers a fitting destination for a route that connects neighborhood streets with community spaces and urban nature spaces. Abigail enjoyed the fall scenery along the way, describing how “riding through the rows of houses, looking at the fall leaves, was very enjoyable.” Cycling can very much make everyday surroundings feel more immediate and gives you time to notice the trees, homes, and details that can pass by unnoticed when traveling at higher speeds.

Berger Park is also one of the places where the Edgewater Environmental Coalition offers volunteer opportunities. Community members can help care for the park and contribute to the green spaces that make the neighborhood more welcoming. Nearby, Edgewater Prairie Park, formerly known as Park 559, provides another opportunity to support local nature and habitat. EEC organizes volunteer activities at both locations, and residents interested in getting involved can check the EEC events calendar for upcoming dates and details.

Abigail raised an important point about some of the limitations of the route. Although she enjoyed the ride, “there is no dedicated lane across Sheridan from Burger Park, which I feel would be useful for riders.” That observation matters because a comfortable route should not end at a point where people must suddenly navigate a more difficult or less clearly marked connection. Safe cycling infrastructure works best when it is continuous, especially around parks, major roads, and destinations that attract people of all different ages.

Conclusion

Riding along Granville Avenue offered a chance to see Edgewater through both a familiar and a fresh perspective. For me, the route connects places that are already part of the neighborhood’s character: all the amazing local restaurants, independent businesses, schools, religious institutions, public transit, community gardens, and parks. For my friend, it was an opportunity to experience how a comprehensive bicycle network which was not as common where she came from.

I think this perspective reinforces why investments in neighborhood greenways matter. The quality of a route depends on whether people can find it easily, understand where it leads, feel comfortable at intersections, and continue safely toward their destination. Even more additions to signage, bicycle parking, separation from traffic, and connections to transit all contribute to a better experience, alongside attention to the places where the network remains incomplete.

Edgewater already has many of the pieces that make this possible. The opportunity is to keep strengthening the connections between them so that safe, accessible, and sustainable travel becomes an everyday option for more people.

If you would like to help care for the neighborhood spaces along this route, consider volunteering with the Edgewater Environmental Coalition at the Vedgewater Community Garden, Berger Park, or Edgewater Prairie Park! Visit the EEC events calendar to see upcoming opportunities and find a way to get involved.

A better-connected neighborhood is one where people can reach more of what matters to them, participate in community life, and enjoy the places they call home!