Bicycle Planning in McLean County

29 T H I D O T FA L L P L A N N I N G C O N F E RE N C E BLO O M I N GT O N , I L

OCTOBER 9, 2014

TODAY

A little planning history Partnerships Major projects Current plans What’s next

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PLANNING HISTORY A slow start 1994 LRTP had no bicycle-pedestrian component

Constitution Trail already open for five years Late 1990s bicycle/pedestrian plan for Bloomington-Normal

Included city, town and county Adopted in 1997

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“The vision is an interconnected system of bicycle-pedestrian routes that offer transportation alternatives and serve to reduce traffic congestion, prevent damage to the environment, promote physical

health, and encourage social interaction.”

PLANNING HISTORY Four types of users

Group A – experienced & advanced riders comfortable on busy streets, biking for short commutes and distance recreational riding

Group B – basic bicyclists, primarily recreational casual riders, more likely to use trails

Group C – children, pre-teens making short recreational trips

Pedestrians – everyone, facilities accessible to all Three classes of facility – multi-use trails, bike

lanes, low volume roadways

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PLANNING HISTORY

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PLANNING HISTORY

Further planning Long Range plans in 1999, 2007 and 2012 Greenways plans in 1999 and 2009 Regional and municipal comprehensive plans, 2005,

2006, 2009 We’ve come a long way…

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PLANNING PARTNERS Our planning and implementation partners

Friends of Constitution Trail Advocating for the Trail

McLean County Wheelers Cycling club, ride sponsors & leaders

Bike BloNo Advocacy and organizing

IDOT Needs no introduction

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PLANNING PARTNERS Local events Collaboration among organizations

Connect Transit (Light the Night) WGLT Good to Go League of Illinois Bicyclists

Social media Friends, Wheelers & BikeBloNo Bike advocacy Community awareness Fun

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MAJOR PROJECTS

Historic Route 66 BikewayConstitution Trail

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HISTORIC ROUTE 66 BIKEWAY

Countywide Route 66 consortium to develop/maintain the Historic Route 66 Bikeway

1999 intergovernmental agreement McLean County, Bloomington, Normal, Chenoa, Lexington, Towanda,

McLean Cost sharing proportional to population

First ITEP grant awarded in 2000, $255,000 for Phase I engineering

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ROUTE 66 HISTORIC BIKEWAY

Five phased segments I - Southwest Bloomington to Funk’s

Grove (connecting to Constitution Trail)

II – Funk’s Grove to McLean (Route 66 museum at Dixie Truckers Home)

III – Normal to Towanda (connecting from Constitution Trail)

IV – Towanda to Lexington V – Lexington to Chenoa

Each segment incorporates local projects and attractions

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ROUTE 66 HISTORIC BIKEWAY

ITEP and match funding issues Phases dependent on ITEP/TAP grant awards Smaller communities challenged by cost, access to local

projects Engineering issues

Proximity to Interstate Proximity to high speed rail

Working with of IDOT, IDNR, consulting team IDOT worked with engineering team IDNR managing state and regional committees

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ROUTE 66 HISTORIC BIKEWAY

Current status

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ROUTE 66 HISTORIC BIKEWAY

Work yet to do Awaiting ITEP/TAP funding

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ROUTE 66 HISTORIC BIKEWAY Current project status/schedule

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Segment Length Status

Logan County Line to McLean 3.2 Phase I not completed

McLean to Funk's Grove 4.5 Phase I Engineering Completed

Funk's Grove to Shirley 3.1 Phase I Engineering Completed

Shirley to 1.1 miles south 1.1 Applied for ITEP Funding in August 2013 for design and construction

Shirley to Bloomington 3.7 Previously Constructed

Route 66 Tr. to Constitution Trail 1.0 Connection to Route 66 Trail (City of Bloomington)

Constitution Trail 8.0 Previously Constructed (Bloomington & Normal)

Constitution Trail to Route 66 Tr. 1.0 Connection to Route 66 Trail (Town of Normal)

Normal to Towanda 4.5 Received ITEP Funds for design and construction, Design in progress, 2015 Construction

Towanda to 2100 North 2.8 Received ITEP Funds for design and construction, 2015 Construction

2100 North to Lexington 3.9 Applied for ITEP Funding in August 2013 for Phase I Engineering

Lexington 2.3 Previously Constructed

Lexington to Chenoa 5.8 Phase I not completed

Chenoa 1.1 Previously Constructed

Chenoa to Livingston County Line 1.2 Phase I not completedTotals 47.2  

ROUTE 66 HISTORIC BIKEWAY Links to tourism, economic development

Route 66 visitors’ center under construction at McLean County Museum of History Illinois Office of Tourism B-N Convention & Visitors Bureau Anticipated 20,000 visitors annually

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CONSTITUTION TRAIL Opened in 1989

Joint effort of Bloomington and Normal

Used abandoned rail corridors

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CONSTITUTION TRAIL

Trail counts Special events New signage User survey – who’s on the

Trail?

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CONSTITUTION TRAIL 25th anniversary celebration for a much-

loved community resource

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Mayor Koos

Normal

Mayor RennerBloomington

NORMAL

Plan process Mayor appointed ad hoc committee Committee recommended master bicycle/ped plan Alta selected as project consultant Plan adopted in 2009

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NORMAL Plan process

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NORMAL Implementation

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NORMAL Implementation

First focus - projects in capital plan Plan adopted at the dawn of the economic downturn Still working on the capital plan projects

Initial opposition to shared routes Implemented sharrows in some locations Other infrastructure changes

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NORMALVernon Avenue Bridge

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NORMALBryan Street

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NORMALJersey Avenue

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BLOOMINGTON

Plan process Partnered with

League of Illinois Bicyclists McLean County Regional Planning Commission

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BLOOMINGTON

Plan process MCRPC user survey

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BLOOMINGTON Plan process

League of Illinois Bicyclists used digital information collection through MindMixer website

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BLOOMINGTON Implementation

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BLOOMINGTONFront Street, Downtown Bloomington

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BLOOMINGTONJersey Avenue

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WHAT’S NEXT

Moving Forward Plan implementation Advancing integration with transit Long Range trail system expansion planning Bicycle/highway project integration

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WHAT’S NEXT

Keeping What Works Local cooperation in plan

implementation Bike community

partnerships Bike Summits Still more planning

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WHAT’S NEXTMoving Forward Advancing integration with transit First mile, last mile focus Serving the multimodal user

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WHAT’S NEXTMoving Forward LRTP trail planning Leveraging the

landscape to expand the regional network

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WHAT’S NEXTMoving Forward Bicycle/highway project proposed East Side

Highway Extremely long-range

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WHAT’S NEXT

And whatever may come beyond next...

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YOUR

PANEL

Gene Brown – gbrown@normal.orgTown Engineer, Normal

Mercy Davison – mdavison@normal.orgTown Planner, Normal

Andrew Johnson – ajohnson@connect-transit.comConnect Transit General Manager

Jim Karch – jkarch@cityblm.orgPublic Works Director, Bloomington

Kevin Kothe – kkothe@cityblm.orgCity Engineer, Bloomington

Rick Nolan - rnolan@mcplan.orgCommunity Planner, MCRPC

Jennifer Sicks – jsicks@mcplan.orgTransportation Planner, MCRPC 39

YOUR TOUR

LEADERS

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Michael Gorman

Julian Westerhout

QUESTIONS?

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