Submitted by Brad Goff for SUST 210 online
Imagine yourself as kid again. How did you get around most of the time? Lots of people have fond memories of riding their bikes as kids. Whether it was down the street to a friend’s house or over to the local pool, a bicycle was sometimes the only means of transportation for some children.
Fast-forward to the age of 16. You’re in high school and you can drive. You wouldn’t be caught dead on your bike, probably because you think your friends will laugh at you for riding it.
Fast-forward another 10 years to the age of 26. You now live in Schaumburg, your daily commute is less than 10 miles away from where you work, and you decide you want a little exercise because the years may not have been so kind to your physique. You decide that you are going to start riding your bike to work instead of driving because the cost of gasoline is up to $4.39 a gallon. Then you realize your commute to work isn’t exactly bike friendly. Lucky for us, Schaumburg is working to remedy that.
According to the League of American Bicyclists (LAB), Schaumburg is actively working to improve Schaumburg to a more bicycle friendly community. The LAB currently ranks Schaumburg at a Bronze level community, meaning that Schaumburg currently encourages people to use their bicycles as a mode of transportation, and well as encourages people to become more educated on bike safety through community events, festivals, and bicycle education classes.
Schaumburg is actively working to expand their cycling infrastructure with a plan to increase of new bike paths, lanes, and routes. In this future plan, they plan to link Schaumburg to other neighboring communities using bike paths. These paths and routes could change the way we see many people traveling around Schaumburg.
Submitted 30 March 2012 — To see the draft plan for improving active transportation in Schaumburg, see this document by the Active Transportation Alliance, which was submitted to the Village of Schaumburg for review and approval this spring.
Schaumburg's Sustainable Future 