John Burke, Trek, presents Jim Oberstar, former House member, with a map commemorating the Bicycle Friendly America campaign.
community was not getting the highest, platinum, level of recognition. Later in that same meeting, as they considered a major investment in a bike/pedestrian underpass to complete a key connection in their bikeway system several of the members said “if we are ever going to be platinum this is what we need to be doing.” That $5 million project is now open ... although the city still hasn’t quite made platinum!
Inspiring Action
The last thing we want is for applicants to consider their bicyclefriendly designation as a reason to say “great, now we don’t have to do anything for bicyclists any more ...” The evaluation section of the application is forward-looking, seeking to ensure that the plans, funding and programs are in place to continue improvements for bicyclists. We require communities to renew their application at least every four years and submit an annual progress report or update. We try to strike a balance between motivation and discouragement when applicants don’t get the award they think they deserve. Tucson, Ariz. applied in 2004 and got a well-deserved silver designation. Within five days, however, this spurred local cyclists into creating a “Platinum in ’06” task force, cochaired by the Mayor of Tucson and his counterpart at the county. The 4 AmericanBicyclist
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task force – and subsequent applications – included the city, county, three neighboring communities, two Native American nations, the regional planning agency and the state Department of Transportation. Two years of intense work was rewarded with a move to a gold designation – definite progress! After two more years of hard work, some local advocates were clearly dispirited to see the designation remain at Gold but the reality is that a leap from silver to platinum is a big one. A lot needs to happen, especially in a region with a relatively high number of cyclist fatalities every year. The Tucson region took a hard look at traffic safety issues and is now a pioneer in promoting education and enforcement programs to key audiences. Engaging the law enforcement community remains the weakest element of the entire program, so the lessons learned in Tucson will be of immense benefit to the country. Inspiration manifests itself in many ways. The Bicycle Friendly State program, for example, has generated a healthy competition between Delaware and New Jersey for a spot in the top ten. Recently, this inspired both states to pass complete streets policies and identify specific actions they need to take to get ahead of the other.
Baltimore, MD BFC Ceremony
Guiding Progress
The big gas price hikes of 2008 changed things for the BFA programs. All of a sudden, community leaders and business owners stopped asking “why” they should do more for bicyclists and started asking “what” they should be doing. They discovered that the League’s programs provide a roadmap for what they should be doing. Years before the city of Louisville, Ky. had come to this realization and wrote their first
NEXT STEPS
This coming year, as we make the first announcement of Bicycle Friendly Universities and see the BFC program expand into Canada, we are confident that we’ve got a well-tested, effective program that helps communities, states, businesses and universities become more bike-friendly. We have no shortage of proposed bicycle-friendly somethings – schools, national parks, Federal lands, transit systems/agencies – to tackle next, but at least in the immediate future our focus will be on: