City Profiles / Small Cities / Arlington Heights, IL

Arlington Heights, Illinois

The village of Arlington Heights is Chicago's largest suburb in Cook County—and one of its oldest—and its proximity to the city has presented both challenges and advantages to its development. A population explosion as Chicago expanded in the 1950s and 60s left Arlington Heights a linear, landlocked community, giving the village nowhere to build but up. Unsurprisingly, traffic congestion ensued. However, taking a cue from its early years as a train depot, the village has recently made a significant, award-winning effort to revitalize the area around transit.

The largest commuter stop for the Northwest line of the Metra railway to Chicago is in Arlington Heights, and downtown redevelopment in the last decade—including mixed-use buildings, improved sidewalks and crosswalks, and a bike shelter at the train station—has brought empty-nesters and young professionals alike to the accessible downtown area, which was until then largely vacant and lifeless. For these efforts, Arlington Heights won awards from the National League of Cities, the Metropolitan Planning Council and the American Planning Association.

The area has had a history of flooding, which large-scale projects are seeking to reduce. With the long-planned Weller Creek Flood Control project, which is tied into Chicago's Tunnel and Reservoir Plan, 109 miles of underground tunnels are being built to intercept sewer overflow and send it to treatment plants before returning it to waterways. The village and Arlington Heights Park District also engineered water retention basins that double as recreational areas. The largest of these is 93-acre Lake Arlington, created in 1990, with bike and walking paths, sailboats and paddleboats, and fishing.