Big thumbs up for Tinley Park’s active transportation plan

Submitted by lphemister on Fri, 06/08/2012 - 3:35pm

Big thumbs up for Tinley Park’s active transportation plan

Tinley Park’s Village Board passed its active transportation plan this week with flying colors.

The village board’s unanimous approval of the plan seems to reflect widespread interest in the community about bike facilities. One village official said this plan had more interest than almost any other plan up for village board approval in recent years.

The plan, drawn up by the Active Transportation Alliance, includes recommendations for a bicycle and pedestrian network, street crossings, as well as policies and programs for residents. It zeros in on specific recommendations for bike lanes, bike paths, shared streets, sidewalks and increased ridership of Pace and Metra by 2015 and 2020.

The village has a handful of the new bike facilities currently in the works on 167th Street, Oak Park Avenue and the 80th Avenue bridge. There are also plans for installing biking signs linking areas of Tinley Park to the Mokena’s LaPorte Road trail system.

Tinley Park’s active transportation plan was kicked into gear thanks to funding from the Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grant. Congratulations Tinley Park!

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Events on LFT

Submitted by Liz (not verified) on Fri, 06/22/2012 - 4:02pm.

It's not just weekends--could you post weekday events too? Thursday evening, for example, the path from museum campus to 35th was engulfed by some disco-themed stroll. No signs up beforehand, nothing on this blog, nada. If I'd known it was going on I would have left work early to avoid it. Can the park district require events to post notice on the affected path several days in advance, to warn regular commuters? Some do, but....not all.

Janet -- We list the trail

Submitted by lcrandell on Mon, 06/11/2012 - 2:15pm.

Janet -- We list the trail activites on our blog each week. You can check the right-hand column here, or if you're on Twitter, follow @activetransLFT. We recognize the events are an issue and have talked to the Park District about it. Listing trail activities each week has been the best way we've been able to help trail users so far. Stay tuned as our Friends of the Lakefront Trail initiative takes shape this summer though. We've heard from a lot of other trail users who also have concerns about how we can all share the trail, and we think there are some big opportunities coming to improve the trail as the city starts planning to reconstruct North Lake Shore Drive.

Thanks for the response and

Submitted by janet knipper (not verified) on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 8:10am.

Thanks for the response and info. I obviously missed the link about the trail activities. Thanks again and let's hope the city comes through with improvements.

lakefront trail

Submitted by janet knipper (not verified) on Mon, 06/11/2012 - 7:57am.

I would like to see the charity walks/runs along the lakefront bike path eliminated. Almost every weekend they block the path in the early am when I would like to use it. I know it is supposed to be a shared path but the walkers in these events are in big groups and block lanes. I am all for charity but there must be an alternative to them using the bike lanes. Is there a website that lists all the days/events when the path is used for these purposes? Nothing is more irritating than driving downtown, parking, and finding the path obstructed by another walk/run. Also, the path is in desperate need of painting and signage especially along the downtown area. There is nothing along the path to tell tourists they are walking along a bike path (especially at the crosswalks from LSD. Many foreign tourists who come from countries that are much more bike friendly would then easily understand and walk along the sidewalk at water's edge. Chicago really needs to either separate walking from wheels or put up some proper signs and warnings. On the other hand, there are groups of road cyclists who are equally dangerous trying to do tour de France speeds in improper busy areas.

Perhaps you should find

Submitted by FG (not verified) on Tue, 06/26/2012 - 8:44am.

Perhaps you should find another place to cycle. The path is not a bicycle only path and in many places is the ONLY place to walk along the lakefront between Lake Shore Drive and the lake.

Secondly, the only alternative to the races using the Lakefront Path would be streets, which requires more city staff and inconveniences far more than just rec bikers.

re: lakefront trail

Submitted by Matt Simpson (not verified) on Sat, 06/16/2012 - 5:23pm.

The Active Transportation Alliance does post a calendar of charity walks/runs taking place on upcoming weekends. Unfortunately, the only time to get in a decent ride on the weekend is between the hours of 4am and 7am. It is very discouraging that the only legitimate place to ride in the city is monopolized by events and inconsiderate walkers. Especially considering there is only 1 place to ride in Chicago and unlimited places to walk/run.