Custer Oasis Woonerf

A woonerf, which means "living street," prioritizes pedestrians and cyclists by creating a shared public space with low-speed limits and built-in community amenities. Still acting as a through street, but with cars as guests on the road, reducing traffic to a walking pace and allowing people to use the space for socializing and gathering.

The Custer Oasis, used for outdoor dining since COVID, is the perfect site for Evanston’s first Woonerf, transforming this temporary pop-up into a permanent public space in the heart of South Evanston, steps from CTA and Metra, surrounded Main-Dempster Mile businesses, and at the intersection of Wards 3, 4, and 9.

Key features and design elements would include a curbless road surface consisting of permeable pavers, bioswales and other native/sustainable plantings, and permanent street furniture. This is compared to the movable picnic benches today, which is all that can be provided due to Custer being a street designed for cut-through traffic. Just as Fountain Square is a key place-making hub for Downtown Evanston and its visitors/residents, the Custer Oasis Woonerf would be the same for Main St.

Check out the video to see what a Woonerf in Alberta, Canada is like!