The Grand Illinois Trail and Parks (GITAP) bike tour is currently taking registrations.  Fewer than 30 spots remained as of Jan. 24, 2010!  The GIT is a 475-mile trail through northern Illinois that links Chicago and Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River. The ride will be June 13-18, 2010, and will follow the GIT’s northern leg, promising great cycling, scenery, state parks, and the opportunity to make new cycling friends.

The Grand Illinois Trail is a central element of the Regional Greenways and Trails Plan.

CMAP has begun updating and creating new maps and analysis for pedestrian and bicycle crashes throughout the region with new 2008 crash data. We now have five years of data for pedestrian crashes and four years for bicycle crashes mapped and analyzed.

We will be posting the new crash maps as they are created, on our Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety website. We have started with pedestrian and bicycle crash density (for all crashes) and 'hotspot' analysis maps for Types K (fatal) and A (incapacitating injury) crashes.

(High-speed) Rails-with-Trails

Here is an interesting post: How ’bout some trails with those high-speed rails? Jonathan Maus – editor in chief of BikePortland.org – writes about a multi-modal approach to the proposed high-speed rail corridors.

The national advocacy group Alliance for Biking and Walking (formerly the Thunderhead Alliance) unveiled a major report last week entitled, “Bicycling and Walking in the United States: A Benchmarking Report.” The report ranks states and major cities in terms safety, mode share, funding, and levels of biking and walking. It is the second such report in the Alliance’s Benchmarking Project, an on-going effort to collect and analyze data on bicycling and walking in all 50 states and the 51 largest U.S. cities. The report shows that where bicycling and walking levels are higher, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes levels are lower. Higher levels of bicycling and walking also coincide with increased bicycle and pedestrian safety and higher levels of physical activity. The report concludes that in order to increase bicycling and walking, the U.S. must invest more in these modes.

The monthly business meeting of the Calumet-Sag Trail Coalition, comprised of the towns and agencies charged with completing the Calumet-Sag Trail will take place Tuesday, February 16 from 12pm-1pm at the Blue Island City Hall, East Annex, 2434 Vermont St., Blue Island, Illinois. Guests welcome! For more information, contact Mike Leonard, mike@palosheights.org or 708/361-1807.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making $2 million available in 2010 to reduce pollution at the local level through the Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program. CARE is a competitive grant program that offers an innovative way for a community to organize and take action to reduce pollution in its local environment. The EPA will conduct three webcasts to answer questions from prospective applicants about the application process on February 23 and 26 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. More information about the grants is at http://www.epa.gov/care/ or contact Dennis O'Connor (oconnor.dennis@epa.gov or 202-343-9213).

The Association for Bicycle and Pedestrian Professionals (APBP) will be offering a webinar entitled “Cycle Tracks: Concept and Design Practices.” The webinar will take place Wednesday, February 17, 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. CST. See the APBP website or contact Debra Goeks (info@apbp.org) for more information.

The webinar will cover general design principles and practices, drawing from European experience. Examples from Cambridge, Mass., Montreal, New York City, and Portland, Ore., will be cited throughout.

Specifically, this webinar will cover:

• Definition of a cycle track
• Examples of means of separation from traffic and from pedestrians
• Space needs for one-way and two-way cycle tracks
• Intersection treatments
• Discussion of "false sense of security" studies
• What AASHTO says about cycle tracks, and other sources of design guidance
• North American cities' experience with design, operations and safety

APBP has applied for one CM credit from the AICP for this webinar. A certificate of attendance for those wanting to claim Professional Development Hours will be available.

Hurry! There is still a chance to enroll in the League of Illinois Bicyclists’ (LIB) bike planning seminars. These 2.5-hour seminars, entitled "Introduction to Bicycle Planning," are being held in various locations throughout the state. The seminar is designed for planners, engineers and local officials, and will provide continuing education credits to planners and certificates for professional development hours to engineers. All seminars begin at 9:30 a.m. The remaining seminar dates and locations are as follows:

• February 16   Des Plaines   Oakton Community College, Conference Room A/B, 1600 E. Golf Rd.

• February 19   East Hazel Crest   South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association; 1904 W. 174th St.

• February 25   Wheaton   DuPage County Administration Building, auditorium, 421 N. County Farm Rd.

For more information, please contact Gina Kenny at gina@bikelib.org or (708) 334-2244.  Or download a description of the course [PDF].

CMAP has released the preferred Regional Scenario, which establishes policy directions for GO TO 2040, the comprehensive regional plan that will be available in draft form this spring, with implementation of the final plan to begin in October 2010.

The Regional Scenario is intended to guide growth and investment choices through mid-century and beyond in the counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will. Read the press release here.

On issues of non-motorized transportation, the Preferred Regional Scenario states clearly that “… bicycle and pedestrian travel is important, and a multimodal 'Complete Streets' approach to transportation planning will be supported by the plan.”

Welcome to Soles and Spokes, the CMAP bicycle and pedestrian planning blog! Here, we will be posting the latest news, planning resources, and opportunities for funding and training related to travel by foot and bicycle. Soles and Spokes will have a regional focus, but will keep you up to date on state, national, and international developments and news, too. The blog will cover all topics related to non-motorized Transportation, including design and operations, education and encouragement programs, safety, policy guidance, funding programs, and the relation of biking and walking to personal health and to healthy communities.