Dave Lutyens, Project Director/LCTIP, welcomed participants to the Transportation Workshop and Fair. He stated that in the early stages of this project we found that the people in Lake County agreed on one thing—that transportation systems need to be improved. The question, however, is what types of transportation strategies best address the problems. He stated that the Transportation Fair would begin to address that question. He explained that the transportation solution for Lake County could include a mix of improvements or strategies and that the workshop and fair would explore transportation strategies that might be applied to transportation problems in Lake County.  

He explained that the Transportation Workshop and Fair consisted of three parts:   

• presentations by professionals on transportation strategies, including—bus, rail, road, transportation system management or travel demand management
• display booths 
• a breakout group exercise 

The following groups sponsored display booths:   

• Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS)
• Chicagoland Bicycle Federation (CBF)
• Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
• Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT)
• Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA)
• Metra
• Pace
• Regional Transportation Authority (RTA)

Rail Transit Strategies 

Pat McAtee/Metra provided an overview of rail transit technologies. His presentation provided information on the physical characteristics, operational characteristics, market demand requirements, ridership volumes and characteristics, and capital cost for rail transit technologies (light rail transit, heavy rail transit, automatic guideway transit, and commuter rail).  

He also provided an overview of Metra initiatives that affect Lake County:  

• Future Agenda for Suburban Transportation (FAST) addresses the long range plan for Metra and Pace
• commuter service on Metra’s North Central Service (Wisconsin Central freight line) start-up and phase 2 expansion
• outer circumferential commuter service on the EJ&E
• extension to Wadsworth/Gurnee from existing commuter rail lines 
• grade separations.

Jim Jarzab/Pace provided an overview of bus transit technologies. His presentation provided information on roadway bus priority/signal interconnection, intelligent buses, bus rapid transit, demand responsive service, vanpool (traditional and hybrid applications), and light rail. He then provided an overview of the considerations for successful implementation of bus transit options: travel densities in travel corridors; competitive in terms of time, reliability and cost with drive alone commute trips; and passenger comfort, safety and ambience. 

Roadway Strategies 

Tim Neuman/CH2M HILL provided an overview of roadway improvement strategies including: an overview of the objectives of roadway improvement options; the various types of improvements or options; the cost, effectiveness and trade-offs between various types of roadway improvements; and the implications of various roadway improvement options for Lake County. His presentation included a discussion on the effectiveness of improvement options for enhancing capacity and safety, a comparison of accident rates for various facility types, and typical construction costs. He also touched on the difficulties in upgrading an arterial in functional class (which increases mobility and decreases access along the arterial), as many commercial businesses would lose direct access to the roadway. Commercial and business owners are very reluctant to give up access to a roadway fearing a loss of business; therefore, it is very difficult for local governments to implement this type of improvement. He also noted that this issue is not unique to Illinois; Departments of Transportation across the county are struggling with this issue. 

Transportation System Management and Travel Demand Management 

Mike Hirsh/CH2M HILL provided an explanation of Transportation System Management (TSM) and Travel Demand Management (TDM). He then introduced Jeff Hochmuth/Illinois Department of Transportation who provided more information on TSM options: their benefits, examples and near-and long-term possibilities for Lake County. Jim Schmidt/CH2M HILL followed with an overview of travel demand management options. He provided an explanation of the various options, goals and their effectiveness. 

The last two presentations focused on TDM options currently implemented in the metropolitan area. Shamus Misek/Pace provided an overview of Pace’s Van Incentive Program (VIP). He described the primary markets where this type of program is effective and provided a description of current participation statistics in Lake County. Donna Namath/Baxter Healthcare Corporation provided an overview of TDM Measures at the workplace. She discussed the programs offered at Baxter, the return on the investment to Baxter, and the lessons learned. 

Questions 

Following the last presentation, Dave Lutyens/LCTIP, asked if participants had any questions. 

One participant asked, "What is congestion pricing?" Jim Schmidt/CH2M HILL responded that congestion pricing responds to demand. The intent is to have the cost of travel during the peak period born by the users of the system. The purpose of congestion pricing is to shift demand (or non-essential travel) from the congested location or the peak travel period to another location or to the non-peak travel period by charging a greater fee to users of transportation systems during the peak period.  

Randy Neufeld of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation encouraged participants to consider bicycle planning as an integrated part of the transportation system for individual communities. He commented that bicycle routes do not have to serve as a link from one end of the county to another, but provide meaningful links within a community. He stated that his organization would be happy to work with individual communities in planning a bicycle transportation system.  

One participant asked about transportation system coordination, commenting that there needs to be coordination between federal, state and local agencies. Dave Lutyens commented that this project is unique in that federal, state and local agencies are actively engaged in this project. 

Another participant asked a question about drainage issues, and was particularly interested if someone on the project team could address the flooding along the Des Plaines River. Dave Lutyens said that he was not familiar with this particular issue. He commented that drainage issues and studies would be an integral part of any detailed studies for this project, however.  

One participant asked about the possibility of putting bicycle racks on public transit. Jim Jarzab/Pace responded that Pace is actively exploring that potential possibility. He stated that they have encountered some problems with bicycle racks on the front of buses, because they obscure bus headlights, in violation of state law. However, they are still exploring this opportunity. 

Dave Lutyens then concluded the presentation portion of event and invited attendees to participate in the breakout group exercise. 

Breakout Group Exercise 

Participants of the workshop exercise were each given a set of 5 pages—one for each modal strategy discussed during the presentations (bus, rail, roadway, TSM, TDM). They were asked to participate in a discussion of the effectiveness of the modal options in addressing the transportation issues of Lake County. This information was tabulated into a single worksheet by the facilitator of the discussion. All participants in the workshop were encouraged to complete the worksheets for each modal option and return it to the Project Office. 

At the conclusion of the breakout group exercise, 12:30 p.m., participants were invited to visit the display booths.