USDOT Thriving Communities Program: Waukegan, IL

TCP Complete Neighborhoods Community of Practice

The 15 communities included under the Complete Neighborhoods Community of Practice are:

USDOT selected a Capacity Builder team led by RMI, including: the American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Equitable Cities, Nelson\Nygaard, and the Shared-Use Mobility Center (SUMC), to provide technical assistance to these 15 communities.

A Snapshot of Waukegan, Illinois

Waukegan, Illinois, one of the communities selected under the Complete Neighborhoods Community of Practice, is a city in northeastern Illinois on the coast of Lake Michigan, approximately 40 miles north of Chicago. The city prospered as a key industrial hub in the 19th century, and the construction of a railway through the city in the mid-1800s stimulated its growth and development, bringing with it a large population growth. Waukegan is now home to nearly 90,000 residents, many of them working class. In recent years, Waukegan has transitioned away from heavy industrial uses along its lakefront, and the area now has a more diverse industry base, which includes large manufacturing, pharmaceutical, entertainment and hospitality, and healthcare sectors, as well as a naval station. However, accompanying this transition, many of its communities have undergone economic and environmental upheaval. Over 15% of Waukegan’s residents live in poverty, and the city’s median household income of $66,077 is lower than the median for both Illinois ($78,433) and the United States ($75,149), per 2022 U.S. Census data. In total, roughly half of the census tracts that fall within Waukegan and North Chicago, Waukegan’s neighbor to the south, are designated as Historically Disadvantaged, per Justice40.

Location of Waukegan within the Chicago Metropolitan Area

Key Initiatives for Transportation

Through the Thriving Communities Program, Waukegan hopes to advance several major longstanding initiatives:

• The Sheridan Road/Amstutz Expressway Feasibility Study: The Sheridan Road/Amstutz Expressway is a 5.8 mile north-south freeway that bisects Waukegan, cutting off its downtown district and several nearby neighborhoods from the lakefront. The feasibility study will focus on this area and determine how best to transform and develop the road into a safe and connected corridor. Through the Thriving Communities program, the Capacity Builder team will support Waukegan in identifying and pursuing funding opportunities to pursue the feasibility study and further improvements, and build community support and awareness around this project. For more information on the Amstutz Expressway, see the City’s 2003 Lakefront Downtown Master Plan and the 2020 Comprehensive Land Use Plan.

Map of the Amstutz Expressway. Credit: Google Maps

• The Northern Lakeshore Trail Connectivity Plan (NLTCP): The NLTCP envisions an interconnected network of bike and pedestrian trails, connecting Waukegan and four other nearby cities. This plan serves to make the area more interconnected, more friendly to bicycle and pedestrian transportation, and safer for all travelers. The Capacity Builder team is assisting Waukegan in developing preliminary engineering documents for this project, pursuing funding opportunities, and building community support. For more information, see CMAP’s NLTCP document.

Planned bike and pedestrian trail network from the NLTCP. Credit: CMAP

• Community Engagement: In addition to the above projects, Waukegan hopes to bolster its community engagement strategy. Waukegan currently faces unique challenges with building community support. The city has a large population of historically marginalized and underserved residents, the majority of which are Latino, and faces a general lack of trust from the community, which poses a major barrier to many projects. The Thriving Communities Capacity Builder team is working closely with Waukegan to explore ways to build trust, incorporate community input, and foster effective and meaningful engagement.

Key Partners

Waukegan is working with several key partners on these initiatives. Some of these partners include:

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP): CMAP is the regional planning agency for northeastern Illinois, including Waukegan and North Chicago. CMAP has been working with Waukegan and its partners on several initiatives, including the Amstutz Expressway and NLTCP projects. 

The City of North Chicago: North Chicago is a city of just over 30,000 people directly south of Waukegan. North Chicago is a major part of both the Amstutz Expressway project and the NLTCP. North Chicago and Waukegan are the largest communities in the region but have limited capacity to advance these projects.  

Nearby communities: In addition to North Chicago, other cities in the area are also involved in the NLTCP. These cities include Beach Park, Zion, and Winthrop Harbor. 

Local community organizations and other entities: To address the gap in community engagement, Waukegan is partnering with various nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and other entities serving the area to develop strategies to bolster community outreach and involvement. Though the role of the community organizations and the nature of each partnership will evolve fully over the course of the program, several community organizations have already participated in Thriving Communities activities. For instance, during the February 2024 community stakeholder meetings (discussed below), the City and Capacity Builder team met with representatives from Mano a Mano Family Resource Center, Family First Center of Lake County, Hispanic American Community Education and Services, the Lake County Community Foundation, and Clean Power Lake County. 

Activities through the Thriving Communities Program

• Needs Assessment: In 2023, the Thriving Communities Capacity Builder team led an in-depth needs assessment with the City of Waukegan in 2023 to learn about the community and its needs and to drive technical assistance activities. This needs assessment was intended to allow representatives from Waukegan to expand on some of the community’s ongoing projects, challenges, and relationships with local community partners. Among the insights gained through this process were a need to foster meaningful community partnerships to help promote trust between the City and its residents, and a desire to build political and community support for long-term projects so that they are better suited to withstand any potential administration shifts or changes in priority.
• Site Visit: In February 2024, members of the Capacity Builder team visited Waukegan to meet with city officials, explore project sites, and facilitate conversations with key community stakeholders to further community engagement efforts. This visit provided the Capacity Builder team an opportunity to tour locations related to Waukegan’s initiatives. Some of these sites included sections of the Amstutz Expressway, Waukegan’s lakefront, the Washington Street Corridor, and the Robert McClory trail. Through this visit, the Capacity Builder team was able to get a firsthand account of the conditions of these sites and get a better understanding of how infrastructure investments could be directed to improve the city.
• Stakeholder Meetings: During the February 2024 site visit, the Thriving Communities Capacity Builder team along with Waukegan city officials connected with local community leaders from a variety of community-based organizations. Through these one-on-one meetings, Waukegan city officials and the Thriving Communities Capacity Builder team learned more about these organizations’ priorities, goals, and initiatives, and explored how they aligned with some of Waukegan’s. Over the course of the conversations, it became clear that many community members recognized the barrier to economic development posed by the current state of the Amstutz Expressway. However, many also noted the importance of addressing all barriers to access, not just physical barriers. Stakeholder meetings are ongoing, and these in-person conversations were just one step towards long-term collaborative relationships with community members.
• Identifying and Pursuing Funding Opportunities: The Capacity Builder team is working with the City of Waukegan to identify suitable funding opportunities that can help the city support its initiatives. This process includes working to leverage new funding programs that have emerged from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, as well as exploring other opportunities from regional and state sources, and various federal agencies including USDOT, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Environmental Protection Agency, and others. This is a collaborative effort which incorporates local and regional partners in addition to the city and Capacity Builder team.

View of the Amstutz Expressway, looking south. Credit: SUMC

View of the Robert McClory Trail at Washington Street looking south. Credit: SUMC

Waukegan City Hall, where most of the stakeholder meetings took place. Credit: SUMC

Capacity building efforts through the Thriving Communities program are continuing until June 2025. The Capacity Builder team will conduct more technical assistance activities and will update this case study as the program progresses.