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ChampaignCountyBikes

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Champaign County, Illinois

Contents

Cool Link of the Week

  • ChampaignCountyBikes.org Making Champaign County, IL the Most Bicyclist Friendly County in the Midwest.
  • www.bikelib.org Sometimes those calls and letters work! Funding sent back from bike & trail funds much more proportional.
  • Bicycle Blunders From section 4.4 in the table of contents above. Whether you are a city planner or a cyclist be sure you read this article.

Suggested Bike Routes

Champaign

  • John St. between Randolph St. and Goldenview Dr. (2 blocks W of S. Duncan Rd.)
    • Good: This is a wide two-lane road that even with parking on both sides provides good room for bicyclists.
    • Bad: Getting across Prospect Ave. can be difficult at the 2-way stop
    • Improvements: Traffice signal and bicycle-activated switch at John St. and Prospect Ave.

Savoy

Urbana

Here is my low-stress route - short version - from East Urbana to Parkland. (from Sue J)

It's been mapped out (Thanks, Fritz!) http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=163806

Oregon W. Right Busey Rd. (South) 

                    Right     Pennsylvania 
                    Straight  cross Lincoln Ave. (four-way stop)
                    Right      Fourth Street
                    Left         Gregory Ave
                    Left         Oak St.
                    Right        Stadium
                    Straight     cross Neil St. (road changes to “Hessel”)

(right away) Right Randolph (one way North) 

                    Left           John
                    Straight     cross Prospect  (busy)
                    Straight     cross Mattis (traffic light)
                    Right         Country Fair
                    Straight     cross Springfield (busy)
                    Left 	   Bradley (traffic light; sidewalk on right)
                    Right	   Into Parkland!!!

Anybody who comprehends what governs the formatting can edit this without bothering myself... 



  Coler St. if you have to get North.  Goes through town and out past fairgrounds to Bradley,
which takes you to Lincoln, which though it's hardly enjoyable can get you across the interstate.

(This doesn't get you good access to shopping... but if you're trying to get to points North of C-U, it works.)

Funding

From Brandon Bowersox 2005/12/09: "There are 2 new provisions in SAFETEA, the Transportation Bill, and the new energy bill: Safe Routes to School (SR2S) and Conserve By Bike. See http://www.bikeleague.org/. Locally the county planners and our state and Congressional representatives will need to play a part in securing this funding. There is definitely funding available to support these efforts."

Resources

Organizations

People

League of Illinois Bicyclists

  • Sue Jones <suej@resourceroom.net> of the Prairie Cycle Club (PCC) is our District representative on the League of Illinois Bicyclists (LIB
  • Ed Barsotti <ed@bikelib.org>, LIB Executive Director

Champaign County

    • Susan Chavarria
Transportation Planner,Champaign Urbana Urbanized Area Transportation Study (CUUATS)
Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC)
1776 East Washington Street
Urbana, IL 61802
E-mail: chavarria@ccrpc.org
Phone: (217) 328-3313
Fax: (217) 328-2426

Champaign Urbana Urbanized Area Transportation Study (CUUATS)Policy Committee Members

  • Gerald Schweighart, Mayor, Champaign, Chairperson
    • H: 217/359-9294 | O: 217/403-8720 | E:jerryschweighart@ci.champaign.il.us
  • Robert McCleary, Village President, Savoy, Vice-Chairperson
    • Phone: 217-352-6686; Email: rmccleary@soltec.net
  • Vicki Stewart, Board Chair, C-U Mass Transit District
  • Laurel Prussing, Mayor, Urbana
    • 217-384-2456; e-mail: llprussing@city.urbana.il.us
  • Jack Dempsey, Exec Director Facilities and Services, University of Illinois
    • jgdempse@uiuc.edu
  • Barb Wysocki, Chair, Champaign County Board
  • Dennis Markwell, Program Engineer, IDOT District 5

CUUATS Technical Committee Members

  • Jeff Blue, Engineer, County Highway Department, Chairperson
  • William Volk, Managing Director, C-U Mass Transit District, Vice-Chairperson
  • John Cooper, Engineer, County Highway Department
  • Frank Rentschler, Public Works Director, Savoy
  • Richard Helton, Village Manager, Savoy
  • April Getchius, Campus Planner, University of Illinois
  • Gary Biehl, Campus Engineer, University of Illinois
  • Steve Wegman, Public Works Engineer, Champaign
  • Dennis Schmidt, Public Works Director, Champaign
  • William Gray, Public Works Director, Urbana
  • Elizabeth Tyler, Community Development Director, Urbana
  • John Dimit, CEO, Regional Planning Commission
  • Jodi Rooney, IDOT District 5
  • Darla Latham, IDOT District 5
  • Elizabeth Tracy, IDOT

Urbana

    • Bill Gray

Champaign

Steve Wegman, City Engineer
702 Edgebrook Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
217/403-4710

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Facilities and Services

John "Jack" G. Dempsey, Director of Planning, Construction & Maintenance Assoc. Vice Chancellor for Administration & Human Resources JGDempse@uiuc.edu Tel: (217) 333-2500

Campus Services

Pam Voitik Director, Campus Services Physical Plant Services Building 1501 South Oak Street MC-800 (217) 333-7790 (217) 333-4294 FAX pvoitik@uiuc.edu

  • April Getchius <getchius@fs.uiuc.edu>
  • Gary Biehl <gabiehl@uiuc.edu>
  • Kevin Duff <kevind@uiuc.edu>
  • Mark Inglert <inglert@uiuc.edu>

Rantoul

Tolono

Savoy

Fisher

Mahomet

Bicycle rules and regulations

Illinois State

  • Bicycle Rules of the Road [pdf]
  • Bicycle Safety Tips [pdf]
  • Bicycle Skills Course Instruction Manual [pdf]

Other State Bicycling Laws

http://www.massbike.org/bikelaw/statelaws.htm

Champaign Country

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Operation of Bicycles
  • University Bicycle Code
    • I (GC) cannot find a current version of the UIUC Bicycle Code on any UIUC website. A cached version can be found here.
      • The version cached by Google is dated May 1, 1989 and includes: "Bicycles shall be operated only on a vehicular traveled way or in an area where automobiles are permitted or on a bicycle path; except that if a bicycle path is parallel to and adjacent to another vehicular traveled way, then a bicycle shall be operated only on the bicycle path."

Other States and Countries

Maps of Bicycle Facilities in Other Cities

Bicycle Facilities: Guides and Information

For marked bicycle Lanes and segregation of bicycle traffic

For bicyclists rights and vehicular bicycling/bicycle driving (geneerally against separate bicycle lanes)

"When two-way bicycle paths are located immediately adjacent to a roadway, operational problems may occur. Some problems with bike paths located immediately adjacent to roadways are as follows:

  1. Unless paired, they require on direction of bicycle traffic to ride against automobile traffic, contrary to normal rules of the road.
  2. When the bicycle path ends, bicyclists going against traffic will tend to continue to travel on the wrong side of the street. Likewise, bicyclists approaching a bicycle path often travel on the wrong side of the street in getting to the path. Wrong way travel by bicyclists is a major cause of bicycle/automobile accidents and should be discouraged at every opportunity.
  3. At intersections, motorists entering or crossing the highway often will not notice bicyclists coming from their right, as they are not expecting contra-flow vehicles. Even bicyclists coming from the left often go unnoticed, especially when sight distances are poor.
  4. When constructed in narrow roadway right-of-way, the shoulder is often sacrificed, thereby decreasing safety for motorists and bicyclists using the roadway.
  5. Many bicyclists will use the highway instead of the bicycle path because they have found the highway to be safer, more convenient, or better maintained. Bicyclists using the highway are often subjected to harassment by motorists who feel that in all cases bicyclists should be on the path instead.
  6. Bicyclists using the bicycle path generally are required to stop or yield at all cross streets and driveways, while bicyclists using the highway usually have priority over cross traffic, because they have the same right-of-way as motorists.
  7. Stopped cross street motor vehicle traffic or vehicles exiting side streets or driveways may block the path crossing.
  8. Because of the closeness of motor vehicle traffic to opposing bicycle traffic, barriers are often necessary to keep motor vehicles out of bicycle paths and bicyclists out of traffic lanes. These barriers can be a hazard to bicyclists and motorists, can complicate maintenance of the facility, and can cause other problems as well.

"For the above reasons, bicycle lanes, wide curb lanes, or bicycle routes (shared use) may be the best way to accommodate bicycle traffic along highway corridors depending upon traffic conditions."

Hybrid Bike Lanes

Creative Bike Facilities

Ideas

UIUC Campus

  • Ideas for improving bicycling (mostly) and pedestrian facilities on the UIUC campus
  1. A complete re-do of the campus bike path system, including replacing all sidepaths with "complete street" lanes of 14 to 15 feet, including removal of on-street parking where necessary.
  2. Widening and renovating the surface of all non side-path bicycle paths (such as as the ones that cross the main quad),
  3. Construction of bicycle shelters at all residences where students could keep their bicycles secure out of the weather.
  4. Improving bicycle parking facilities at all campus buildings.
  5. Campaigns for education and encouragement of cycling on campus, including encouragement of faculty and staff to use free remote parking that also includes facilities for overnight bicycle storage and increased bus shuttle service.
  6. Installation and staffing of bicycle maintenance stations across campus where bicyclists could get tunes-ups, lubrication, and flat repair service for a low fee.
  7. Convert exisitng sidepath bike paths to soft trails (e.g., crushed limestone, wood chips, packed dirt, pea gravel, etc.) for running and jogging. Although the crossing hazards would still exist, at least a runner or jogger has a much better ability to stop or make a quick turn to avoid a vehicle or pedestrian.
  8. Establish a deal with a maker of folding bicycles to provide discounts to UIUC faculty, staff and students (we could call this "folding rights", analogous to the "pouring rights" of the junk beverage producers). The Dahon Speed 7 was rated as a "best buy" by the August 2006 issue of Consumer Reports and retails for $329. Folding bicycles have many advantages for campus use, including:
    1. Folding bicycles be stored in residence rooms and campus offices reducing need for parking facilities and improving security (a Brompton folds into a package smaller than 2 x 2 x 1 feet, the size of a medium suitcase).
    2. Folding bicycles can be put in a car trunk, allowing a automobile commuter to park in a remote lot and have transportation to his or her workplace, as well as providing on-campus transportation during breaks, lunchtime and after work and a bicycle always available back home for local errands and recreation.
    3. Folding bicycles can be taken on buses or taken in someone else's car when bicycling is not possible or desired.

Champaign

Urbana

Savoy

Wikipedia Articles About Bicycling

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