For many people who love to bike, winter is the perfect season to dream up new ways to get more riders in the saddle. If you enjoy planning events that encourage others to discover the joy of biking, May’s Bike Month is the ideal time to bring your ideas to life. Throughout Bike Month, passionate grassroots organizations and local municipalities […]

Update 12/22/25, 3:00 PM Recently, Active Transportation Alliance and our allies met with the Mayor’s Office and Chicago Department of Transportation regarding changes in local bond funding for safe streets projects in Chicago. During this meeting, the administration acknowledged that bond funding levels beyond 2027 are reduced in the 2025-2029 Capital Improvement Plan, but that this reflects a change in […]

Active Transportation Alliance had plenty to celebrate at our recent member party. In addition to turning 40 this year, we experienced a monumental win for the state’s transit system. Indeed, one month ago our coalition passed a comprehensive transit funding and reform package. We fixed it and we funded it – to the tune of over $1.5 billion annually! Not […]

The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) has made major progress transforming Chicago’s streets into safer, more accessible places for people of all ages and abilities. The city’s infrastructure bond has been essential to this work — funding repairs to roads and bridges, constructing new sidewalks, and expanding the network of bike lanes that connect our neighborhoods.  Across the city, these […]

After finishing a three-decade career at the Daily Herald, I decided to combine my work and play by creating the website Suburban Chicago Bicycling. My job at the newspaper — which covers the northwest and west suburbs of Chicago — involved editing and presenting the top news of the day, but once or twice a year, I was asked to […]

It was a huge win when the Illinois General Assembly recently passed the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) Act—a landmark law delivering $1.5 billion in annual investments to strengthen, modernize, and expand our state’s public transit system. This victory didn’t happen by accident—it happened because of the coordinated effort of advocates like you working together with a coalition that we […]

Today marks a huge step forward for our communities and the future of transit in Illinois. Early this morning, the Illinois General Assembly approved the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) Act—a landmark measure providing a $1.5 billion annual investment to strengthen, modernize, and expand public transit across the region. The Active Transportation Alliance is thrilled to celebrate this moment with […]

As the Illinois legislature kicked off its fall veto session this week, dozens of advocates joined together in Springfield, speaking with lawmakers, waving signs, and lifting up voices that too often go unheard. Their message: Lawmakers must act now—securing the needed $1.7 billion—to keep buses and trains reliable and affordable for millions, including working families, seniors, and people with disabilities. […]

As the push to save our public transit system continues in the state Capitol, the push for clean energy will be playing out on Chicago’s lakefront on September 21. That’s when Third Act Illinois and 350 Chicago are hosting a Solar Fest at Montrose Beach to celebrate the strides that clean energy has made in its fight against the fossil […]

The Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition and Labor Alliance for Public Transportation issued an urgent joint appeal today to members of the Illinois General Assembly: please take action in the upcoming October veto session to deliver critical funding and reforms for the state’s public transit system. The letter, reprinted below, was sent in response to the failure of lawmakers to address […]