Congratulations to the winners of the Initiative Award, the Project Award and Innovation Award! LIB board vice president Dick Westfall announced the winners at the third annual Illinois Bike Summit, on April 15 in Champaign.

The Morrison Friends of the Park received the 2014 Initiative Award. The Initiative Award is given to a community that “is taking their first steps,” Westfall said at the summit. “Sometimes the first step is the most important step. It is also the hardest and we want to recognize those communities for taking that first step,” Westfall said.

Morrison has pursued their vision (community bike plan and bike trail project), through ups and downs, for years and is finally seeing progress, with their plan completed and the trail connection to Morrison-Rockwood State Park funded and underway. They are exactly what this award is for — a small community taking a risk and deserving recognition to feel they have made the right decision.

The city of Chicago received the LIB 2014 Project Award. “It was hard to find a single group — so much is going on throughout the state,” Westfall said, during the awards announcement at the summit. Chicago has obviously done a lot over a number of years. The city received the award for two things they have done, with the first being to create the Divvy bike share program. “Our first big bike share program throughout the state and we hope that it can spread to other communities,” Westfall said. Their on-street protected bike lanes is a big step, generating some opposition. But, they hung tough and deserve the recognition. “Today there are more than 50 miles of these in the city of Chicago, which is pretty substantial, with another 25 to 40 miles planned for 2014. These two projects are quite an accomplishment,” Westfall said.

The Madison County Transit District (MCTD) received the LIB 2014 Innovation Award. What MCTD has done during the last 20 years or so is unique — not just in Illinois but nationally. They have acquired abandoned railroad right-of-ways for future light rail use, but developed bike trails for current transportation use. They are a model for all transit districts. “Thanks to the mass transit district, they have over 100 miles of trails, more being developed. This is a mass transit district, so that is a pretty big leap for that type of agency,” Westfall said.

The video of the presentation of the awards is available here.