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Projects Updates for theme: Transportation

  1. Allerton Park Bike Share

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bike Sharing
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    Allerton Park is a valuable but underutilized property owned by the University of Illinois. The Allerton Park Bike Share project intends to improve Allerton Park and make it more attractive to the campus population and the community at large through the installation of a bike share system. In addition to providing an attractive service for visitors, this project will also help promote green transportation when traveling around the 1,517 acre estate.

    Attached Files: 

  2. Sheltered Bicycle Parking

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sheltered Bike Parking at CLSL
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    Providing safe and convenient locations for bicycle parking is one of the key ways the University can support increased bicycle ridership and greener commuting. The goal of this project is to construct a secure, sheltered bicycle parking area for students, faculty, and staff at the Chemical and Life Sciences Building and the Roger Adams Laboratory. These parking structures are modeled after the sheltered bicycle parking currently located at the Ikenberry Commons.

    Attached Files: 

  3. Composites in Aviation

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reduce Emissions from Transportation
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    Student Aircraft Builders (SAB) is an organization dedicated to teaching students from all across campus how to work together as a team to successfully construct a flyable airplane. The goal of the Composites in Aviation project has two phases. The first phase constructs a quarter scale glider powered by alternative energy. The second phase graduates from a model to a full-sized glider. Through the use of composite materials and an innovate design from an aerospace engineer, the finished glider will exemplify the future of more fuel-efficient long-range flight.

    Attached Files: 

  6. Request for scope/schedule change to SSC

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    F&S requested that SSC funding from FY14 and FY13 for the Campus Bike Center be allowed to be used for the Campus Bike Center in FY15. 

    1. There is $2,224.50 remaining of the funding allocation for the “Campus Bike Project” from FY13.  I am requesting permission from the SSC to use these funds during FY15, for staff and student employee costs.  This is not a change in scope, just a schedule change to permit FY15 use of funds.
    2. The current funding allocation for the “Campus Bicycle Shop” in FY14 included specific items for the funding in support of the Bike Center.  I am requesting permission to use any remaining funds from this year’s allocation during FY15, for staff and student employee costs.

    ~Morgan Johnston

    Attached Files: 

  7. Allerton pursuing a bike sharing system

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bike Sharing

    The attached Manual was developed with students and Amelia Neptune over the last few years.  The most helpful part of this document is the liability Q&A that Tina helped create.  I cleaned the file up a bit this morning to fix broken links and check for any glaring errors. 

    To bring you and those copied here up to speed, I’ll share a few points that are happening with bike sharing now. 

    • The successfully implemented bike sharing on campus is at Kinesiology and Community Health.  They have six bikes for employee use, and wrote a research report about the usage (attached).  They simply have the keys at a desk with a sign-out list, and they send the bikes for maintenance once a year.  The contact person is Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko at Kinesiology.
    • This summer, the MTD is planning to start working with campus and the cities to investigate a public bike sharing system, and that conversation is just beginning.  The contact person is Rebecca Nathanson at MTD.
    • AITS is planning to set up a departmental bike sharing program, in cooperation with the Campus Bike Center and iSEE.  The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) is planning to contribute funds towards administrative support for maintaining the bikes.  It is likely that 10-20 bikes will be purchased from “On Bikes,” which comes with a locking and tracking system. 
    • Grace Kyung has had numerous conversations with Zagster, which was formed by former staff at Zipcar.  Their system is an all-inclusive turn-key approach, where you pay a set-up fee, then pay a recurring monthly fee for maintenance and oversight.  The set up fee is around $2000 per bike and the monthly fee is about $100 per bike.  The bikes then continue to belong to Zagster.  I did not support the Zagster model for campus employee use, but it may be reasonable for Allerton’s intended use.  If you are interested, their CEO is visiting town on Thursday. 

    Please let me know if there is anything I can help you with to get this set up.

    Thanks,

    Morgan


    On May 23, 2014, at 4:07 PM, "McEllin, Tina D" wrote:

    Hi Derek,

    To start I’m going to refer you to Morgan Johnston, Assoc. Director of Sustainability.    I believe Morgan has a draft manual for depts. to use when setting up programs for employees.   I don’t know if it will address offering this service to the public so you may have to add language to that effect.     

    Since you will have the public liability issue I would like to review your draft manual to make sure exposure to the University is controlled as much as possible.  Please feel free to call me with any questions. 

    Thank you.

    Tina McEllin,  Assoc. Dir.

    University Office of Risk Management

    247 Henry Admin. Bldg.   M-C 337

    506 S. Wright St., Urbana IL 61801

    PH 217-333-3113

    FX 217-239-6744

    Check out our website!   www.uirisk.uillinois.edu

    Please note: Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), any written communication to or from University employees regarding University business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.

    From: Peterson, Derek Eli
    Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 3:51 PM
    To: Kale, PJ; McEllin, Tina D
    Cc: Kevin Donovan
    Subject: Allerton Park and Retreat Center

    Good Afternoon PJ and Tina-

    Joe Vitosky said the two of you might be a good start for me, I need some advice. Allerton Park is going to start a Bike Rental, or Bike Share program. I am interested to know if any other units, or if there is any standard documentation that might assist me through this process. We have researched other local entities that do bike share and rental and so we have some standard language, but we will be offering this to the public, so we need to make sure the University if legally covered. As I type I feel underprepared to ask this question, but I thought you might have some advice for me to help get me started.

    Thank you for your time-

    -- 

    Derek Peterson

    Associate Director

    Allerton Park & Retreat Center

    University of Illinois

    515 Old Timber Road

    Monticello, IL  61856

    O 217.333.3287, ext. 203

    M 217-778-9111

    www.allerton.illinois.edu

  8. Notes from meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bike Sharing at Sustainability Living Learning Community

    I took some notes from my conversation with Jennifer Bechtel the Program Director from the Innovation and Sustainability LLC who wants to start a bike share.  Here are the notes as I took them.  I hope this will help you to understand what is going on.

    • Wants to have 6 or so bikes for bike share 120 students 10-15 using and helping to repair.
    • Wants to bring students over here to learn how to fix bikes 1 x per month or semester depending on maintenance rates and usage.
    • Would like to explore a possible group membership for her resident hall or their bike share.
    • The idea is there are so many students who don't know anything about bikes.  She wants to use it to help students get feet wet with bikes learn how useful they are and encourage private ownership.
    • This would be a pilot program for this housing dept and may want to expand.
    • Wants quality bikes that can be maintained on our model of teaching people how to fix them.
    • Wants students to be involved in keeping bikes running.
    • Jennifer wants to learn herself so she can be the consistent person for the bike share because of the turn over with the students and staff.
    • They are installing a outdoor fix-it station outside their building.
    • She would want to use us our facilities and model to have students fix the bikes.
    • Wants students to end up buying a bike.
    • Looking for a place to store the bikes in the winter if no one is willing to ride/maintain the bikes.


    From the Campus Bike Center,
    James Roedl
     

  9. Introductory meeting with James and Jennifer

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bike Sharing at Sustainability Living Learning Community

    Jennifer from the Innovation and Sustainablility LLC came by to talk about a very small bike share pilot where the students learn to maintain bikes and are encouraged to become bike owning commuters.  We discussed the matter and she has a lot of great ideas and would like to meet with us to discuss them.  She has questions about maintenance, what bikes to get (she wants quality and ease of maintenance), how to maintain consistency with student turn over, a possible LLC membership or bike share membership with TBP, and many other things.  I took notes on our conversation and she is going to try to make an overview of her ideas we can discuss it and find something that can work in the long term.  This sounds like something we want to be a part of. 

    From the Campus Bike Center,
    James Roedl

  10. Bikes On Campus Day

    Associated Project(s): 
    Incentives for Biking

    Facilities & Services used funding from the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC) in Spring 2014 t0 purchase incentives to increase bicycle usage. On Bikes on Campus Day, students were given free leg wraps, educational materials, bike maps, and pins if they stopped by the table. In addition, any bikes that were registered were given free bike lights or bike bell. There was also a raffle for those who brought a friend that normally does not bike to win either a free bike pump or bike lock.

  11. Bicycle Ambassador Spoke Cards

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Ambassador Program

    Bicycles Ambassadors have decided to use "Hello, I'm a Bike Ambassador" spoke cards to be idenitfied on campus. These cards are being used as a point of reference for individuals to idenitify fellow bike ambassadors but to help those who may have bicycling questions. These cards represent those who believe in the power of bicycles and want to encourage others to use one as well. Look out for these cards around the CU area!

  12. Sustainability Analysis of the Campus Bike Center

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    NRES 285: Sustainability Metrics and Evaluation Techniques

    The Campus Bike Center opened for business in May 2010, funded by The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign, a grant from the Student Sustainability Committee, the Center for a Sustainable Environment, and supplementary funding from the Facilities and Services Department at UIUC[1]. The Center offers a hands-on, educational space in which students and community members can have access to knowledge and experience in maintaining and fixing bicycles, as well as all of the necessary tools and products to do so. The Center’s outlined mission is to teach bicycle maintenance, providing access to affordable equipment, support overall safety education, and participate in campus bicycle community outreach2. The Center also has described goals for sustainability; to contribute towards the ICAP goal to reduce transportation emissions by 50% in 2025, support those who use bicycles for transportation, to make bikes a more feasible alternative to motor vehicles on this campus, and to expand these efforts even more through increased outreach and publicity efforts, increased staff capacity, more events outside of the shop to reach new audiences, more refurbished bikes to sell to students, and more courses, workshops, and demonstrations to educate the campus about bikes2.



    [1] Neptune, Amelia. Bike Shop Student Sustainability Committee Application. UIUC ICAP Portal. http://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project-updates/102. 11 Nov 2012. Accessed 8 May 2014.

     

     

    Attached Files: 

  13. Bike Funding Needs

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    In 2011, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was recognized as a bronze-level Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) by the League of American Bicyclists. This was in large part a result of efforts by Facilities & Services in cooperation with community partners, including the Bicycle Friendly Cities of Urbana and Champaign and Champaign County Bikes, which is dedicated to making Champaign County the most bicycle friendly county in the Midwest.  The Student Sustainability Committee, Illinois Student Senate, and Dean of Students have added funding.

    The BFU Bronze status expires in 2015, and campus needs to address several bicycle-related items in order to maintain Bronze status or achieve the Silver designation.  Key points, status, timing, and approximate long-term funding needs are below.

    Task

    Status

    Timing

     Long-term Funding Needs

    Approve Campus Bike Plan

    final edits underway, then routing for approval from F&S and Campus

    30-Jun-14

    use existing staff time

    Improve bikeway network

    integrating some of these with street and capital projects, seeking grants

    five to ten years

    approximately $4 Million

    Upgrade bike parking

    over 150 parking locations are not up to acceptable standards

    three to five years

    approximately $400K

    Adopt Campus Bike Code and  bike registration system

    final edits underway, then routing for approval; costs include tracking citations, and handling registration

    approve by June 30, 2014

    $5-$20k/year recurring

    Campus Bicycle Coordinator over programs such as bike sharing and ambassadors

    no funding available, currently managed part-time by a team of F&S

    needed

    $45k/year recurring

    Bicycle Education maps, materials and classes

    currently offered by the Campus Bike Center and Champaign County Bikes

    ongoing

    $5-$10k/year recurring

    Campus Bike Center advocacy, education, and encouragement

    recurring events, in collaboration with Champaign County Bikes and student advocacy groups

    needed

    $50k/year recurring

    With increasing ridership over the last decade and an average of 5,000 bikes on campus during a typical hour, it is clear that bicycle-related needs should not be ignored.  Bikeway improvements, parking upgrades, and a new bike code are in progress now; however, to keep the Bicycle Friendly status, campus should allocate $50,000 in FY15 for the Campus Bike Center (a collaboration between campus and The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign).

    The Bike Center distributes UI registration stickers; maintains Bike Fix-it Stations; provides a central base for the bicycling community on campus; encourages mode-shift through various events and classes throughout the year; distributes educational resources regarding bicycling; educates students, faculty, staff, and campus visitors about basic bicycle maintenance; and collaborates with campus and community partners in bicycle-related programs.  By keeping the Bike Center open, campus can spread awareness about the many improvements, increase safety, sustainability, and health on campus, and continue to offer education and encouragement events this coming year.

    Attached Files: 

  16. Mode Shift update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reduce Driving on Campus
    Multi-Modal Transportation Study [ARCHIVED]

    CUUATS completed a University District Traffic Circulation Study, using information from a campus-wide statistically relevant survey.

    The following table shows the mode share information based on the survey conducted in April-May, 2011.

    Level

    Travel Mode (%)

    Walk

    Bike

    Transit

    Drive Alone

    Carpool

    Get a Ride

    Other

    Faculty

    9

    18

    10

    51.9

    9

    1.9

    0

    Staff

    5.4

    6.4

    9.1

    65.2

    9.7

    3.5

    0.6

    Freshman

    50.2

    12

    34.8

    0.7

    0.2

    0.7

    1.4

    Sophomore

    53.1

    9.1

    34.1

    1.6

    0.3

    0

    1

    Junior

    48.5

    12.6

    28.8

    8.6

    0.6

    0.9

    0

    Senior

    49.1

    10.5

    27.1

    11.2

    1.4

    0.4

    0.4

    Masters

    23.4

    13

    41.3

    18.4

    2.1

    1.8

    0

    PhD

    20.1

    15.2

    39

    20.8

    3.4

    1.6

    0

     

    Attached Files: 

  17. Registration events at Residence Halls

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Registration

    Schedule

    Monday, April 28, 11AM-2PM

    Student Dining and Residential Programs (SDRP) Building

    Tuesday, April 29, 11AM-2PM

    Illinois Street Residence Halls (ISR)

    Wednesday, April 30, 11AM-2PM

    Allen Hall/Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall (LAR)

    Thursday, May 1, 11AM-2PM

    Pennsylvania/Florida Avenue Residence Hall(s) (PAR/FAR)

     

  18. "Connectivity and Accessibility of UIUC Campus Bike Paths"

    Associated Project(s): 
    2014 Campus Bike Plan [ARCHIVED]
    Independent Student Projects

    "The results here indicate that the changes to the UIUC network do in fact improve connectivity over the existing network. Moreover, the planned network lowers the average shortest-distance path between libraries, dormitories, and the Union by nearly the same amount as a control scenario without paths at all. While we may assume that a bicycle master plan will address and improve connectivity as a matter of course – and the language in the plans claims that they do – it seems counterintuitive that this simple test not be included in the research process to confirm that this is so. Ultimately what these accessibility and connectivity analyses show is that while planners and bicycle advocates may seek to improve bicycle infrastructure, we need a way to quantify and subsequently verify that any changes will improve the functionality of the network and the ease with which a rider can travel from one location to another." -- Pildes, Russell. (2014) "Connectivity and Accessibility of UIUC Campus Bike Paths", B.A. Honors Thesis, Department of Geography and Geographic Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

    Attached Files: 

  19. email to participants

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bicycle Counts

    Happy Bike Census Day, 

    Thank you so much for participating in the April 2014 Bike Census!

    We are really excited to get a hold of the data you collected it and to tally the count. 

    Today (Wednesday) after 8PM and tomorrow (Thursday) before 6PM would be ideal. If you could please send me times when you know you will be at home or in an office, I will definitely try to stop by and pick it up then. I could also meet you at a specific time and place. Feel free to give me a call if that is easier. 

    If it's easy, you could also scan and email it to me. 

    Thanks again for participating! If you didn't get a t-shirt, please let me know and I will bring you one.

    Andy

    Andy Kopp

    Campus Bicycle Planning Intern

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Facilities and Services

  20. ARC approval

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sheltered Bike Parking at CLSL

    From: Lev, James R
    Sent: Monday, April 21, 2014 4:37 PM
    To: Geoffrey Chambers
    Cc: Eller, Jonathan Randall; Johnston, Morgan B; Architecture Review Committee
    Subject: RE: Approval for SSC Proposal: Shelter Bicycle Parking for CLSL and RAL

    Geoff:

    Thank you for your summary and request for review comments on your proposed project. 

    ARC finds no significant issues with the proposed locations of a cover bike shelter adjacent to the Chem Life Sciences Building.  

    ARC would want to consider shelter designs on a location by location basis.  The shelters may not be acceptable everywhere on campus.   Each site would need to be considered on its own merits and appropriateness of design.  We would like to see a proposal for these two suggested locations: size, location, number of racks, costs and the design.   We’d like to see what you have in mind. 

    Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

    Jim

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