Active Transportation Alliance

It was a bombshell, but not a huge surprise, when the CTA announced this morning that President Dorval R. Carter Jr. is stepping down from his post at the end of this month.

Next year, sustainable transportation advocates can inspect the infrastructure of their blocks, attend a state summit, and learn how to advocate for a Neighborhood Greenway.

On a frigid #GivingTuesday, the Active Transportation Alliance held its annual member party to celebrate the organization’s 2024 advocacy wins, and announce priorities for the year ahead. Well over 100 members gathered in the cavernous Revolution Brewing taproom – fittingly situated along new curb-protected bike lanes on Kedzie Avenue in Avondale. Attendees mingled for the first hour, sipping beers and scarfing down pizza from Dimo’s and chicken from Nando’s Peri Peri. Full racks in the coat-and-bike room proved that cold-weather cycling is alive and well in Chicago.

Plus a discussion of how Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for the second Trump administration, is likely to negatively impact federal transportation policy.

As discussed during the Active Transportation Alliance's recent Chicago Advocate Connect session, they've partnered with the University of Illinois Chicago's Institute of Disability and Human Development on Project Sidewalk. This initiative to document the conditions of local sidewalks and bikeways is offering $300 stipends to 10 participants who will virtually move through city streets using Google Streetview, and document accessibility barriers. We asked ATA for some more details about the program.

The Active Transportation Alliance's monthly Advocacy Connect zoom chat series gives Chicago and suburban residents a chance to get updates from local sustainable transportation professionals and advocates, and ask questions.

Some local transit advocates are worried that the agency may be over-promising how much service it can deliver.

Reps from the west-suburban county, as well as transit-friendly Illinois State Representative Eva-Marie Delgado, discussed sustainable transportation during a recent Activee Transportation Alliance talk.

There was also talk of efforts to create a more people-friendly North DLSD, save the Greyhound station, and stop the removal of the Dickens Greenway's plaza.