From the News-Gazette (Champaign, IL), 12.03.07:Enhanced biking part of new planAmong the elements of the bike planning for this important university community: sharrows, development of a bike route network, and developer regulations requiring bike facilities.
When Champaign resident Rick Langlois heads out the door for his morning commute to the University of Illinois, he doesn't turn the ignition to his vehicle. He starts pedaling.
Langlois is one of the hundreds of local residents who commute to work each day by bicycle. And he's thrilled that the city of Champaign, in its new draft transportation plan, Champaign Moving Forward, is putting an increased emphasis on making the city bicycle-friendly. "I think it's a good start," Langlois said. "It's really great to work with city and county planners who are recognizing biking as a solution to a lot of problems...This is happening all over the country."
"We're a great community for bicycling," (Rob) Kowalski (Champaign's assistant planning director) said. "We have flat terrain. We have downtowns that are very accessible and the University of Illinois campus is great for bicycling, so it's important for us to have a plan that provides for enhanced bicycling opportunities throughout the city. The more we can promote bicycling and walking, and mass transit, the better balance we create in our transportation system. It can lead to less congestion and keep our commute times low." (Read more.)
Image: ChampaignCountyBikes.org. Bike parking at Illinois Terminal Building.
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips
Good to see some positives coming from the town of my Alma Mater, given that this is also the location of the Jennifer Stark debacle (cyclist killed by Stark while she was driving and downloading a ringtone to her phone, Stark was given a $1000 fine for "Improper Lane Usage").
ReplyDeleteFunny coincidence -- I happened across your bike commuting tips this morning, for the first time. After some wandering through the story of Muki (beautiful creature that he was), and noticing a one-time SFSU URL for some of your stuff (I'm an SFSU prof), I looked here... and found this article about Champaign, where I spent 10 years biking for play and to work.
ReplyDeleteThanks for helping people (me) stay bike-minded and current on bikey news!
That's good to see. I used to commute across Urbana and Champaign; it was by far the worst place for cycling that I've ever lived at.
ReplyDeleteI think you already know about Sue in Urbana-Champaign
I'm hoping that this article that creates the aura of progressiveness might lead to actual progress. As in, perhaps they'll think about having a "bicycle plan" or a bicycle & pedestrian advisory commission and getting their planners to put words into action (ask Rick about getting his kiddos across Mattis to school...)
ReplyDeleteWe've still got the RR and Prospect Ave. to deal with... but Urbana-CHampaign has "good bone structure" for cycling. Workin' on the infrastructure :)
Fritz... we've surely lived in different places! C-U has issues but it's not at all the worst. Try the D.C. suburbs ... or even the Piedmont of Virginia, with those skinny, curvy, hilly roads and 10 blue pickup trucks per mile...