Active Transportation Alliance Reports on our Efforts

This just published in the recent Active Trans newsletter ModeShift:

Completing Highland Park streets

An active group of cyclists and Highland Park residents are imagining safer and more accessible streets. They know what those look like - ones with bike lanes, pedestrian-friendly intersections and slow traffic.

And they knew where they had to look to get them.

Complete Streets policy is flooding Northeast Illinois, with Illinois, Cook County, DuPage County and the City of Chicago all adopting policies that will result in roads that accommodate all users.

Inspired by that movement, Highland Park residents decided to take action to bring Complete Streets to their community.

It started with a meeting called by Jay Goldstein, Active Trans board member and advocacy chair for Velo Club Roubaix, to discuss road safety in the North Suburbs.

“It was amazing how many people came,” said Kim Stone, a former Active Trans board member and Highland Park resident. “It was a really mixed group of people. Some live in Highland Park. Some bike through Highland Park.”

That is where residents connected with Active Trans and our North Suburban Coordinator Lina Hoffman.

Stone and Peg Laemle, another Highland Park resident, were charged with researching Complete Streets and worked with Hoffman to plan the proposal.

“There has to be a way where traffic can flow and pedestrians can also easily cross streets,” Laemle said.

Bring change to your community! Contact Active Trans North Suburban Coordinator Lina Hoffman at lina@activetrans.org or 312.427.3325 x383.

The city already had a Healthy Highland Park Task Force and a Green Initiatives Alliance, a multi jurisdictional approach to making Highland Park more sustainable. Stone and Laemle believed that Complete Streets would fit in with the City's priorities and would be a natural compliment to both these initiatives. Stone said that it was important to work within the City's process, gaining support from staff as well as elected officials.

The other key to gathering support was the backing of the other residents that attended that first meeting.

“Instead of me just as an individual, it was a group. There was a constituency behind the idea,” she said. “Having a group of people who want to see things changed and have come to a consensus is really key.” Active Trans was able to provide expert resources like sample policy and promoted public meetings on Complete Streets to our members.

Doing their homework paid off. Residents met first with Public Works and Community Development staff, then requested an Active Transportation Alliance presentation before the Traffic Commission, which unanimously recommended the City adopt a Complete Streets policy. Then Stone and Hoffman met with Highland Park Mayor Michael Belsky. The next step was an Active Trans presentation before the Environmental Commission. A Planning Commission presentation will be the last step before City Council review. With Mayor Belsky as an advocate of a Complete Streets policy, support from residents, city staff and commissioners this final step should be a slam dunk!

from: http://www.activetrans.org/modeshift/02_10/highlandpark

Highland Park Moves on Complete Streets

Only a year after our cycling advocates Bruce Rosenzweig and Jay Fried were injured in Barrington Hills on a nice Sunday morning Velo Club Roubaix road cycling club ride and this North Suburban advocacy group was formed, one area town has voted to adopt Complete Streets!

Wednesday August 26, 2009 the Highland Park Traffic Commission finally met to hear a presentation on Complete Streets by two capable Active Trans folks, one being Lina who we helped get hired. And the Commission unanimously voted to recommend that Highland Park adopt a Complete Streets policy!

After Active Trans’ short presentation some Highland Park residents got up to speak in favor of Complete Streets. I watched the meeting unfold and I must give kudos to our own advocate Elliott Rosen who helped turned the tide in our favor. Elliot was able to speak with the authority of a Highland Park citizen; he spoke without any prepared remarks, in a positive manner about Highland Park, and he clearly called on Highland Park to be better for the sake of those like him and his family who don’t want to be captive to their cars and might want to occasionally enjoy safer and better travel around by bicycle. If that itself did not seal the deal it was when Elliott said he would be personally willing to volunteer to help on a Highland Park Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force which will likely be needed to advise the City on a going-forward basis about how to apply the Policy.

One Commission board member said it well before the vote when he realized that this is a whole new way of thinking about traffic movement and he could see how it might eventually affect the way the City approaches every project. Right he is! Complete Streets looks at how best to move around people--not just motor vehicles. It puts people first, and that includes when we the people, use our public roadways for movement other than in our cars, like for cycling!

Highland Park may be one of the first jurisdictions in the country to have a COMPLETE Complete Streets policy because all roadways within the City, no matter their jurisdictions, may soon be under such a policy:

• There is a now a Federal policy, which covers jurisdiction over national highways
• There is now an Illinois policy, which covers state highways. This is as of last year and also thanks in part to Active Trans!
• There soon should be a Lake County policy which will cover the county roads. Our group has also helped with that.
• When Highland Park adopts a policy, all roads through Highland Park would then be covered, no matter whose jurisdiction they may fall under!

City of Higland Park Important Meeting

Wednesday AUGUST 26, 6:30 pm
Highland Park City Hall
1707 St. Johns
(directly across from the HP Metra station)
View Larger Map

NOTE NEW MEETING DATE AS NOW SET BY HIGHLAND PARK
FROM POSTPONED ORIGINAL DATE OF July 22

Please come to a meeting of the Highland Park Traffic Commission on August 26 at 6:30 pm. Especially if you are a HP resident or HP cyclist! Lina Hoffman from Active Transportation Alliance (formerly Chicagoland Bicycle Federation) will be making a presentation on "Complete Streets." The goal is for the Traffic Commission to begin taking all users (including pedestrians and cyclists) into consideration when making decisions that impact the roadways in Highland Park. We need to have strong representation at this meeting.

Why do we need a Complete Streets Plan? A plan will help insure that the needs of pedestrians and cyclists, as well as cars, are considered when building, designing or reconstructing roadways. The state has a plan which applies to state controlled roads. Lake County is implementing a plan as well. Each jurisdiction needs their own plan or policy since each controls different roads. A Complete Streets Plan for Highland Park would impact city roads only. Highland Park is important because:

1) we have a strong cycling community
2) there are on-going citywide initiatives currently to become more environmentally sustainable and to improve health -- this fits in to both
3) Highland Park is a bike friendly community and many cyclists and group rides pass through town. If Highland Park were to implement Complete Streets, it could serve as a model for other communities.

More info:
www.completestreets.org
www.activetrans.org
Questions? Email:
Kim Stone
kstone@spcpweb.org or
Lina Hoffman
lina@activetrans.org

More details on Complete Streets

The Complete Street movement is about enacting smarter public policy that benefits everyone which results in increased safety(1), improved quality of life and health, reduced congestion and is more fiscally sound. It has been already adopted by eleven states, including the State of Illinois; also DuPage County, City of Chicago and over 80 communities around the country(2) including Philadelphia on June 5 of this year(3). Complete Streets is widely supported by groups ranging from the National Realtors Association, the YMCA, AARP and the Institute of Transportation Engineers who themselves became to be known the last half-century as the "throughput crowd" for focusing solely on increased roadway capacity and speeds while not being inclusive of all users and without consideration of other benefits. So it would appear that those not yet on-board with Complete Streets might now be said to be old school and hopefully will become a minority. Also for a federal policy, the “Complete Streets Act of 2009” is now before Congress.

(1) In the US every 113 minutes a pedestrian or cyclists is killed by a motor vehicle and every 8 minutes one is injured or paralyzed. It may be interesting to note that this is 3x the current rate of Germany which was historically also a motor vehicle centric country but has now worked hard for years on reforming their street policy. Source http://www.postwritersgroup.com/archives/peir071209.htm. Studies have shown just a few Complete Street policy implementations can reduce risks 28% to 40% while increasing safety for drivers as well. See http://www.completestreets.org/webdocs/federal/cs-2009pressrelease.pdf. While bikes and pedestrians account for 13% of all road fatalities they received less than 1% of safety education funds. Engineering, Education and Enforcement are three keys. See http://www.wdef.com/news/complete_streets_legislation_could_improve_safety_for_chattanooga_cyclists/03/2009

(2) For an up to date atlas where Complete Streets policy has been enacted see: http://www.completestreets.org/complete-streets-fundamentals/complete-streets-atlas/

(3) See June 5 entry on http://www.completestreets.org/news-blog/blog/

1000 Area Cyclist Represented at Meeting

An estimated 1000 area cyclist were directly represented at the March 10 meeting held at Alberto's Cycling in Highland Park. About 30 local cycling advocates from area cycling clubs, bike shops and other concerned area residents came to meet Lina Hoffman the new North Suburban Coordinator from Active Trans and see how their respective organizations can continue to be involved in efforts to improve cycling in the area. Officers and leaders of the following local groups were present:

Alberto's Racing

Barrington Bike Club
Bicycle Club of Lake County
Colavita Cycling
Evanston Bicycle Club
Northbrook Bicycle Task Force
Velo Club Roubaix
Vision Quest Coaching

Also as planned, concerns were discussed regarding the new January 2009 Barrington Hills local ordinances that restrict bicycling. (Though invited, no member of the Barrington Hills Village Board was present but we understand discussions are ongoing with area cyclists and cycling groups and the village.) Out of our discussions on March 10 an effort was begun to identify a volunteer bicycle coordinator in each of the area municipalities. The local bicycle coordinator would first become aware of any impending new bicycle ordinances with the goal to prevent other municipalities to adopt measures as has Barrington Hills. The area coordinator would also monitor road plans and work toward creating a comprehensive bicycle task force as has been done so well by folks with the Northbrook Bicycle Task Force. Also the coordinator could help facilitate discussions with the local police and/or schools. Already volunteers have stepped forward to help coordinate Highland Park, Deerfield, Barrington and Hawthorne Woods! A Lake County coordinator volunteer is also being sought to start reviewing the 5-year road plans published by the County.

Other activities planned by the group include making a presentation at a monthly Lake County Transportation Committee meeting; contacting the League of Illinois Bicyclists about ideas for Barrington Hills, having staff from Active Trans meet with local police and municipalities; and meeting with the Lake County Sheriff. Ideas were also discussed regarding better representing area low-income cyclists and recognizing that a benefits of the group's efforts is helping area residents keep commuting costs low by utilizing bike and transit options.

Next meeting is 7PM Monday June 1 at Alberto's Cycling.
More info on the meeting agenda to follow.

Meet Your New Advocate

The Active Transportation Alliance infomed us today they have hired Lina Hoffman as the new North Suburban Coodinator. Carolyn Helmke, Senior Transportation Planner at Active Trans said that thanks to the help of North Suburban Complete Streets in raising awareness and funds, even in these uncertain economic times, Active Trans wanted to increase their advocacy work in our area. Carolyn went on to say "Lina Hoffman lives in Skokie and is excited to help mobilize north suburban communities to walk, bike and use transit more often. She has experience working with government and non-government organizations and was a student trustee at Oakton Community College from 2002-2004. She is currently finishing up her bachelors degree at DePaul majoring in International Studies and plans to pursue a graduate degree next. She is very interested in the way that cultural values help shape communities and sees a culture of transit emerging that she will help promote."

One of Lina Hoffman's first duties will be to meet our group and hear our priorities at our next meeting, 7:00-9:00PM, Tuesday March 10 at Alberto's Cycles in Highland Park. For more information on the meeting or our group please contact us at cyclingadvocacy@gmail.com.

Barrington Hills "Response" to Crash and Cycling Issues

February 5, 2009

RE: Village of Barrington Hills Bicycle Ordinances

During the spring and summer months, large numbers of bicyclists ride throughout the Village of Barrington Hills. A 2008 Barrington Hills Police Department survey indicated that bicyclists were a major concern for members of the community. Large groups of bicyclists frequently occupy entire lanes on roadways and impede the normal flow of traffic. Complaints of bicyclists disobeying stop signs and other rules of the road were also raised in the survey. The Barrington Hills Police Department responds to a number of bicycle related complaints during the spring and summer.

In response to these issues and in the interest of public safety for all bicyclists and motorists, the Village of Barrington Hills recently adopted two new ordinances that pertain to bicycles and their safe operation on roadways. The first is the mandate of single file bicycle riding. This ordinance states that persons riding bicycles upon a Village maintained roadway are prohibited from riding side by side and shall only ride single file.

The second ordinance is negligent operation of bicycles which states that it shall be unlawful for any person to operate a bicycle upon any public roadway (Village/County/ State) in a manner which is negligent or creates a risk of bodily injury or damage to or loss of property.

These new ordinances aim to ensure that both bicyclists and motor vehicles can share the roadway in a safe and responsible manner. The Barrington Hills Police Department will be enforcing these ordinances especially during the spring and summer months as the weather gets warmer. Any requests for additional information on these ordinances may be directed to Officer Sabas Parada at (847) 551-3006 or sparada@vbhpd.net

Printable flyer for March 10 meeting

Please print for posting at your bike shop or
club. Thanks and hope to see you then!

brochure courtesy Elliot Rossen

Jan 13, 2009 meeting

Alberto's Cycles was kind enough to once again host a meeting. At the January 13 meeting cyclist reviewed maps and rated cycling routes in preparation to lend our perspective to Lake County's Complete Streets new policies and plans. Joe Weiss a GIS mapping software expert from Active Trans had prepared an area road map showing routes most commonly used for cycling. Joe created the map by directly importing about 100 routes previously captured by riders using GPS devices on their bikes (usually Garmin). The routes get recorded by the GPS as the riders are actually cycling the routes and then are often uploaded to sites like Motion Based and MapMyRide.

In preparation for the upcoming meeting with Lake County being held on January 26, riders, some with tens of thousands of miles on these roads, rated the road segments based on their perceived safety. Randy Neufeld from Active Trans had recommended we simply use a GREEN/YELLOW/RED rating, green being where we feel safe and red where not safe. Also at the meeting a group lead by Kim Stone worked on a City of Highland Park Complete Streets project.

NEXT MEETING PLANNED FOR
7:00PM TUESDAY MARCH 13, 2009 at Alberto's Cycling

Active Trans newletter article about our efforts

Link to story:

http://www.activetrans.org/modeshift/02_01/vcr