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From safety to silence: More people of all ages are engaging with biking

Biking news in the Chicago area ranges from hopeful planners to enthusiastic youth and the solemnity of a memorial ride. Here’s just a sample.

Safe travel for all

Residents in six Northeastern Illinois counties can do more than just complain about the regional traffic safety crisis of roadway deaths escalating since 2014. Surveys and “safety hot spots” maps are now available for pedestrians, bikers and motorists to identify dangerous roads, streets and intersections they use and places they avoid when traveling.

These feedback tools are the first of several community engagement efforts in a regional initiative called Safe Travel for All, which is aimed at eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries in Northeastern Illinois.

According to Victoria Barrett, transportation planner for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), “The current survey, focusing on existing conditions, will be open until at least the end of October. The intention is to issue a few surveys throughout the project to help us prioritize issues and solutions.”

CMAP was awarded the nearly $4 million Safe Streets for All grant to develop a first-of-its-kind traffic safety framework for Northeastern Illinois, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Transportation and six counties — Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will.

Each county is tasked with creating a safety action plan specific to their communities, guided by a coordinating regional framework, to enhance safety for all road users, particularly those walking, biking, and taking transit.

Funding originated in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (aka Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill) that Congress passed in November 2021. It established the Safe Streets and Roads for All program, with $5 billion over 5 years, 2022-2026, for regional, local, and tribal initiatives focused on preventing roadway deaths and serious injuries.

Twins Sydney and Lauren Costa check in at Elk Grove Township Sept. 28 to challenge their biking skills on the new Bicycle Safety Course. Courtesy of Ralph Banasiak

Bicycle safety course

Despite drizzly, overcast weather Sept. 28, several families checked out the new Challenge and Bicycle Safety courses located behind Elk Grove Township’s offices at 600 Landmeier Road.

This venue, formerly at 2400 S. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights, will serve to continue the Bicycle Safety Course training initiated almost 50 years ago, according to Elk Grove Township Administrator Paul Pioch.

Renée Dorn, Youth Services program director, said that property swaps enabled the township to consolidate its offices and reconstruct the Challenge and Bicycle Safety courses behind the Landmeier building. Closed for three years during office relocation, the courses officially opened with a ribbon-cutting Sept. 14.

Among the families braving the weather were Bill and Helen Hlavin of Elk Grove Village, who watched their almost 5-year-old granddaughter, Kira, navigate the paved double oval. Observing that both their son and daughter enjoyed riding the original bike town, they delighted in seeing Kira maintain the tradition.

With mother Jen Costa observing, 10-year-old twins Sydney and Lauren of Elk Grove Village sped around the bicycle course. Both have attended the township’s youth programs. It’s been a “judgment-free zone” for them, in their mother’s view, learning socialization skills, affirming self-esteem and interacting with students from other schools.

Elk Grove Township will offer the Bicycle Safety Course sessions to residents on a regular basis as of spring 2025. For details, check the township’s website, social media sites or contact Youth Services Program coordinator Jenn Hahn at jhahn@elkgrovetownship.com or (224) 265-6118.

Hahn is already prepping for this instruction by completing the League of American Bicyclists bike safety training course in early October and earning League Certified Instructor status.

Cyclists bookend Kristof Terryn, Chief Executive Officer of Zurich North America, before rolling 23 miles at the Sept. 11 Ride/Walk Remembrance event in Schaumburg. Courtesy of Zurich North America

Fourth 9/11 Memorial Ride

Weather for Zurich North America’s Sept. 11 Ride/Walk Remembrance event in Schaumburg was eerily reminiscent of the sunny, sapphire sky 23 years ago when terrorists weaponized jets, collapsing New York City’s World Trade Center and snuffing thousands of lives.

Among those killed were Zurich employees John Keohane, Peggy Alario, Kathy Moran and Lud Picarro. Since 2002, the company has honored their memories through the KAMP Leadership Award, bestowed annually on Zurich North America team members who demonstrate the leadership qualities, spirit and dedication of the four. “KAMP” is derived from their four surname initials.

Preceding this year’s bike ride and walk, over 40 people gathered around the circular Reflection Area in the KAMP Remembrance Garden in a solemn tribute including prayers, silent and spoken. Employees arranged white roses on a pedestal sculpture engraved with the four names before a lone bagpiper punctuated the post-prayer silence with “Amazing Grace.”

The remembrance ceremony was expanded in 2021 by including a bike ride in silence, referencing the company’s Tour de Zurich annual global fundraising event. Given the tragedy’s 20th anniversary, riders cycled 20 miles, 10 laps around a two-mile circuit, a distance that increments each year.

Besides the 23-mile ride, this year’s event added a 2.3 mile walk around Zurich’s Schaumburg campus for those not biking.

Safe Travel For All

Safe Travel For All public surveys are available for feedback from Northeastern Illinois residents:

Cook County: engage.cmap.illinois.gov/cook

DuPage County: engage.cmap.illinois.gov/dupage

Kane County: engage.cmap.illinois.gov/kane

Lake County: engagecmap.illinois.gov/lake

McHenry County: engage.cmap.illinois.gov/mchenry

Will County: engage.cmap.illinois.gov/will

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