LIB Newsletter, Winter 2015

Congratulations to Urbana on becoming a “Gold” level Bicycle Friendly Community and to Normal on being designated a “Bronze” level Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC)!

Urbana made a huge jump. We wrote about their initial Bronze-level BFC designation in our Winter 2011 issue. Urbana is our first “Gold” level community. When Urbana was awarded a “Bronze” level designation in late 2010, it was only the fourth community in our state to receive the designation and the first outside of the Chicagoland metropolitan area.

A big push behind that jump was Urbana city councilman Charlie Smyth, LIB executive director Ed Barsotti said. Smyth said it made sense to apply for the gold level. “I have been in several gold and two platinum level cities. When we got bronze, I think we were not that far from silver, as we had several years of work done already,” he said. As an example, Smyth said the city council adopted a Complete Streets policy soon after it was awarded the Bronze level BFC designation.

The town of Normal’s push to be a BFC was headed, in part, by town planner Mercy Davison. One of the phrases we hear often about the BFC process is that it requires a team effort and Davison is quick to note that “The application cannot be completed by one person. It requires input from many people. It is not a difficult process, but it takes some amount of time.”

Smyth echoes the sentiment that becoming a Bicycle Friendly Community really necessitates involvement from the entire city. “This is really a testament to bicycling becoming mainstream in our community. This is a community effort,” Smyth said. “The award reflects the hard work of city of Urbana staff across multiple departments, political support from the mayor and council, agency support from CU Regional Planning Commission, the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (CUMTD), the University of Illinois, City of Champaign, and Public Health. It is a testament to the various partnerships, advocacy, bike shop sponsorships, and activities of groups like Champaign County Bikes, Champaign-Urbana Safe Routes to School Project, the Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign and so on with government agencies that lead to activities like C-U Bike Month, bike rodeos, big grants that build infrastructure, and the Champaign-Urbana-Savoy Bike guide and map.”

One of Normal’s most significant achievements benefiting bicyclists in the past year or so has been the planning and start of the Southern Normal Corridor, which will provide the first east-west bicycle route across the community with a combination of a “Bike Boulevard,” sharrows, and the community’s first on-street bike lanes.

It is also important to note that a community has to encourage and support cycling in more than just one way. Communities have to try to hit all five of the “E’s”: Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement and Evaluation. For Urbana’s quest to become a Gold level community, “the enforcement piece was one of those gifts from staff, as our police department really embraced the idea and we were getting a lot of public blow back about scofflaw bicyclists,” Smyth said.

Normal has the 13-mile Constitution Trail. However, a town needs more than a great bike trail to make it a Bicycling Friendly Community. The town of Normal has also been busy making significant progress on its Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan and the previously mentioned start of implementation of the Southern Normal Corridor. The community also has several bicycling organizations, including the McLean County Wheelers, Friends of the Constitution Trail and relative newcomer Bike BloNo, which was formed in 2012.

Urbana, even though it has already reached the “Gold” level, is already thinking about what else can be done to encourage cycling, such as adding wayfinding signage, Smyth said.

Like Urbana, and most of the BFC communities, Normal realizes that it cannot just rest easy on its laurels. The town of Normal plans on continuing to add on-street bicycle facilities, like bike lanes, and continue working on educational efforts to have bicyclists and motorists share the road.

“The town of Normal has been working hard to become a bicycle friendly community for many years. From expanding the Constitution Trail and creating the community’s first Bike Boulevard to hosting a bike light giveaway and the first-ever Illinois Bike Summit, the town’s commitment to bicycles has been steadily growing. The Bicycle Friendly Community award is a much appreciated recognition of this effort,” Davison said.  “As a BFC, the town joins a highly regarded group of cities across the country with a demonstrated commitment to bicycle planning and support of alternative transportation overall. We believe this recognition will better position the town as an attractive place to live and work.”

Illinois now has a total of nine Bicycle Friendly Communities. Chicago and Evanston are both “Silver” level BFC’s and Batavia, Champaign, Evanston, Naperville, Normal and Schaumburg have all been awarded “Bronze” BFC designation by the League of American Bicyclists.

For more information on LAB’s Bicycle Friendly Community program, including information on how to become a BFC, visit the League of American Bicyclists website. LIB regularly collaborates with both Normal and Urbana, and we were a consultant on Urbana’s bicycle plan. LIB is available to advise towns that seek to gain this status. For more information, contact us.