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Last fall, four diverse groups, consisting of property owners and
farmers, business owners and managers, commuters, and residents
from the study area participated in a series of focus groups. The
primary objective of assembling these randomly chosen participants
was to identify the public’s issues and perceptions about
transportation in the region within an unbiased environment. The
focus groups were one of many efforts the Illinois Department of
Transportation (IDOT) has performed with public involvement to learn
about the study area and gather public opinion and comments.
An outside research company was asked to perform the recruitment
of participants, which took place within the geographic boundaries
of the general study area (Kendall, southern Kane, southeastern
DeKalb, eastern LaSalle, western Will and northern Grundy counties).
During the sessions the participants offered thoughts about a number
of issues that focused on the following key topics:
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Current transportation and travel patterns
– How do people in these areas move around? What routes
do they use most often? How many separate trips do they make
in their car per day? How many hours do they believe they
spend in their car per week?
Attitudes toward highway travel –
How do people in these areas feel about their ability to move
around? Has their ability to move around changed in the past
few years, and if so, how? What are the problems they encounter?
“If I leave home at the right time,
it takes me 38 minutes to get to work. If I leave 15 minutes
later, it takes 20-25 minutes longer.”
Focus Group Participant
Public transportation – Do people
in these areas use public transportation now? If not, would
they consider using it? What would persuade them to use it?
For what purpose would they use it?
Development – What changes in development
do people in these areas expect over the next 10 to 20 years?
How do they believe these changes will affect their lives?
What types of transportation improvements do they believe
would help address the effects of these changes?
“Housing drives community development.
You got the houses, then you got the businesses, then the
government tries to get the roads to catch up with the two
of them.”
Focus Group Participant
Future travel needs – What factors
affecting transportation decisions are most important to them
personally? |
Many of the perceived problems voiced by the focus groups have
indeed been technically validated as deficiencies in the Transportation
System Performance report.
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