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Projects Updates for theme: Transportation

  1. University of Illinois is now an EPA SmartWay Affiliate

    Associated Project(s): 
    EPA SmartWay Affiliate

    The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is now a registered SmartWay Affiliate! The EPA SmartWay Affiliate Agreement was signed on 6/19/20, and the university was officially welcomed to the program by a representative from the EPA on 7/16/20. Civil Engineering student Abby Culloton and F&S Sustainability Intern Sinead Soltis will begin integrating the SmartWay messaging within campus departments beginning in the fall 2020 semester.

    A SmartWay Affiliate is an organization that agrees to educate and support their members' efforts to improve freight sustainability.  Please follow the link below for more information and to explore how your team can become a SmartWay partner!

    https://www.epa.gov/smartway

  2. Spring 2020 Project Deliverables

    Associated Project(s): 
    ENG 177 GFX Global Sustainability Scholars
    2014 Campus Bike Plan [ARCHIVED]
    Develop Local Carbon Offset Program [ARCHIVED]
    Install Public Use Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations
    Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS)
    EPA SmartWay Affiliate
    Provide Centralized Communication about Sustainability

    Final Project Deliverables for Spring 2020

    There were 7 projects completed by the WIE-GFX Abroad Scholars in the Spring 2020 semester of ENG 177

    1. Armory Bike Path Restoration
    2. Study Abroad Carbon Offset
    3. Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
    4. AASHE STARS Report 2020
    5. Food Waste
    6. Sustainability Best Practices Guide
    7. EPA SmartWay Program

  3. SSC Final Report: Bike Path Renovation: Armory Avenue Path South of Gregory Hall

    Associated Project(s): 
    ENG 177 GFX Global Sustainability Scholars
    2014 Campus Bike Plan [ARCHIVED]
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    The construction on the path began in summer 2020 and was completed by the time students returned to campus. The old bike paths, along with hedges, overgrown evergreens, and decorative urns were removed from the area. A new 6 foot wide path was constructed and plans have been made to restore the landscape as needed. The Armory Avenue bike path is now open to use!

    This project tied in with the renovation of the entire Armory Ave bike path that connects the bike lane on Armory Ave to the bike lane on Goodwin Ave. This bike path goes through the Gregory Hall, Foellinger Auditorium, Smith Hall, IGB, and Bevier Hall.

    Please see attached the final report for this project.

    See the previous update for this project.

    Attached Files: 

  5. Bicycle Registration page updated

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Registration
    Bike at Illinois Website and Campaign

    The bicycle registration page on the Bike at Illinois (bike.illinois.edu) to reflect the new changes. The new system will be available to the public from July 20, 2020. This page now contains information about the importance of registration, new bicycle registration system, how to register, and the 529 Shield (registration tag) pick up locations. Due to the pandemic, all the Shield pick-up locations were closed.

    Learn more and how to Register Your Bicycle here.

    Learn about the Benefits of registering your bicycle here.

  10. Puchase Order approved - Project 529

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Registration
    Bike at Illinois Website and Campaign

    The Purchase Order to purchase the Community-Plan of the Project 529's bicycle registration system was approved and the contract was sent to the vendor via email (due to the pandemic) on May 1, 2020. The contract would begin on July 1, 2020 and end on June 30, 2021. Sarthak Prasad will work with the F&S IT department to plan and prepare to use the new system and the bicycle registration fee.

    The trial period for the Project 529 system will end on June 30, 2020.

  11. SSC Funding Award: Bike Path Renovation: Armory Avenue Path South of Gregory Hall

    Associated Project(s): 
    ENG 177 GFX Global Sustainability Scholars
    2014 Campus Bike Plan [ARCHIVED]
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    The SSC awarded $50,000 for the "Bike Path Renovation: Armory Avenue Path South of Gregory Hall". This award will expire on May, 2022. Please see attached the Funding agreement.

    Attached Files: 

  16. Update on MTD's transition to clean energy vehicles

    Associated Project(s): 
    Support the MTD Bus System

    We currently have 94 hybrids in our fleet of 111 vehicles, which makes us 85% hybrid. However, we have 11 more hybrids being made right now as replacement vehicles that are supposed to start arriving in the next week. At that point, we’ll have 105 hybrids, making up 95% of the fleet. I know that’s starting now and will certainly be done by the end of the year, but I don’t the exact timeline (I would imagine within a few months we’ll have them all, though).

    We did order the two hydrogen buses that will be arriving later this year and then go into service in 2021. We did design that fueling station to be scalable, because we feel really good about this technology and think it holds a lot of promise for us, so if it does work out, the station was designed to be modified and go from accommodating two buses to six or ten or twelve as easily as possible. So, if funding allows, I would be on the look-out for those. - MTD representative to F&S inquiry in April 2020

  17. history note from F&S

    Associated Project(s): 
    Increase use of EVs and other Alternative Service Vehicles

    F&S has used both GEM (8?) and e-Ride (2) electric service vehicles as well as 8 other small, gas powered Low Speed Vehicles (LSVs), 2 each from 4 different manufacturers totaling 8 LSVs. I’ve attached an email that has a link to a story posted on Cars.com about our use. While a variety of vehicles were used they were pretty much all gone in 5-8 years for many reasons including capability, reliability, parts supplies, vendors going out of business and personnel concerns. None in service currently.

     

    From July 2008, by Pete Varney:

    The University did in fact purchase 8 vehicles, we are calling them "mini-trucks."  Chery is one of the OEMs.  We purchased two each of Tiger, Mag Intl, Vantage and Cushman (no longer selling in the US).  The desire is to test their effectiveness as a service vehicle on campus.  We have a large fleet of service vehicles (250+) and the majority of them never travel more that a couple of miles each day and never exceed the campus speed limit, 25 mph.

     

    This has been a long and at sometimes, difficult, project to get rolling, but now includes electric vehicles (E-ride) as well.  All part of the University's goal of conserving energy and increasing sustainability.

    https://www.cars.com/articles/chinese-part-of-mini-truck-mania-1420663272884/

     

     

    Attached Files: 

  20. Car Culture and Climate Change: A Student Op-Ed

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reduce Driving on Campus

     

    ui-parking.png

    Student Op-Ed: Car Culture and Climate Change

    In this opinion piece, undergraduate Shelby Job uses the U of I as a case study to examine the impact of efforts to limit automobile use and enourage biking, walking and public transit on America's "car culture" — especially in lower- and middle-class communities. 

    "Although the campus’ lack of accessibility by automobile might feel like a constraint on individual freedom, using infrastructure to encourage active modes of transportation may be the way forward as we search for solutions to the climate crisis," Job writes.

    But higher parking rates and the scarcity of parking overall raise the question of whether manipulating road systems will lead to a car culture that is only accessible to socioeconomic elites, she writes. "If municipalities begin to restrict auto travel by cutting down on the amount of affordable parking, then the face of an area's car culture is likely to change in a way that excludes those of lower socioeconomic standing."

    The op-ed was originally written for a course in iSEE's Certificate in Environmental Writing (CEW

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