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IDOT BICYCLE MAPS
Focus on Transportation., Safety and Tourism
By WILLIAM T. SUNLEY, Engineer of Local Roads and Streets
Credits to: Craig Williams, Bicycle & Pedestrian Program Manager
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The Illinois Department of Transportation is producing a series of bicycle maps for each of its nine
IDOT districts. The first map of the series, Illinois Official Bicycle Map, Shawnee Region, Map 9, is now available for distribution. The map contains a wealth of
information for bicyclists, whether they live close by or
are venturing into the area for a first visit.
The maps contain locations and descriptions of
more than 50 of the area's more scenic or historic attractions, such as the Shawnee National Forest and the
Giant City State Park. It also indicates major annual
events in the region, such as the Great Cardboard Boat
Regatta each May in Carbondale. The map indicates
hiking trails, bicycle rules and safety tips, important
phone number for bicycling organizations, transportation and conservation agencies, historic sites, tourism
offices and even weather conditions. Even small (but
important) details, such as where to find food and lodging are indicated with symbols next to the towns.
More importantly, for virtually all paved roads in
the region, the maps show each road's suitability for
bicycling, in a green (most suitable), yellow (caution
advised) and red (not recommended) format. The map
cautions that these ratings "are offered for adult cyclists
of average or better experience and who are comfortable sharing the road with vehicular traffic." Even
though ratings are not provided for all roads, they are
shown on the map in a gray color and on the legend as
"Use at your own discretion." These roads, because of
their low traffic volumes, are often very suitable for
cycling (especially for bikes with wider tires) but the
condition of the pavement varies with the seasons. Municipal roads, because of the scale of the map, are
limited to those providing connections through the
community.
How and why were these maps produced? Several
years ago, the Department was challenged with producing a bicycle map to promote safe cycling on the
roadways of the state. After researching the available
options, the Department chose to provide a product
that would best facilitate the use of the bicycle as a
transportation option. Bicyclists could then select the
safest routes available for travel-to-whatever destination. It was particularly important to develop a system
that would provide consistent information on roadway
conditions across the state. Further, the Department
wanted a product that could be easily updated and
revised internally.
The mapping methodology took advantage of an
on-going project in IDOT's Office of Planning and
Programming to tie the Illinois Roadway Information
System (IRIS) database to a computer digitized county
mapping system. Certain bicycle-related factors, such
as traffic volumes, roadway widths, paved shoulders
and pavement condition were extracted from the
highway database and used to generate a 'suitability'
rating for each roadway segment. This rating was translated to a color display on the digitized county maps.
The expertise of the Cartography Lab at Northern
Illinois University was enlisted to transform the working copies of the digitized county maps into final maps
for public distribution. To ensure that future revisions
can be made with ease, NIU uses computer-technology
to create the maps, which simplifies the task of adding
roads or changing road ratings several years from now.
To ensure accuracy and consistency, the maps were
drawn over scanned images of IDOT's county maps. In
order to provide a reasonable amount of detail and a
suitable map size, a scale of approximately 1"=31/2 miles
was chosen. This scale dictated the series of nine maps
for the state, each of which coincides with the IDOT
district boundaries. The maps are anticipated to be
completed according to the following schedule:
District(s) Completion Date
Southern IL September 1994
Western IL (4 maps) December '94 to April '95
Eastern IL (4 maps) June '95 to December '95
The maps are distributed free-of-charge by IDOT's
Map Sales office and by the state's tourism office. Write
to:
IDOT MAP SALES
Room 027
2300 S. Dirksen Parkway
Springfield, IL 62764
January 1995 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 9
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