DuPage County ride‑share pilot outpacing budget; county advances highway safety action plan

DuPage County transportation staff on June 10 told the Strategic Planning Committee a one‑year ride‑share pilot aimed at improving transit access in a lower‑income neighborhood is six months into operation and spending faster than anticipated, and staff outlined a countywide highway safety action plan to help partners compete for federal funds.

A transportation staff member reported the Willowbrook/Conners/Hinsdale Lake Terrace pilot — a partnership with Pace and Uber — is intended to improve equity and access in a neighborhood where staff estimated 83 percent of households have zero or one car. The pilot is designed to give residents more options for work, medical and school trips. "We anticipated a $100,000 county contribution over the course of the year," the presenter said, and staff have used about $67,000 of that county allocation in the first three months. The committee was told staff will present options to the transportation committee and then to the board to address the faster‑than‑expected spending.

On roadway safety, county staff described a federally funded regional effort to produce a county safety action plan and to align with Illinois Department of Transportation programs. The presenter said the federal region provided a planning grant "a little over $4,000,000" to support county safety action plans, which are intended to identify countermeasures that local jurisdictions can deploy and to improve applications for the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). The staff member said 71 percent of severe‑injury and fatal crashes involve aggressive driving, and that the county’s five‑year rolling average is about 44 fatalities per year.

Staff outlined how the safety action plan dovetails with IDOT’s HSIP and the statewide strategic safety plan, noting HSIP projects typically use federal matches (staff cited examples of 80/20 or 90/10 federal‑local splits depending on project type). The presentation also flagged specific local projects, including sidewalk and lighting work tied to a Safe Routes to School grant in Hinsdale Lake Terrace and bridge maintenance on structurally deficient spans.

Committee members asked staff about budget and scaling decisions for the ride‑share pilot; staff said they are reviewing quarterly use and will return with options. No formal vote was taken at the meeting on the pilot or safety plan; these were informational updates as staff plan next steps.