BY JENNIFER BAILEY
DANVILLE — Danville Area Transportation Study transportation planner Angie Stenson bicycles often in the city.
And that personal experience is assisting in the formation of a bicycle plan DATS is putting together for the Danville urbanized area.
The city hall employee rides her bike to work as often as she can, depending on other errands and of course, the weather. Stenson lives about a mile and a half from work.
“It’s pretty convenient. It takes about the same time (as driving) — maybe two or three minutes more depending on traffic signals,” Stenson said.
“I definitely enjoy biking. It’s relaxing,” she said, adding that she also avoids busier roads.
DATS currently is gathering public input through surveys to see how many other people ride bicycles in the city and surrounding metropolitan area, including Catlin, Westville, Tilton, Georgetown and Belgium.
Questions include: why do or don’t you ride a bicycle? How often? How many miles a week? Do you commute to school or work by bike and why or why not? Where do you ride your bike (such as roads or sidewalks, and what streets)? What discourages you from riding (such as busy streets, elevation barriers, or lack of bicycle parking facilities)? And what factors would increase your use of a bicycle (such as safer road conditions and more bicycle paths or wider shoulders)?
The survey also asks: list three designations you would like to see connected via a bicycle network; list the three corridors that are currently the best roads/worst roads to ride a bicycle in the Danville Metropolitan Area; and what type of bicycle infrastructure would you prefer (such as major streets with wide lanes or shoulders, bike lanes, bike routes on side streets or separate bike paths).
The survey is to expand local officials’ understanding of the current bicycle conditions, identify strengths and weaknesses and indicate future community desires regarding bicycle infrastructure.
“Before you can get federal or state grants, you need a plan or study,” added Bicycle Advisory Committee member Ken Konsis.
Rails to trails
Konsis is not new to looking at bike paths.
Since 1995, he’s been part of a committee looking at an Urbana to Kickapoo State Park trail and has been exploring rails to trails, converting exempt railroad tracks to bike trails. He said the Urbana group has made some hedge way with CSX officials in Florida and Chicago.
“We’re better off. During the next three months, we may see something happen,” Konsis said.
But he added CSX and the committee can’t agree on a price for the right-of-way.
“(CSX) wants three times the amount,” Konsis said.
“Something is going to have to happen fairly shortly,” he added, saying that new appraisals are coming.
Konsis also is hopeful of bicycle path plans in Danville and surrounding areas, such as the Lincoln Park Bike Path.
Stenson said the DATS bicycle plan will wrap up about a year from now.
It will identify bike routes, facilities and community program goals, such as bike rack implementation, during a planning horizon of about 10 years, she said.
“We’re really looking at connecting people with places, and really promoting bicycling through education, encouragement and enforcement,” Stenson said.
Goals and objections will be determined from community input for a systems plan for bicycles infrastructure.
Stenson also has researched other cities’ bicycle plans, in addition to having local average daily traffic, heavy vehicle percentage and speed limit information.
The Illinois Department of Transportation also has a bike suitability map that classifies major roads suitable for riding a bike on.
Assisting in the plan is a 12-member bicycle advisory committee — made up of area citizens including from Danville, Georgetown and Catlin and with different bicycling experiences, in addition to city employees — which met for the first time this week.
Stenson said the public survey work should wrap up by the end of August. She’s received 17 so far and has noticed a large desire for a bicycle path connection to Kickapoo State Park.
Also, most have said they bicycle for fitness or recreation and many bike trips are under two miles.
“We just expect that bike activity will only increase in the city,” Stenson said of safer bicycle facility improvements.
She said municipalities will be able to use this plan for future planning.
Stenson added that the bicycle plan hasn’t been done before.
“(DATS doesn’t) have the authority to change infrastructure. (The plan) will help agencies and municipalities
pursue that direction,” she said about path improvements and identifying regional connections.
FYI
Area residents who want to participate in a Danville Area Transportation Study bike plan survey can pick one up through their neighborhood association, at Cycles Plus or visit the city’s Web site at http://www.cityofdanville.org/dats.
The next Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting will be at 6 p.m. July 27 at the YMCA.
There also will be a communitywide forum from 6-8 p.m. Oct. 20 at the Bremer Conference Center Theater at Danville Area Community College for additional input.
