Author Archives: Maya Norris

Lessons in walking and biking safety

| Apr 15, 2020

Did you know that Active Trans has an assortment of resources that advocates, teachers, and parents can use to educate children about walking and biking safety both inside and outside the classroom?

With parents and teachers looking for walking and biking education ideas for their kids during the “stay-at-home” order, we wanted to share some of our resources.

Last year Active Trans worked with other advocates to pass the Illinois Bike Walk Education in Schools Act,

Streetsblog Chicago shines a light on sustainable transportation

| Feb 21, 2020

The Active Transportation Alliance isn’t the only place in town to get the latest news on walking, biking, and transit issues.

Sustainable transportation advocates in the Chicago region often turn to Streetsblog Chicago as their go-to resource for thoughtful analysis, accurate information, and daily updates on the walking, biking, and public transit scene in the city.

The online news organization’s nuanced and insightful reporting has not only helped to make sustainable transportation issues more accessible to a broader audience,

Paving the way to safer streets

| Feb 5, 2020

Murphysboro, Illinois, is on its way to creating safer streets for its residents.

The city collaborated with the Jackson County Health Department and Active Trans to conduct a sidewalk audit as a first step toward enhancing the city’s sidewalks and promoting physical activity.

In the summer of 2019, 31 community residents volunteered to assess the condition of all 125 miles of sidewalks in Murphysboro, which is located about 300 miles south of Chicago.

Brother of crash victim advocates for safer streets

| Nov 20, 2019

Andrew DeMott is channeling his family’s tragedy into a catalyst for change.

Since his brother was killed in a car crash while bicycling home early this year, DeMott has been advocating to improve the walking and bicycling infrastructure in Tinley Park, where his brother was killed.

On Oct. 27, his family held a ghost bike ceremony as a memorial to his brother, Douglas DeMott, 52, near the crash site where his brother was struck by a car on Jan.

How Carol Maher became a cycling advocate

| Oct 15, 2019

Carol Maher came to bicycling relatively late in life. But the 58-year-old retired IT project manager has certainly made up for lost time.

Since she took up cycling four years ago, Maher has ditched her car in favor of cruising around Chicago on two wheels full-time and has become a sustainable transportation advocate.

Maher credits a program called Go Albany Park for sparking her love of cycling in 2015.

Pace launches its much-anticipated Pulse service

| Sep 3, 2019

A new express bus line has rolled into Niles. Pace, the suburban bus service, recently debuted its Pulse transit service on Milwaukee Avenue, promising frequent, faster, and more reliable transit for one of the most heavily traveled corridors between the northwest suburb and Chicago.

Pace launched the Pulse Milwaukee Line on Aug. 11 as the first route in its new Pulse transit system. The Milwaukee Line runs along a 7.6-mile route on Milwaukee Avenue between the Golf Mill Shopping Center in Niles and the Jefferson Park Transit Center in Chicago.

Stan Day invests in the power of the pedal

| Aug 8, 2019

It probably comes as no surprise that bicycling plays a huge role in Stan Day’s life. As the co-founder and chairman of SRAM, the second-largest maker of bicycle components in the world, Day is passionate about bicycling and how it can transform people’s lives and create healthy, thriving communities.

That’s why the bicycling advocate and SRAM have been a longtime supporters of Active Transportation Alliance, joining forces with the organization to help get more people on bikes and improve conditions for bicycling throughout Chicago — an investment that has reaped rewards for cyclists in the city.

Cultivating the next generation of advocates

| Jun 20, 2019

Marco De La Rosa is making sure the voices of some of the youngest stakeholders in Active Transportation Alliance’s Chicago River Trail campaign are heard loud and clear.

As club director of the Linda & Bill Gantz Boys & Girls Club of Chicago in Lathrop Homes on the North Side, De La Rosa is nurturing the advocacy and leadership skills of his students by having them take part in Active Trans’ efforts to push for a Chicago River Trail.

Helping shape Chicago for better transportation

| Apr 18, 2019

February 2020 update: John Buck will be receiving the Active Trans Visionary Leadership Award at our 2020 Awards Reception on March 5. Please join us.  

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More people live and work in the Loop than ever before. And many credit John Buck in part for helping to contribute to that soaring growth and vibrancy of the city’s central business district.

Considered one of the patriarchs of commercial real estate development in Chicago,

Duo moves DuPage trail forward

| Mar 25, 2019

Sometimes if you want something done, you have to do it yourself. That’s the lesson Ginger Wheeler learned firsthand. The marketing consultant spent five years trying to interest various private and public agencies to take the lead in advocating for building a connector trail along the East Branch DuPage River Greenway Trail to no avail.

But when Wheeler (pictured left) met Libby A’Hearn (pictured right) at an Active Transportation Alliance event, they discovered that they had the same idea and decided to team up to get the funding needed to build the 31-mile East Branch DuPage River Greenway Trail.