The League of American Bicyclists (LAB) recently released its annual Bicycle Friendly State rankings. Illinois is currently listed 14th, still high – but down from being listed 11th in the 2014 rankings.

“Illinois’ drop from 11th to 14th reflects that other states are becoming more bike-friendly, more quickly.  We applaud IDOT for progress on Complete Streets and for adopting its state bike transportation plan in 2014.  But, it is not enough to just adopt a plan – its policies and programs must be implemented.  IDOT needs to hire the qualified staff to do so,” LIB executive director Ed Barsotti said.  “Also hurting us is the continued neglect of the state trail system and the sweeping of funds to fix it.”

LAB incorporated LIB advocacy points into its feedback for the State:

• Hire and strategically place a full-time, qualified bicycle/pedestrian coordinator to implement the state bike transportation plan and to provide input on road projects. To keep their focus, assign other tasks not directly related to these priorities (e.g., Recreational Trails Program administration) to other staff.

• Illinois DOT’s 20% local cost share for bike/ped elements of state road designs has sometimes led to non-accommodation, project delays and re-designs. Requiring a local contribution for these elements is not usually done in higher-ranking “Bicycle-Friendly States.” Also, local non-payment is not an exception in Illinois’ Complete Streets law. Bike/Ped components should have the same cost share as the rest of the road.

• Routinely and more promptly incorporate updates of national standards and Federal Highway Administration–accepted guidance manuals into IDOT’s Bureau of Design and Environment (BDE, for state roads) and Bureau of Local Roads (approval of local roads) design manuals. The bike plan, including Appendix N, details many specific points. Also, consistency is needed between the “bike chapters” (BDE Chapter 17, recently revised BLR Chapter 42) and other chapters.

• Adjust the IDOT BDE manual’s bikeway selection table to more closely  meet the newer 2012 AASHTO bike guide’s recommendations – and to better ensure implementation in some cases. For times when the table’s recommended bikeway cannot be implemented, add solid guidance on secondary, fallback options to the design manuals.

• Take advantage of resurfacing projects where there is excess lane width to reconfigure lane striping for bike lanes (in towns) or paved shoulders (outside of towns). In addition, consider expanding a resurfacing project’s scope, budget, and paved width, where there is significant need for bicycle or pedestrian accommodation.

The feedback and other information on our state’s ranking is listed in the Illinois state report card here.

A meeting is scheduled in June with Barsotti and new IDOT Secretary Randy Blankenhorn, with those points being some of the topics discussed.

Last month, LAB announced the latest round of Bicycle Friendly Businesses. There are now a total of 18 Illinois businesses designated as Bicycle Friendly Businesses, employing more than 3,300 people. We are home to nine Bicycle Friendly Communities: Urbana has earned a “Gold designation. Chicago and Evanston both have earned “Silver” designations. Batavia, Champaign, Elmhurst, Naperville, Normal and Schaumburg have each earned “Bronze” designations. Additionally, the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, University of Illinois at Chicago and Illinois Wesleyan University have earned Bicycle Friendly University designations.

The Bicycle Friendly America program provides incentives, hands-on assistance, and award recognition for communities, universities and businesses that actively support bicycling, and ranks states annually based on their level of bike-friendliness. More information on the Bicycle Friendly America program is available on the League of American Bicyclists website.