Kankakee, IL – Members of the community are gearing up on two wheels to ride downtown Kankakee to highlight the City’s new bike lanes. As a growing trend, the use of bike lanes has increased in many cities nationwide. The City Council adopted the Bike Plan during 2015.
“The City of Kankakee is undergoing a renaissance and the administration is taking seriously the need to redefine what it means to be a resident, business owner, and visitor in the City. Furthermore, we have been challenged by our local industry leaders to create amenities that will help recruit and retain employees. Bike lanes also bring awareness to the opportunity to engage in healthy activity, are environmentally friendly and allow people to slow down to see our beautiful city in a way they would not if they were driving a vehicle,” said Mayor Wells-Armstrong.
City Engineer, Neil Piggush, reported that the City is finalizing streetscaping improvements within the downtown district.
Today’s slow roll aims to bring the community together to utilize the new bike lanes, as well as, explore the city. The event kicks off at 5:00 p.m. at Tern of the Wheel in Bradley and is open to the public. Participants plan to ride through neighborhoods and riverfront trails before ending in downtown Kankakee. The slow roll will end in the parking lot outside of Rigo’s Place on North Schuyler in Kankakee.
“The Slow Roll is an excuse for a group bike ride and is an informal celebration and recognition of the opening of Downtown Kankakee’s bike paths. It is just plain fun. Local bikers want to use the infrastructure, including Bradley’s bike paths, the new pedestrian/bike river bridge, and the very visible green downtown lanes. This emphasizes that people in Kankakee and Kankakee County support active transportation,” said Kankakee resident and former alderman Dennis Baron.
Bikes are available to rent throughout Kankakee County through the bike share program, Bike 609. The bike share program is administered by the Zagster app which gives members the option to pick up a bike at a participating location and drop it off at another bike station when finished. There will be a limited supply of bikes available today for the slow roll, therefore community members are asked to bring their own bike if possible.
