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Entries tagged: Bicycle Friendly Community

To kick off National Bike Month with some serious national buzz, the League of American Bicyclists announced the latest round of Bicycle Friendly Community designations yesterday.

According to the League: “The BFC program recognizes communities that promote bicycling and provides technical assistance in the form of a roadmap to help cities build great communities for bicycling. The League has identified projects, policies, programs and plans that most effectively improve cycling conditions and make up the foundation of a bicycle-friendly community.” The lure of bronze, silver, gold or platinum designation has helped and inspired hundreds of municipalities to improve conditions for bicyclists. In fact, since the program’s inception, the League has received 452 applications and designated 179 BFCs in 44 states.

In the latest round announced yesterday, Minneapolis took gold, while Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C., earned silver. A number of new cities were added to the list with bronze status, too, including Kansas City, MO; Harrisonburg, VA; and Juneau, AK to name a few. While BFC designations give government leaders well-earned recognition, these awards aren’t confined to City Hall. In many (if not most) communities, bicycle advocates play a pivotal role, pressing policymakers to pursue BFC status and providing the public backing to execute the projects and programs that get them there. As we noted in our 2010 Benchmarking Report: “Strong advocacy organizations are often necessary to local jurisdictions with hopes of passing and implementing progressive policies for biking and walking. Government and elected officials passionate about these issues often promote or work with emerging advocates, recognizing the need for increased citizen involvement in policy discourse.”

So kudos to visionary leaders like Mayor R.T. Rybak in Minneapolis, Mayor Thomas Menino in Boston and Janette Sadik-Khan, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation. But congratulations to advocacy organizations, like the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition, Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota, Boston Cyclists Union, LivableStreets Alliance (Boston), MassBike, Transportation Alternatives (NYC) and so many more for working with their government representatives to boost biking and walking in their communities, too.

Read all about the BFC program and latest winners on the League’s blog.