Two more Illinois cities – Bloomington and Kankakee – have approved Ride Illinois-developed action plans to become more bike-friendly. The two cities’ councils adopted comprehensive bicycle plans on May 11 and April 6, respectively.

Ride Illinois has served as paid consultant on 17 Illinois towns’ bike plans, while providing a lower level of technical and strategic assistance to dozens of others.

With adopted plans in place, Bloomington and Kankakee can build up their bike network, implement favorable policies, and initiate education campaigns.  Local advocates will be needed to push for implementation and applaud progress.

The products and process of our municipal bike planning include:

1. At the onset, build consensus among city staff and officials on technical and political “guiding principles” used for the plan.
2. Gather resident input on good “routes to study” for potential inclusion in a network of on- and off-road bikeways.
3. Carefully examine these and other routes, making very specific recommendations on which routes and bikeway types are best.  Hundreds of distinct segments are studied.
4. Recommend road design policies and ordinances, to ensure new developments improve bicycling, too.
5. Identify education and enforcement programs, often resources available from LIB.
6. Suggest strategies to ensure implementation.

The spark to do a local bike plan may come from staff, elected officials, or advocates – the latter playing a huge role in Bloomington.  Like other firms specializing in bike planning, LIB can then provide the expertise to develop the plan.

Learn more about local bike planning at the Illinois Bike Summit on October 28, or at bike planning section of our website.