Public weigh in on bicycle trails in Logan County

[October 30, 2014]  LINCOLN - The Healthy Communities Partnership (HCP) held an informative public meeting at the Lincoln Park District Tuesday night. The public was invited to be brought up to speed on the progress being made towards the creation of Bicycle Trails in Logan County, as well as what can be done to help the process.

Angela Stoltzenburg, executive director for HCP, said that the purpose in creating a plan for bicycle trails is to develop a way for the county to be more livable and provide a source of economic growth.

Stoltzenburg also said that this is an important step in improving the health of Logan County. Stoltzenburg said that 66% of adults and 25% of low-income children are obese in Logan County. “What can we do about that?” asked Stoltzenburg, who said that the local environment has a lot to do with the health of the citizens.

Stoltzenburg said that bicycles and other forms of non-motorized transportation has been a focus for creating plans for bike trails. “That’s something we don’t have right now,” said Stoltzenburg, referencing active non-motorized transportation.

Stoltzenburg also said that there is a national designation for Bicycle-Friendly areas and businesses. Such a designation is being sought by the HCP, who have been working on finding support from businesses and towns within the county. “We have identified 125 people locally who are in support of the trails,” said Stoltzenburg. Stoltzenburg encouraged anyone who is not already on their list of supporters to sign up and offer any support they can.
 

Since this time last year, the Logan County Regional Planning Commission and the HCP worked on developing a plan for possible trails and bike paths. Farnsworth Group, an engineering firm, was hired to design such a plan. Said plan was approved by the Regional Planning Commission, as well as the cities of Lincoln and Atlanta, and the County Board of Health. In addition, the League of Illinois Bicyclists has examined the plan and voiced their approval as well.

Stoltzenburg said that such a plan is very important to have. Otherwise, the HCP cannot apply for grants, as a plan helps to show that such groups are serious about what they are looking to build. This plan is available for viewing on the Logan County website under Zoning documents.

Currently, the group handling the development of this plan is composed of four sub-groups: Outreach, In-town, Rural Areas, and Long-term Planning. Each group was represented by a spokesperson at the meeting. Stoltzenburg referred to the progress of these groups metaphorically as a series of spinning plates. “You’ve got to keep all the plates spinning,” said Stoltzenburg. “You can’t put all of your eggs in one basket,” she said.

Emily Hauter spoke on the progress of the Outreach group. Hauter said she has been working with Northwest School in Lincoln. Groups of students were taken out by teachers to walk on potential trails located in town. Hauter said they were originally expected to do this through September, but the students were very eager to exceed that deadline.

“I want to have a bike rodeo in the spring,” said Hauter. Hauter also said she wants to put together workshops on bike safety and maintenance for children, as well as begin working with the junior high in the future.

Jan Dickerson spoke on the progress of the In-town Routes group. Dickerson reiterated the importance of the bicycle plan’s approval by local government groups. Dickerson said that they have been working on identifying sidewalks and areas in town that would be appropriate for paths. Dickerson said the group has passed suggestions on to engineers to continue designing the paths.

Dickerson said that some of the people working on this project have spoken to officials in Bloomington and Normal on their own progress on bicycle trail development. Dickerson said that originally the public officials of those cities were pushing for bicycle trails, but the citizens were not so eager at first. “We have the opposite thing here. I think a lot of the citizens here are for it, said Dickerson.

David Lanterman spoke on the Long-term Planning group. Lanterman said the long-term project that has been in consideration is a ten-mile trail that would stretch from Adams School to the Union Substation. “Of that route, about eight miles is still owned by the railroad,” said Lanterman. Lanterman added that the area owned by the rail company is for sale, but they are not so open with how much money they want for it. “It’s not going to be cheap,” said Lanterman.

Lanterman said the area has a lot of potential for off-road transportation. Lanterman said that runners and people who want to walk the trails and see natural wildlife would enjoy the trail. Lanterman also said he would like to see that trail connect with the new Creekside Center opened by Lincoln College.

“People will come here to ride that trail,” said Lanterman. “We want to bring people in here, and not just to enjoy that trip,” said Lanterman, who added that people could come here for the trails and find other things to do in the area.

“I’m really proud of this. It’s a real long-term project,” said Lanterman.

Keenan Leesman spoke on the progress of the Rural Routes group. Leesman said they have been working to find people who are already knowledgeable of good rural routes in the county. Leesman also said the Rural Routes group has been working in finding ways to make these areas safe for bicyclists who would use them.

Leesman said they have also been working on identifying Bicycle-Friendly businesses in the area that would be open to having cyclists potentially stop in their area. Leesman also said he has an idea to provide information stations along the rural routes with QR codes that can be scanned by Smartphones. These codes could provide information on the area, or a map of the overall bicycle route.

Stoltzenburg said that the next step for this project is community collaboration. Stoltzenburg said that they have been working on communicating with city and county officials.

Bret Aukamp, County Highway Engineer and member of the Regional Planning Commission, said that the Commission has been working on gathering funding. Aukamp said that the Commission worked on procuring funds for the Bicycle Trail Plan in order to provide something that would be “the most visible to the most citizens.”

Aukamp said that the Commission has received two rounds of funding from IDOT for these efforts. The first grant was used to develop the overall plan, which has allowed the Commission to open up communication with the state transportation organizations. The second grant, which was applied for this year, will be used to look specifically at trails within Lincoln and Atlanta. Aukamp said these trails would be useful not only for tourists, but for people living in the cities that want to ride their bikes for everyday use.

“We want to try and develop this as best we can with the money that we have, so that we can continue to grow and show decision makers who have the money and the grants that this community is worth investing in,” said Aukamp.

Stoltzenburg spoke again, saying that McLean and Sangamon counties have also been working on bicycle trails. Stoltzenburg said that the hope would be to connect Logan County to those trails, rather than force bicycle riders to stop at Logan and drive around. Jeff Martin, an engineer with Farnsworth Group (who is working on designing the plan), commented on this, saying that Farnsworth has been working with a lot of cities in central Illinois lately on bicycle trail planning.

After the presenters were finished speaking, guests at the meeting were able to look at maps of Lincoln and Atlanta that had ideas for trails outlined on them. Guests were encouraged to put pins and mark on the maps with their own ideas.

[Derek Hurley]