Did You Know?
Make Illinois state roads safer and more accessible for all
Legislation currently moving through Springfield provides a rare opportunity to make walking and biking safety improvements to state roads in Illinois.
Tell your state legislators you support safer state roads.
State roads are often major streets that provide sole access to retail and service industry jobs, grocery stores, doctors’ offices, pharmacies, and other important destinations. For many people, sidewalks provide the only option for safely accessing these key places. And this is especially true for older adults and people with disabilities.
Currently, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) requires that local communities cover 20 percent of the cost when IDOT includes infrastructure for people walking and bicycling to construction projects on state roads. Yet the state typically covers 100 percent of the cost of the work on travel lanes for cars and trucks.
Sign a letter calling for state officials to eliminate the local match requirement.
This local match requirement prevents communities across the state from creating safe places for walking and bicycling. Even when residents and elected officials overwhelmingly support the infrastructure improvements, some communities can’t afford adding sidewalks, pedestrian refuge islands, and bike lanes.
The local match requirement is an insurmountable barrier for many low-income communities that desperately need to fill gaps in their sidewalk networks and fix their most dangerous streets.
Senate Bill 3183 and House Bill 5246 call for the state to cover 100 percent of the cost of infrastructure for people walking and biking when it’s needed on state roads. Read more about these bills in our fact sheet for legislators.
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