| | CMAP & the Traffic Expo by Erin Aleman & Diana Torres
11.7.08
The Traffic Control Corporation held its Traffic Management Expo on Thursday and Friday (November 6-7) at the Medinah Shrine Center in Addison, IL. This Expo provided the opportunity for various vendors to display and exhibit traffic products including vehicle and pedestrian signals, telecommunications systems, traffic signal controllers, and other technical demonstrations. In addition, the Expo held a series of seminars, including speakers from the Office of Emergency Management and Communication, Atlantic Scientific Corp, and the Federal Highway Administration.
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s booth provided information on the GO TO 2040 Plan and Community and Technical Assistance Programs, as well as important information about the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). Anyone can learn more about these federally funded transportation projects and regionally significant projects that do not use federal funds by using the interactive map developed by CMAP. This will help the public understand what projects are underway, and how their tax dollars are being spent and requires no special software—only internet access.
In addition, CMAP was able to share copies of the recent publication of the Regional Indicators Project. CMAP staff compiled the results (PDF 2.5 MB) of various meetings throughout the region to identify key indicators. The overall purpose of the Regional Indicators Project is to track progress toward achieving the GO TO 2040 Regional Vision and these indicators are divided into the major themes identified in the Regional Vision. The final product of the Regional Indicators Project will consist of about 180 key indicators used for tracking purposes.
CMAP also held a seminar session on CMAP and the GO TO 2040 Plan where Erin Aleman discussed some of the reasons why it is important for CMAP to plan for a better future. For instance, did you know that residents of our region spend approximately 253 million hours a year in traffic delays due to congestion? If that doesn’t say that we need to find a better way to get around in our region I don’t know what else does. It is vital that we work together as a region to develop solutions to our problems so that northeastern Illinois can continue to be competitive in a global-marketplace.
For a full list of vendors at this Traffic Management Expo 2008, click here (PDF 836 KB).  |
Comments (0)
| | Think Big: Chicago Humanities Festival by Tom Garritano
11.6.08 Now in its 19th year, the Chicago Humanities festival has something for just about everyone. It's held each November, billed as "A Festival of Ideas" featuring policy makers, artists, scholars, and other experts who share their ideas and talents with the public in events at cultural institutions across the city.
This year the theme is "Think Big," as a prelude to next year's Burnham Centennial. The festival program's breadth is impressive, with dozens of events that include panel discussions, talks and readings by noted authors, and musical performances.
This Saturday, CMAP Board member Al Larson (mayor of Schaumburg) and CMAP executive director Randy Blankenhorn will lead a panel titled The GO TO 2040 Plan: Bold Innovations for a Better Chicago. Other panelists include transportation expert Andy Plummer, who knows as much as anyone about the history of our local transportation system. Kevin Brubaker of the Environmental Law and Policy Center will talk about environmental benefits of transportation system improvements, including the potential for high-speed rail. And Rick Harnish of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association will describe the new momentum behind Federal support for interstate rail, including initiatives in California and here in the midwest.
 The panel discussion will be framed by CMAP's GO TO 2040, the first truly comprehensive plan for metropolitan Chicago, which will guide development and investment for the 21st century. Admission is $5.00. Here are the details:
Saturday, November 8, 2008
10:00 to 11:30 a.m.
Chicago History Museum, Auditorium
1601 N. Clark St.
Map & Directions
Thanks to local blogger SansCar, who wrote about our session earlier this week. Also that same day at the Chicago History Museum, the festival will unveil an exhibit with top entries from the Chicago Architectural Club's biennial Burnham Prize international design competition, emphasizing the use of high-speed rail. Admission is free, and the exhibit will remain through January 19, 2009.
We encourage you to attend this session and exhibition tomorrow, and as many others as you can see throughout the festival. |
Comments (2)
| I attended this session and offer two comments. The first is about the program. The second relates to CMAP's role in public discussions.
The first is that if you missed the session, you actually missed two. A common critique of the Humanities Festival is that each session tries to do too much for its scant 90 minutes. This session was half about 2040 and Chicago transit. The other half was about hi-speed rails linking cities in the 300 mile radius around Chicago.
The two topics are related closely in that they both use wheels, but not much else. 2040 is about using wheels in as many different ways as possible to provide people and companies with better options for their daily needs. High-speed rail is about creating one option for the general public's infrequent travel between cities like Chicago and Detroit (which I have not visited since 1973) and doing so with an unproven infrastructure in this country.
While high-speed rail needs to interface with Chicago's many transit options, the attempt to explain both disparate programs in 90 minutes to a lay audience is a heroic task; unfulfilled despite all 4 of the presentations being top-notch in their own rights.
However, the Humanities Festival is to be commended for raising both issues and hopefully next year the Festival will offer separate programs.
My second comment evolves out of my perception that more of the buzz in this Festival session was about this new hi-speed technology when, in truth, CMAP's efforts to provide better existing transportation options helps people's daily lives far, far more.
This gave me pause to think more clearly about the commmunication challenges that GoTo2040 faces. These got clearer in response to an audience question about how hard it is for mortals to think about 2040. Randy Blakenhorn answered that emphasizing the "GoTo" or action part of the campaign gets a stronger response than the abstract 2040 part of the Plan.
As someone who has been analyzing CMAP for 2 months as a prospect to serve on the Citizens Advisory Committee, I have often thought CMAP's work is too abstract to inspire the public attention that this very important planning needs.
So in the future, I will look for the "GoTo action" part when I hear a presentation on TIP (Transportation Improvement Project) or DRI (Developments of Regional Importance.) A "GoTo" campaign makes these techniques relevant to people's daily lives.
And it seems every DRI or TIP must first have a written, detailed relevance for citizens' daily lives before it will inspire them to get politicians to do the right things with their tax dollars.
Detailing this "GoTo" relevance, repeated by residents on seemingly infinite occasions, will get us to the 2040 we want.
Posted by: Administrator on 11/09/2008 |
| Thanks for your insights Robert! I think that getting people to look to the future is a great challenge that we face, especially when our thoughts are overwhelmed with making mortgage payments, rising gas prices, or just trying to provide healthy meals to our families on a tight budget. But yet, it is so important for us to do in order to solve these problems and prevent the situation from getting worse. Hopefully, our public outreach and visualization efforts next fall will help people imagine what our options for the future might be!
Posted by: Administrator on 11/10/2008 |
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