Today, as Bike to Work Week continues, the League of American Bicyclists has announced 34 new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Communities (BFCs). This builds on the League’s latest announcement of 76 new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Businesses (BFB) to its Bicycle Friendly America program.
There are now 372 Bicycle Friendly Communities (BFC), in all 50 US states. Over 72 million people in the United States now live in a Bicycle Friendly Community.
“We are inspired by how these communities make bicycling a safe and convenient option for transportation and recreation for all,” said Bill Nesper, Program Director at the League of American Bicyclists.
“Making communities more accessible by bike is at the core of creating more vibrant, healthy, sustainable and connected communities. We thank them for their great work in making our shared vision of a truly Bicycle Friendly America for everyone become a reality.”
The BFC program is aiming to revolutionize the way communities evaluate their quality of life, sustainability and transportation networks, while allowing them to benchmark their progress toward improving their bicycle-friendliness. The BFC award recognizes a community’s commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through investment in bicycling promotion, education programs, infrastructure and pro-bicycling policies.
For the spring 2016 round of BFC Awards, 15 communities are receiving their first award. Of those communities, six previously had an Honorable Mention and nine had never applied to the BFC program before.
In this latest round, six communities moved up and 14 communities renewed at the same level. This is the second round in a row with a Platinum BFC Awardee. In the Fall 2015 BFC Awards, Madison, Wisconsin, moved from Gold to Platinum. In this round, Davis, California, renewed its Platinum status.
“The City of Davis is honoured to retain our Platinum level status,” said Bike and Pedestrian Coordinator Jennifer Donofrio. “We continue to improve upon our infrastructure and programs to promote bicycling in Davis.
She continued, “Since our 2012 Bicycle-Friendly Community award, we have constructed a protected intersection and two cycle tracks, installed seven-foot wide buffered bike lanes, enhanced bike and pedestrian crossings and developed both fun and educational programs. In 2014, the city completed a Bicycle Action Plan which intends to put Davis on the path to become a Diamond level Bicycle-Friendly Community. This year we are starting bike education classes and next year we will have bike share!”
California led all states with seven BFC awards this round. Other states with multiple communities receiving awards include Indiana and North Carolina with three each, and Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho and Maryland with two each.
John Landosky, Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator for new Bronze BFC Little Rock, Arkansas, reportedly found the process of applying to be a Bicycle Friendly Community to be very rewarding.
“Answering the questions forced me to create relationships with a variety of people, both within and outside city government,” Landosky said. “In addition to helping me forge important connections, the application was also a teaching tool. The information the BFC application required me to obtain helped me quantitatively consider Little Rock’s bike friendliness from the League of American Bicyclists’ perspective, and it helped me identify strengths and weaknesses of our city even before we obtained feedback from the League.
“It also helped me learn and tell the stories of our community that can motivate us to become more bike friendly.”
The BFC program provides a roadmap to building a Bicycle Friendly Community and the application itself has become a rigorous and an educational tool in itself. Since its inception, more than 800 distinct communities have applied and the five levels of the award — diamond, platinum, gold, silver and bronze — provide an incentive for communities to continuously improve.
The Bicycle Friendly Community, Bicycle Friendly State, Bicycle Friendly Business and Bicycle Friendly University programs are supported by program partner Trek Bicycle Corp.
www.bikeleague.org/community
www.bikeleague.org/BFA
