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As public works employees put paint to pavement on Friday, advocates and officials celebrated Oakland’s most successful year yet in biking and walking infrastructure.

Leaders from the East Bay Bicycle Coalition and Walk Oakland Bike Oakland joined Mayor Jean Quan to mark the installation of more than 18 miles of bike lanes and nearly 300 bike parking spots in 2011 alone.

Though it didn’t hit the organizations’ target of 30 miles by the end of 2011, the uptick in infrastructure has been a major victory for the Oakland Bikeways Campaign, a joint effort of the EEBC and WOBO. And city officials promised the next wave of sharrows and bike lanes should be on the ground by mid-2012.

“The bike lanes installed this year go a long way to fulfilling WOBO’s goal of connecting Oakland’s neighborhoods with safe, reliable and affordable transportation options,” Gloria Bruce, chair of the board at WOBO, said at the press conference. “Bicycling is fun, it’s healthy, and people want to do it. Despite the budget and other challenges, the City is moving forward quickly to build the network and we applaud them for that. Safe biking makes a big difference in people’s lives.”

“It’s not just putting down more miles, but miles that connect, and create a safe, continuous network that really gets you where you need to go and doesn’t drop you along the way,” Renee Rivera, executive director of EEBC, said. “We need to make Oakland a safe place to bike for everyone. We need to pay more attention to the eastern side of town, working with great partners like Cycles of Change and their earn-a-bike program, and bringing more infrastructure to the east side where it’s so badly needed.”

It’s worth noting that staff and volunteers from WOBO and EBBC worked on aspects of the Oakland Bikeways initiative at Alliance Winning Campaigns Training in 2008 and 2010 respectively. Jumpstart your 2012 campaigns by attending one of these workshops in your area. The first is coming up in a matter of weeks: Register now for the Winning Campaigns Training in Tucson, AZ, January 13-15th. The early bird rate — just $75 for Alliance members — ends on Friday.

Read more about last week’s celebration from the EBBC here.

Photo: Renee Rivera (left), executive director of the EBBC, with Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. (Credit: Gene Anderson)

Last week, the Bikes Belong Coalition announced its latest grant recipients and four Alliance member organizations are on the list.

Since Bikes Belong’s Grants Program began in 1999, the coalition has awarded 231 grants in 46 states and the District of Columbia, providing more than $1.8 million in cash and leveraging close to $655 million in federal, state, and private funding. This summer, more than $25,000 will help Alliance member organizations advance bikeways campaigns, assess the economic impact of bicycling, study the impact of road diets and launch an Open Streets initiative.

In Colorado, a $2,500 grant will boost a new open streets initiative. Piep Van Heuven, BikeDenver’s executive director, says her organization approached LiveWell Colorado in November about partnering on what is hoped to be the first of many car-free streets events in the Mile High City.

“We’re very excited to partner with LiveWell Colorado to bring Denver its first Ciclovia,” Van Heuven says. “LiveWell Colorado is one of the state’s premier health-focused non-profits and we’re excited about the strong marketing and promotions effort they are bringing to the project.  Together, we secured sponsorship support from Kaiser Permanente, Denver Public Works, Bikes Belong, Walmart and CBS4. Viva Streets will take place August 14th on the two-mile stretch of 23rd Avenue between City Park and Stapleton that’s easily accessible to all of Denver’s Northeast neighborhoods. The event will be a great way to introduce residents to the biking and walking opportunities that are all around them, to welcome our new Mayor and members of city council, and to continue to build momentum for bicycling and pedestrian improvements in the city.”

Also receiving Bikes Belong grants:

• Walk Oakland Bike Oakland will receive $10,000 to advance their Oakland Bikeways Campaign, which aims for 30 miles of new, safe bikeways by the end of 2012, continuous bikeways on five key travel corridors by 2015 and a complete 218-mile bicycle network by 2020.

• The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition will use an $8,000 grant to compare economic activity between two halves of a transportation corridor: one with car lanes reduced by half and bike lanes added, one unchanged. The study will look at commercial and residential property sales, number of new businesses, and perceptions about how the road diet may have affected property values and commerce.

• A $6,000 grant will help the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, in partnership with the University of Northern Iowa Sustainable Tourism and Environment Program, study the statewide economic impact of bicycling by looking at retail sales, tourism, and bicycling-related events. With the goal of completing the study by the end of 2011, the Coalition will use the results to guide policy development and spur investments in bicycle transportation and infrastructure.

Read more about the Bikes Belong grant program here.

Walk Oakland Bike Oakland is delighted to introduce their very first Executive Director, Kassie Rohrbach. Kassie was one of the co-founders of Energy Action Coalition (EAC), a youth-led coalition of environmental and social justice groups. She helped grow EAC into a robust and effective organization for change. Kassie brings eight years of coalition-building, policy development, and organizational development to WOBO.  Kassie recently visited the staff at the Alliance DC office, and discussed her vision and goals for WOBO. We wish her success and know that she will keep the momentum moving forward for bicycling and walking in Oakland.

For more information about Kassie and WOBO please visit http://www.walkoaklandbikeoakland.org