Skokie, IL Mobility & Curb Rules: Bike Lane Rules (2026)

Chapter 106, Article V governs bicycles on Village streets, sidewalks and paths. Sec. 106-228 sets the roadway rules: riders must stay as near the right-hand side of the roadway as practicable, exercise due care passing standing or slower vehicles, and always yield the right-of-way to moving vehicles. Riding two abreast is barred on ordinary roadways under subsection (c), which limits cyclists to single file except on paths or roadway portions set aside exclusively for bicycles. Subsection (d) is the operative bike-lane rule: whenever a usable path for bicycles has been provided adjacent to a roadway, riders must use that path and may not use the roadway instead.

Subsection (b) lets the Village post signs prohibiting bicycles from specific streets entirely. Sidewalk riding is addressed separately in Sec. 106-227: it is flatly unlawful within the CX Core Mixed-Use zoning district (added by Ord. No. 09-2-C-3664 in 2009), and everywhere else on a sidewalk a cyclist must yield to pedestrians and sound an audible signal before overtaking one. Sec. 106-221 folds in the state rules of the road, so a cyclist on a roadway has the same rights and duties as a motor vehicle driver.

Sec. 106-223 makes the whole article applicable on any street, public sidewalk, or public bicycle path within the Village. Sec. 106-224 separately requires bicycle registration from the Village Manager or designee, free of charge, renewed every 5 years. These provisions sit within Skokie's home-rule police power over its own streets under Ill. Const. Art. VII, Section 6, and are enforced by the Skokie Police Department.