Riding your bike through town, you feel invisible to drivers. You’re worried about children crossing the street with distracted drivers in super-sized SUVs. Yet your suburb has done little to improve safety for people walking and biking. While cities like Chicago and Evanston are building miles of protected bike lanes, getting even a single bike lane in your town seems […]

Here’s something that might surprise you: Rolling through a stop sign on a bike — when done with care — can actually make streets safer for everyone. While we’ve all been taught to treat stop signs as sacred, no matter our mode of transportation, new research is turning that old wisdom on its head. Enter the “Safety Stop,” a smart, […]

Momentum is building for the Englewood Nature Trail — a 1.8‑mile elevated greenway that will transform a former railroad corridor into a vibrant community space. Stretching east–west from Wallace Street to Hoyne Avenue between 58th and 59th Streets, the trail crosses 26 viaducts and will connect homes, gardens, and gathering spaces across Englewood. As part of a community‑driven design process, […]

We know what works in making our streets safer, and one of the best tools in the toolbox is setting safer speed limits.   Indeed, lowering the default speed limit is among the most effective, evidence-based strategies to reduce traffic fatalities.   Illinois should be a leader in this area, but we have fallen woefully behind, with a jaw-dropping 1,200 traffic fatalities […]

When Active Transportation Alliance develops our state legislative agenda, we focus on what will help us achieve our mission, what’s realistic in the current political moment, what are the best practices we should follow, what our partners are prioritizing, and what our team can feasibly take on. But one factor rises to the top: What you’re passionate about. In policy […]

Autonomous taxis are in the headlines and they are likely to stay there for a while as one of the leading companies in the industry seeks to expand its service to Illinois. Waymo has already started preliminary mapping of the Chicago streets, a key first step before deployment of their services. Additionally, the Illinois General Assembly has taken up alternative […]

Illinois lays claim to one of the great episodes in American cycling history, and historian Christopher Sweet brings that era vividly to life — an era when Chicago proudly billed itself as the “bicycle center of the United States.” In his new book, A History of Bicycling in Illinois: 160 Years of Booms and Busts, Sweet uncovers the state’s central […]

Want to ignite a passion for cycling in your community this May? Active Transportation Alliance is thrilled to announce our Bike Month mini-stipend program for 2026, offering a perfect opportunity to bring the joy of biking to your local streets. Last year, grassroots groups and towns across Chicagoland transformed their communities with vibrant Bike Month celebrations. From community rides to […]

While speaking to the City Club of Chicago in January, CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen probably surprised a few people in the audience when she mentioned her experience participating in a recent Second City comedy show called “Save Chicago Transit.” The comedy show included a series of skits looking at the local transit system’s looming fiscal cliff, followed by a […]

When Illinois passed the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) Act last fall, many credited former State Representative Elaine Nekritz as one of the main reasons the legislation made it across the finish line. Her political acumen, strategic thinking, and years of experience navigating the Capitol were indispensable. Without her, some say, the bill might have taken a far weaker form […]