Civiltech’s Transportation Planning team hit the road this fall bringing their expertise in Complete Streets, network-wide bicycle route planning, spatial and statistical data analytics, ADA compliance, freight planning, streetscape design, and bicycle and pedestrian facility design to a variety of events and audiences.
St. Charles Scarecrow Fest
The team joined members of St. Charles’s City Hall Staff and members of the Bike and Pedestrian Plan Steering Committee on October 7 for a bike ride through the City to research planning opportunities. Civiltech is currently working with the City to create and implement an updated overall bike and pedestrian improvement plan. The objective is to identify and propose solutions for areas in need of bike and pedestrian improvements. 
After the ride, the participants hosted a table at the St. Charles Scarecrow Fest to further promote the planning efforts and gather public feedback. The Bike and Pedestrian Plan table featured a fox scare crow (for the Fox River and the St. Charles logo) riding a bike. The table also provided the team an opportunity to discuss the planning effort with the public.
Ride Illinois
On October 12 and 13, Civiltech’s Jacque Henrikson, Derek Peebles, and Lissa Sweeney attended the Illinois Bike Summit hosted by Ride Illinois and held at the I Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign-Urbana. Presented by Ride Illinois, the theme of this year’s summit was Pedaling Forward Together. Sessions focused on increasing safety and accessibility for bike riders. 
The team hosted a Civiltech booth and attended sessions related to the planning, design, and policy considerations on regional bike infrastructure. Also, Derek was a presenter in a session called, “Lessons from Abroad: What We Can Learn from Europe and the Americas.”
Sessions focused on safety and efforts to reduce injuries and fatalities through both education and improved infrastructure. Equity was a featured topic – examining how to provide bicycles, training, and safe infrastructure to transit-dependent populations. Other significant topics included opportunities created by e-bikes, rails to trails conversion activities, and the economic case for promoting biking.
This biennial event is a significant Illinois-focused bicycle-related conference. Professionals and advocates from communities throughout the state were in attendance to learn, network, and collaborate.
Transport Chicago 
Civiltech’s Mike Folkening, Jacque Henrikson, Cary Chan, Lissa Sweeney, and Edith Portales attended Transport Chicago on October 20. The annual event provides a forum for the exchange of knowledge in transportation research, policy, and practice. Panel discussions included EV implementation, traffic study and calming topics, and approaches taken in other markets to plan for future rail expansion.
Jacque joined CMAP in a presentation on Civiltech freight studies projects, Moving Will County and Moving South Cook County truck routing studies. The Team has been providing services to CMAP on the two studies in support of an ON TO 2050 (CMAP’s Comprehensive Plan for the region) goal of maintaining the region’s status as North American’s freight hub while balancing community concerns with the economic benefits of freight. The presentation included the processes for developing a proposed network of recommended Class II truck routes while incorporating community engagement and livability strategies.
Read more about Civiltech’s freight studies here:
https://civiltechinc.com/moving-freight-a-comparison-of-two-truck-routing-studies/