Home / Blog / Walking

Tag Archives: Walking

John LaPlante’s Complete Streets legacy

Apr 8, 2020 | by Active Trans

It was a great loss to the world of sustainable transportation when John LaPlante died in March of COVID-19. As someone who worked with John over a number of years, I wanted to provide a more detailed account of his impact locally and nationally. You might not realize it, but you’ve likely benefited from John's efforts to improve street design and safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users. And the effects of his work can be felt not just in Chicago. After earning transportation engineering degrees from IIT and Northwestern, John started out as a summer intern in the Chicago Department of Public Works Bureau of Street Traffic in the early 1960s. He was a multimodal planner before it was...

Tags: Bicycling, Chicago, transit, Walking

Supporting the transportation needs of essential workers

Apr 7, 2020 | by Lynda Lopez

As an organization that advocates for walking, biking, and public transit to create healthy, sustainable, and equitable communities, this moment necessitates rethinking and adapting to changing needs. This means not necessarily supporting policies or ideas that we embrace in the non-COVID-19 world. We believe in the ability for people to travel freely, but we know this moment requires taking a step back and adjusting that lens we normally use for viewing these issues. We want to see policies that enhance safety for essential workers but do not have the potential to worsen the public health crisis. It is at that intersection that we must view our decisions as mobility and transit advocates. This week, we learned that 70 percent of...

Tags: Bicycling, Lakefront Trail, transit, Walking

Essential travel must take priority during COVID-19 crisis

Mar 26, 2020 | by Kyle Whitehead

As we're all now facing new anxieties and disruptions to our daily lives as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, taking a break outdoors may serve as a needed relief. We remind people to be thoughtful of others when choosing to spend time in public spaces. On Thursday Mayor Lightfoot announced the closure of the Lakefront Trail, 606, Riverwalk, and associated parks. This is part of a broader "Stay Home, Save Lives" campaign to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The movement of people who are essential workers and others doing necessary travel must take priority during this unprecedented time. We understand the Mayor’s decision to close the Lakefront, 606, and Riverwalk to protect our public health. Chicagoans should stay home...

Tags: Bicycling, Lakefront Trail, Walking

Local walking and biking champion dies of COVID-19

Mar 23, 2020 | by Ted Villaire

People in the sustainable transportation world were saddened by the recent loss of John LaPlante, who died as a result of COVID-19. LaPlante, who served as the first Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner, was dedicated to creating better conditions for people walking and biking in Chicago and throughout the nation. Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued the following statement on Sunday: “John LaPlante’s passing reminds us all of a turning point in the transportation life of our city. He was a passionate public servant who helped bring CDOT to life nearly three decades ago. In the next phase of his career, he worked to extend Chicago’s transportation legacy into the 21st century. While John may be gone, his impact in moving Chicago...

Tags: Bicycling, Walking

Continuing to push for safe, just, and livable streets

Mar 19, 2020 | by Melody Geraci

We hope you and your loved ones are staying healthy during these deeply unsettling times. Like countless other organizations, the coronavirus pandemic will undoubtedly have a major effect on the work we do over the coming weeks and months. For starters, we have postponed all of our in-person meetings, our trainings, and other events planned for coming weeks. Our staff is working from home and we’re encouraging them to take the steps necessary to protect themselves and their loved ones for the foreseeable future. While Fifth Third Bike the Drive remains set for Sunday, May 24, we’re looking at contingency plans if it needs to be rescheduled. Like every nonprofit organization right now, we’re reflecting on the value of our...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, transit, Walking

Make Illinois state roads safer and more accessible for all

Mar 10, 2020 | by Kyle Whitehead

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...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, biking, Chicago, Chicago Central, chicago north, Chicago North Side, chicago south, Chicago South Side, Chicago West & Southwest Side, Chicago West Side, legislation, North Suburbs, South Suburbs, Walking, West Suburbs

Streetsblog Chicago shines a light on sustainable transportation

Feb 21, 2020 | by Maya Norris

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, but has also helped to amplify Active Trans’ work. Active Trans will honor Streetsblog Chicago with our 2020 Nonprofit Leadership Award at the Active Trans 2020 Awards Reception on March 5 at 1871. Streetsblog Chicago is one of three recipients that...

Tags: Bicycling, transit, Walking

Chicago is falling behind on sustainable transportation

Feb 13, 2020 | by Maggie Melin Czerwinski

According to our new report, Chicago is falling behind in the number of people choosing to commute on foot, on bike, or on public transit. This was just one of the findings of our regularly published Regional Mode Share Report, which compiles and analyzes mode share and travel data for the Chicagoland region. Here are a few highlights from our 2020 report: Compared to our peer cities, Chicago is falling behind In 2018, only 35.7 percent of Chicagoans walked, biked, or took transit to work, down slightly from previous years. Compared to seven of our peer cities, over the last two years, Chicago dropped two positions to second to last place, just ahead of the City of Los Angeles. For...

Tags: Bicycling, transit, Walking

Support funding for walking and biking projects in low-income communities

Feb 12, 2020 | by Kyle Whitehead

Last year, Active Trans and hundreds of supporters made our voices heard to ensure that dedicated funding for walking and biking projects would be included in the state's capital bill. As a result, for the first time ever, Illinois' long-term capital plan includes dedicated funding for walking and bicycling projects. Now we need your help to make sure the program is successful. As the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) began moving ahead with the program, it’s become evident that the current language of the legislation lacks clarity on two key points. 1. How often IDOT should set aside the $50 million in new state funds for the walking and biking grant program. What we want: Every year — not every other...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, biking, Chicago, Chicago Central, chicago north, Chicago North Side, chicago north west, chicago south, Chicago South Side, Chicago West & Southwest Side, Chicago West Side, Equity, legislation, South Suburbs, Walking, West Suburbs

Paving the way to safer streets

Feb 5, 2020 | by Maya Norris

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. They examined and rated every sidewalk and crosswalk in the city and performed a sidewalk gap analysis, mapping out where sidewalk connections are needed and prioritizing those needs. The volunteer team identified 1 linear mile of gaps and 13 miles of sidewalk rated as poor or fair...

Tags: Walking

‹ prev7 of 26next ›