City of St. Charles and Trailnet seek input on bicycle pedestrian plan

Since fall of 2015, the City of St. Charles has worked with Trailnet, a local nonprofit dedicated to improving walking and biking, to create a bicycle and pedestrian master plan. In order to illustrate street changes laid out in the plan, Trailnet and the city will hold a pop-up traffic calming demonstration from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21.

The purpose of holding the demonstration is to depict how proposed street changes will affect the flow of traffic and improve safety for those who walk and bike. Through the demonstration, Trailnet and the City of St. Charles aim to give residents, policymakers, and businesses the chance to learn how traffic calming could improve quality of life. The traffic-calming demonstration will utilize proven methods of creating safer streets for people who walk or bicycle.

“This is a synergistic approach between Trailnet, St. Charles City Parks, and Public Works to improve our community,” said Kevin Corwin, city engineer with the City of St. Charles. “We foresee a cultural shift towards a multimodal lifestyle where people want to live in cities with an interconnected system of bikeways and pedestrian paths. Demonstrating how these changes will influence traffic movements is essential to the project’s success.”

Trailnet and the City of St. Charles encourage those interested to attend the demonstration to learn firsthand about the benefits of bicycle-friendly and pedestrian-friendly communities as well as offer input on the proposed changes.

All are invited to experience the demonstration to learn about proposed changes to Riverside Drive, such as improving the visibility of crosswalks to increase safety for those who walk. Trailnet will put on three demonstrations in the City of St. Charles at different locations on Riverside Drive—the intersection of Riverside and Jefferson Street, the intersection of Riverside and Tompkins Street, and in front of the Bike Stop Cafe on Riverside and Perry Street.