3 Foot Minimum bike and ped passing signs are going up in the City of Champaign (16 locations), two have been installed on Homer Lake Road near Homer Lake Park, as well as two more in Urbana Township on High Cross and Brownfield Road.
Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) put up 2 CCB provided 3 Foot Passing signs on State Highway 49 southbound near Old Homer Lake Road and Northbound by the Homer Fire Station. This road serves as an important connection to Homer for those traveling around Homer Lake Park.
Wednesday January 19, 7:30pm (by registering, you will receive the link and get reminders)
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Kb9HGjehTQygiFdUUOrA8g
We will begin with a short presentation (with Q&A) from Dr. Lindsay M. Braun, Assistant Professor, Dept of Urban and Regional Planning followed brief reports on CCB’s 2021 activities, an update from Dave Simmons from Ride Illinois, and board elections.
Prof. Braun’s presentation:
Title: Cycling, Safety, and Health – Equity Considerations for Planners and Advocates
Summary: Cycling is associated with health benefits related to physical activity, but also with health risks such as pollution exposure and injury. Previous research suggests that the benefits outweigh the risks, but this work has generally failed to consider differences in cycling environments across space. Since marginalized populations in the U.S. tend to be exposed to conditions that make them vulnerable to the risks of cycling (e.g., poor bike lane access, close proximity to major roadways), these differences are critical for social equity. In this presentation, I summarize the results of research asking two main questions: (1) How are pollution exposure and injury risks distributed across space and across sociodemographic groups? (2) How does this distribution of risk affect the health tradeoffs of cycling? The findings reveal opportunities for planners and advocates to enhance cycling safety in the interest of improved health equity.
Board Elections: CCB bylaws provide for 7 to 9 member board that serve 2 year terms with 8 current members. Four members’ terms are up, Charlie Smyth, Audrey Ishii, Leo Covis, and Peter Davis. Rose Kaczmarowski as well as Charlie, Audrey, Leo and Peter will run for election/reelection. Board members and those voting for board members do need to have made a contribution to CCB sometime during the past year (ChampaignCountyBikes.org). If you are interested in being a board member for Champaign County Bikes, please contact info <at> ChampaignCountyBikes.org before this weekend so that we can share that with the membership in this weekend’s email with bio info for the above mentioned folks.
CCB urges the Urbana City Council to adopt Vision Zero as a city goal for 2021-2025.
For 2021 through September, there have been 507 traffic crashes in Urbana with 111 injuries and 2 deaths. Average annual pedestrian deaths on a per capita basis have increased substantially in Urbana. Nationally, there are 6.7 million vehicle crashes yearly with about 40,000 deaths and over 2.7 million injuries (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Individual driver behavior and poorly designed roadways with speed limits set according to maximum federal guidelines both play a role. We do not need to accept vehicle injury and death as a cost of doing business. We don’t accept gun violence; we shouldn’t accept vehicle violence.
As the only Gold-level Bike Friendly city in Illinois (an effort and goal of past councils), Urbana can continue to lead by making the roadways safe and equitable for all. Vision Zero is a framework for creating a street system that takes a Safe Systems approach but it is more than just engineering.
Read the full text of our request to the council.
CCB congratulates the Village of Savoy on adopting 25mph as its default speed limit. For residential neighborhoods, this is the most cost effective way of increasing safety, and makes for a more livable community by making the streets more comfortable for biking and walking. Savoy is clearly committed to promoting safety as they have already put up eight IDOT 3-foot passing signs. The full text of our support letter to the Savoy Village Board (read more…)
A preliminary report for Bike Month 2021, held over September is available as a pdf by clicking here.
Thanks to generous donations, over 20 of the Illinois Department of Transportation 3 Foot Passing signs have been placed in locations around Champaign County including Savoy, Mahomet, Champaign County Forest Preserves, and Tolono Township. An additional purchase of 40 signs recently arrived for use in Champaign, Urbana, and surrounding Villages and Townships.
CCB, consulting with Ride Illinois, has raised funds for standard IDOT 3 Foot Passing Signs designated R4-I102. These correspond to the language in State statute 625 ILCS 5/11-703 concerning the overtaking by motorists of a bicycle or individual proceeding in the same direction. Our purpose is to avoid another tragedy (three bicyclists killed since 2018 in Champaign County) by educating motorists and encouraging active transportation (which increased during the pandemic).
Donors, interested bicyclists, community members, and agency staff have suggested locations for signs. From these, CCB identified a number of potential locations where we think signs could be placed in Champaign and Urbana; immediately outside these cities; on a county road; and on a state road. Verification of suggested locations is based on heat map data of bicycle travel (from two different aggregators – RideWithGPS and Strava) and consideration of placement where vehicles will see the signs at or before they come upon frequently used bike routes, in conjunction with road changes, infrastructure transition, higher speeds, and city limits. According to IDOT, installation should be based on engineering judgment and should not be installed indiscriminately so as to maintain sign effectiveness.
Working with Champaign County, IDOT, and Urbana Township, we have already delivered some of the additional signs to IDOT for Hwy 49 near Homer Lake north of Homer, to Champaign County for Homer Lake Road, and to Urbana Township for several locations just outside of Urbana city limits. CCB’s donors provide the signs in return for the governmental unit providing the pole and labor to get them placed in appropriate locations. We have submitted suggested locations to both the City of Champaign and City of Urbana and have signs reserved for them!
Two more 3 Foot passing signs have been added along the popular Church Street, Savoy route over I-57. Our thanks to the Tolono Township for installing these and to CCB Board Member Peter Davis for his work lobbying and presenting signs to our local road officials. See the gallery of signs.
After several years of discussion and false starts, Champaign County Bikes has moved to an updated website. This is a work in progress and features will be added as we learn new techniques in Word Press. Suggestions welcome!
3-Foot Passing Signs are beginning to appear on roads commonly used by bicyclists around Champaign County. These include in 3 area Champaign County Forest Preserve Parks (Lake of the Woods, Middle Fork, and Homer Lake), South First Street, and on State Highways 47 and 150 around Mahomet. The gallery of signs is growing!
