Author: Steven Vance

Introducing the Grid Chicago Network

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The Grid Chicago Network is a collection of sites with a similar focus on active and sustainable transportation. Their latest posts are listed on the Network page, organized by time and date. We’ll occasionally feature these posts.

We launched it on October 26, 2011, softly, to make sure it worked okay. It does. We included a lot of the sites already listed on our links page. Once an hour, the application seeks out new posts from all of the site’s feeds and presents them in a list on the Network page. The full list of included sites is listed at the bottom of the Network page.

Recent posts in the Network were:

To get your site, or someone else’s site in the Network, fill out the form below. Contact Steven if you would like your site removed from the Network. Continue reading Introducing the Grid Chicago Network

People will pay more to live near a bike trail

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The Illinois Prairie Path as it passes through Elmhurst, Illinois. Photo by Clark Maxwell. 

New research from two University of Cincinnati professors suggest that people are willing to pay more for a house near a multi-use trail. But research on this topic is hardly conclusive. There are studies that suggest the same, and others that suggest the opposite. Research is based on stated preferences (what people say they want; perception) or revealed preferences (using data that shows people’s choices; voting with your dollar). Continue reading People will pay more to live near a bike trail

Community plans for life in Chicago and the region

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Chicago and Chicagoland communities have officially adopted plans to provide more transportation opportunities, reduce obesity, and increase access to open space; they list how bicycling is or can be a strategy to achieve a healthy city, a bike-friendly city, and a green city. Here’s a sampling of those agendas:

I’d like there to be a Chicago-wide comprehensive plan that addresses goals and strategies outside the scope of these plans but still includes these efforts. A plan that concentrates on transit, congestion, on crime and safety, housing, education and the economy. Its purpose would be the same as the other plans, to outline targets and intentions and measures of achievement, but also to ensure that no plan and the people implementing the plan were working at cross-purposes. For example, if there’s a plan to increase the number of people who bike and the number of people who take transit, are the implementers of each plan working together to ensure a citizen’s smooth transition from one mode to the other in a single trip? Another example: If a goal is to increase the number of people who take transit, are implementers making buses run more on time by reducing single occupancy vehicle congestion and giving buses priorities at signals, two strategies that would speed up bus movement and make it easier to create a schedule they could stick to?

A plan like this that comes to mind is PlaNYC. From the article on Wikipedia about PlaNYC:

PlaNYC is an effort released by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007 to prepare the city for one million more residents, strengthen the economy, combat climate change, and enhance the quality of life for all New Yorkers. The Plan brought together over 25 City agencies to work toward the vision of a greener, greater New York. PlaNYC specifically targets ten areas of interest: Housing and Neighborhoods; Parks and Public Spaces; Brownfields; Waterways; Water Supply; Transportation; Energy; Air Quality; Solid Waste; Climate Change.

Updated 21:36 to add more plans, thanks to the commenters. 

Grid Shots: Cycling in the suburbs

To go along with my post about biking and walking in Riverdale, Illinois, this week’s Grid Shots is about cycling in the suburbs. Add your photos to our group on Flickr.

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Practicing bicycling on the Illinois Prairie Path in Elmhurst, Illinois. Photo by Clark Maxwell. Continue reading Grid Shots: Cycling in the suburbs

New Open Streets on State Street video

A different perspective than the one I created from the front of Brandon’s Bullitt, but more interesting and diverse. Check out the video captured by videographer Nick Kazinsky, hired by Active Transportation Alliance to showcase the event.

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It may just convince your friends to help you advocate for another one next year, and perhaps expanding it to other neighborhoods. Read our coverage on Open Streets.

A walking tour of south suburban Riverdale opens my eyes

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The Cook County Forest Preserve District recently installed a multi-use trail in the Kickapoo Meadows forest preserve. This is at 144th and Halsted in Riverdale, Illinois. 

This summer and fall I’ve been working with Active Transportation Alliance to develop bike parking plans for suburban schools and municipalities. This has given me a special opportunity to survey the conditions for walking and biking at numerous locations with a variety of environments unique to their geographies. This is the first article in a series that describes those visits. These plans are paid for by grants from Cook County and the Department of Health and Human Services called Communities Putting Prevention to Work. I’m calling this my “CPPW Series.”

I’m starting with the latest municipality I visited, Riverdale, Illinois. Riverdale is south of Chicago and shares a boundary with the Chicago neighborhoods of Altgeld Gardens, and West Pullman, separated by the Calumet River. You can drive to Riverdale on Halsted Street, or take the Metra Electric-University Park line to its two stations, Ivanhoe and Riverdale. Continue reading A walking tour of south suburban Riverdale opens my eyes