Active Transportation Alliance

The Active Transportation Alliance kindly asked Streetsblog Chicago to talk about what we saw last month during our Bike Lane Fest 2024 excursions.

On Tuesday, January 7, hundreds of Illinois residents headed to Springfield for 2025 Climate Day at the Capitol. They were pushing for sustainable, affordable, and equitable transportation through proposed legislation like the IL CleanJobs Platform and the Clean and Equitable Transportation Act.

Thanks in part to the efforts of the Southwest Collective, progress is being made on making dangerous South Pulaski Road safer.

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.