Active Transportation Alliance

[The Chicago Reader recently launched a new weekly transportation column written by Streetsblog Chicago editor John Greenfield. This partnership allows Streetsblog to extend the reach of our livable streets advocacy. We syndicate a portion of the column on the day it comes out online; you can read the remainder on the Reader’s website or in print. The paper hits the streets on Thursdays.]

[The Chicago Reader recently launched a new weekly transportation column written by Streetsblog Chicago editor John Greenfield. This partnership will allow Streetsblog to extend the reach of our livable streets advocacy. We’ll be syndicating a portion of the column on the day it comes out online; you can read the remainder on the Reader’s website or in print. The paper hits the streets on Thursdays.]

For three decades, the Active Transportation Alliance (formerly the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation) has been advocating for better conditions for bicycling and, in recent years, walking and transit. They marked their 30th anniversary with a fundraiser on Monday at Germania Place, and more than 250 supporters turned out to celebrate the occasion. During the event the group gave public service awards to three key players in the local sustainable transportation scene: former Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch, Friends of the Major Taylor Trail president Peter Taylor, and U.S. Congressman Dan Lipinski.

[The Chicago Reader recently launched a new weekly transportation column written by Streetsblog Chicago editor John Greenfield. This partnership will allow Streetsblog to extend the reach of our livable streets advocacy. We’ll be syndicating a portion of the column on the day it comes out online; you can read the remainder on the Reader’s website or in print. The paper hits the streets on Thursdays.]

Back in August, a transportation professional who asked not to be named told me the Illinois Department of Transportation had stopped fulfilling requests from nongovernmental entities for crash location data. This information is crucial for analyzing any transportation network -- for example, we often rely on crash data for Streetsblog Chicago stories. I have since heard the same complaint from other individuals.

Last week at a press event celebrating the installation of 103 miles of buffered and protected bike lanes, Mayor Rahm Emanuel promised to build 50 miles of new bike lanes, including PBLs, over the next four years. The Active Transportation Alliance's new "Bikeways for All" campaign, launched on Monday, urges the mayor to double that goal.

Streetsblog Chicago is on vacation from July 13-17 and will resume publication of Today’s Headlines and daily articles on Monday, July 20. We’ll keep in touch this week via social media and occasional posts.

Update: NICTD responded to our request for comment after publication and we will post a follow up story on Tuesday. 

As dozens of my friends with young kids demonstrate, becoming a parent doesn’t mean you have to give up your car-free or car-lite lifestyle. An upcoming three-part series on family biking presented by the Active Transportation Alliance and Chicago Kidical Mass aims to provide families with the info and encouragement they need to keep pedaling through pregnancy, infancy, and childhood.