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2-wheeled revolution: 'Bicycling is now cool'


June 7, 2010

BY MARY WISNIEWSKI

When Rob Sadowsky started biking to his job at a downtown nonprofit in 1998, he felt like a "freak." These days, there are so many two-wheeled commuters that Sadowsky runs into bike traffic jams. "I'm part of the crowd," he said. "Bicycling is now cool." But Sadowsky, who for six years has headed the Active Transportation Alliance, said the city still has a long way to go to improve conditions for biking and walking. "I'd like it be 20 percent bike, 20 percent pedestrian and 20 percent transit," said Sadowsky. "It's doable, certainly May through October."

Sadowsky, 45, leaves his job Friday to head the Bicycle Transportation Alliance in Portland, Ore. Melody Geraci, Active Trans' program director, will serve as interim director until a permanent replacement is hired. During Sadowsky's tenure at the nonprofit, its budget grew from $1.4 million to $3.5 million, and its staff from 21 to 36. It also changed its name from the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, refocusing its mission to include pedestrians and transit as well as bikes. Sadowsky said he thinks Active Trans' biggest accomplishment during his tenure is the citywide "complete streets" policy, and a state law requiring complete street design.

A "complete street" is one designed for all users, so it must have sidewalks, some kind of bike accommodation, and intersections designed so that everyone can cross safely. City engineers are trained in complete street design, and residents should notice the approach as streets come up for resurfacing, Sadowsky said. The 2007 policy came about as a result of a meeting with Mayor Daley. "The mayor was complaining about engineers, and how he'd like to fire all the engineers. . . . People at the meeting were laughing," Sadowsky recalled. "And I said, 'I have an idea for you,' and he started writing it down, and within a week we had a written policy."

"Chicago was leading the way for a long while in cycling" before losing its direction, says Rob Sadowsky, who is taking a job in Portland, Ore. after heading Active Transportation Alliance.