On June 22, 2023 the Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association's Chicago Metro Section (APA-CMS) teamed up with Epstein once again for our annual bicycle tour. This year, we visited Illinois's second-most-populous municipality, the City of Aurora. Alex Minnella, Aurora's Senior Planner in the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, and Ryan Peterson, Planner at Epstein, led participants on a two-hour guided tour with stops to showcase bicycle facilities and discuss the planning and design implications that produced them.

In addition to protected bicycle lanes and enhancements to the Fox River Trail, we saw the impact of the city's vision and work with developers to bring it to fruition. The vision is not complete – with gaps in the bicycle network and parking lots on their way to becoming multi-family developments – but big things are happening in Aurora... as the result of intentional planning!

Thanks to Alex and Ryan for coordinating and leading the tour.

Photos by Justin Keller, AICP