The City of Chicago has scheduled a series of meetings and webinars to review and discuss a draft network for future bikeway facilities, remaining challenges, and next steps.

The purpose of the Streets for Cycling Plan 2020 is to identify locations for up to 250 miles of traditional and innovative bicycle facilities that will encourage all Chicagoans to use their bikes to get around their neighborhoods.  You can read more about the plan's benchmarks and goals online.  The Streets for Cycling 2020 plan received $32M from CMAP’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program.

Event details are as follows:

Public Meetings

Copernicus Center

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

5216 W. Lawrence Ave.

4:00 to 8:00 p.m., presentation with Q&A at 4:30 & 6:30p.m.

Gary Comer Youth Center- Exhibition Hall, 3rd floor

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

7200 S. Ingleside Ave.

4:00 to 8:00 p.m., presentation with Q&A at 4:30 & 6:30p.m.

Douglas Park Cultural and Community Center- Ballroom

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

1401 S. Sacramento Dr.

4:00 to 8:00 p.m., presentation with Q&A at 4:30 & 6:30p.m.

Open House

77 S. Dearborn– Building Lobby

Saturday, June 9th, 2012

10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Webinars

Webinar #1

June 11, 2012

Noon to 1:00 p.m.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at: http://goo.gl/lEV2k

Webinar #2

June 13, 2012

6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at: http://goo.gl/CQSS9

The Mineta Transportation Institute has released a report that evaluates literature related to the risks associated with cycling, and explores case studies regarding bicycle safety.

The report gives an overview of the risks associated with cycling to emphasize the need for safety.  The report uses the framework of the 5 Es—engineering, education, enforcement, encouragement, and evaluation—to organize a literature review, with particular attention to engineering and education.

The report includes case studies on bicycle safety programs and projects from San Jose (education), Berkeley (engineering and evaluation), Davis (engineering, education, and enforcement), and Portland (the education and encouragement efforts of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance).

The City of Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has released a before and after report with data demonstrating that implementation of a road diet (on Nickerson Street, completed in August 2010) resulted in improved safety for all users. According SDOT, the project, completed in August 2010, reduced collisions by 23 percent, helped prevent speeding, and did not result in traffic diversion to other streets.

The Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota has released a report that explores approaches to distinguish bicycles from pedestrians for traffic counting applications.

The primary goal of the study is to develop a practical vision-based bicycle counting system that is capable of automatically processing video stream data of traffic scenes involving bicycle and pedestrian activity and estimating their traffic counts.

The authors argue that, once deployed, vision-based counting systems can potentially be the least expensive and easiest method to do counting. This is due to the fact that cameras themselves are relatively inexpensive and easy to use.  In addition, the authors believe that in many places communities will be able to leverage the already existent security cameras, which can further reduce expenses.  Algorithms that perform image analysis and object classification are presented and discussed