Lisle residents can offer bike path suggestions at meeting
With bicyclists ready to roll this spring, the Lisle Community Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force wants to make sure everyone can ride safely.
Co-founder Rob Bollendorf, who averages 100 miles a week on his bike in the summer, says he enjoys commuting to work and riding to visit his grandkids.
As a psychologist and professor emeritus at the College of DuPage, Bollendorf always has been a proponent of a healthy lifestyle that benefits mental and physical health.
He recently talked to the Daily Herald regarding a public brainstorming workshop from 7 to 8:30 p.m. today at the Lisle Police Department Community Room, 5040 Lincoln Ave., to gather ideas for bike routes in Lisle.
Q. Are bike paths generating more interest given today's gas prices?
A. About eight years ago, I remember saying a reason for building bike paths and encouraging bike safety was that gas prices would soon be $2 a gallon. So you see it is not a new issue.
Q. What does the task force hope to achieve?
A. We are interested in increasing bike safety for anybody traveling through Lisle. We include pedestrians, rollerbladers and anyone not in a car who could use a multiple service path to get around town.
First, we will do the things that are easy to do: for example, putting up signage and perhaps connecting the Green Trails system to Four Lakes, which would require approximately a 50-foot path.
Q. Are you hoping to increase the number of bike paths?
A. Bike paths are not always the safest way for people to get from Point A to Point B on a bike. What we are hoping to do is a combination of things -- some bike lanes on the street and some bike paths off the street. In neighborhoods, there may be just signs designating streets as a bike route.
Q. Do you know if people are interested in having bike paths?
A. One of our committee members, Dan Garvy, who is director of parks and recreation for Lisle Park District, did a study on what people most desired to have recreationally in Lisle and the No. 1 answer was bike paths.
Q. What advantages are there to having a bike path?
A. You mentioned one already with rising gas prices. I also am interested in the environment and know that half of the trips we take by car are less than three miles. Biking or walking the shorter trips would help people financially, physically and help our environment.
Q. What is a safety concern your group is addressing?
A. The Morton Arboretum has increased its use of bikes on its grounds, but there is no safe way to get by bike to the arboretum from Lisle, the "arboretum village." We are exploring a safe way to get there.
Q. Where will people leave their bikes safely when going into a store or taking the train?
A. One of the things we want people to consider is where people would like more bike parking. The new downtown design includes more bike racks. This public meeting is to have people help us develop a plan that includes getting to school, too. We hope to apply for grant money to help pay for some of the parts.
Q. What do you hope will result from the meeting?
A. We will do a little education. Then we will give everyone a map to mark where improvements are necessary. We then will come up with the two or three things people would first like us to do.
Q. What is the East Branch DuPage River Greenway Trail?
A. One possibility DuPage County is working on is developing some routes through Lisle, and it's exploring one along the DuPage River.
There is also a route called the Benedictine Path that would connect the university. There is one developed down Hobson and 75th Street.
Lisle is one of the last to have routes through the community, and part of our job is really to tie into those existing ones.
Q. Are there paths east and west of Lisle to hook into?
A. Naperville and Woodridge both have quite a few bike routes. Downers Grove is in the process of developing its routes.
Q. Ideally, how many bike routes should a community have in place?
A. We are trying to have routes every mile or so. People then can realistically get from one place to another safely. Every street is a potential route. To get the typical bicyclist out of their car and on to a bike, we have to make some improvements to do that.
If you go
What: Lisle Bicycle/Pedestrian Plan Public Workshop
When: 7 to 8:30 p.m. today
Where: Lisle Police Department Community Room, 5040 Lincoln Ave.
Info: Josh Potter at jpotter@villageoflisle.org or Tony Budzikowski at tbudzikowski@ villageoflisle.org