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CMAP Tells IDOT: “To Each Municipality, According to Their Needs”
The Illinois Department of Transportation, whose secretary resigned last week after accusations about patronage hiring, distributed $545 million in gas tax revenue to fix streets in almost 3,000 jurisdictions last year. While this sounds like a lot of money, poor road and bridge conditions across the state can attest to the fact that these funds might not be going to the places that need them most. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the region's federally designated metropolitan planning organization, has recently written about different methods that IDOT could use to more fairly distribute these revenues across the state's cities and counties.
July 8, 2014
Why the Federal Funding Emergency Matters for Transportation Reform
Why does it matter if state departments of transportation get less money?
July 7, 2014
CMAP Plan Update Includes Sobering Look at Region’s Funding Shortfall
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's GO TO 2040 regional comprehensive plan has weathered some major ups and downs in its four-year lifespan. CMAP has received several awards for the plan, which required a huge effort on their part to reach out to local residents and overwrite decades of uncoordinated transportation "plans."
June 17, 2014
Bikin’ the Suburbs: Active Trans Peddling Next-Gen Bikeways Beyond Chicago
A recent survey conducted for the Illinois Bicycle Transportation Plan found that Illinoisans want bikeways that provide physical separation from motor vehicles, and believe these kind of “8-to-80” facilities are a key way to get more people to cycle. Protected bike lanes and bike boulevards, AKA neighborhood greenways, are becoming commonplace in the city of Chicago. Yesterday, the Active Transportation Alliance launched a new project to encourage suburbs to build these types of low-stress bikeways, which are comfortable for people of all ages and abilities.
June 12, 2014
Construction Cycle: CDOT Has a Lot on Its Plate This Summer
[This piece also ran in Checkerboard City, John's column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.]
June 11, 2014
Once Again, Hilkevitch Spins His Wheels When Writing About Biking
Veteran Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch is usually effective at covering highway and transit news but, when it comes to bicycle projects, he often misses the mark. For example, around the time of the Divvy launch, in spring of last year, he wrote a couple of articles painting the system as a dysfunctional ripoff. By August, he wrote another piece that all but admitted he was wrong.
June 9, 2014
No Cycling Wins in 45th Ward PB Election But Milwaukee PBLs Still Possible
For the second year in the row, voters passed over bicycle projects in the 45th Ward’s participatory budgeting election. But separately, a safety overhaul of Milwaukee Avenue, including protected bike lanes, may still be in the works for this Northwest Side district.
May 16, 2014
Quinn Tying State’s Hands to Preempt Potential Illiana Roadblocks
Governor Pat Quinn is doing everything he can to ensure that the Illiana Tollway will be built, no matter what. The Illinois General Assembly gave the state permission in 2010 to pursue a public-private partnership with a private company to build and operate the tollway, but now Quinn has proposed new legislation that gives the tollway new special privileges.
May 14, 2014
Greenway Edged Out in Little Village PB Election, But Could Still Happen
Earlier this week, I reported that the proposal for a north-south neighborhood greenway in Rogers Park was left off the 49th Ward participatory budgeting ballot, but that bike-priority route is still expected to become a reality. Similarly, 22nd Ward PB voters didn’t elect to fund a proposal for an east-west greenway in the Little Village neighborhood, but that doesn’t mean the idea is dead in the water.
May 9, 2014
Don’t Despair, Evanston & Oak Park May Still Get Divvy Stations
Last month, it was a bummer when the Illinois Department of Transportation announced $52.7 million in funding for transportation projects, including many bike and pedestrian projects, but the expansion of Divvy into the suburbs wasn’t one of them. However, officials say they’re hopeful money can be found to extend the system past the city limits.
May 6, 2014