Photo: D. Sharon Pruitt
The League of the American Bicyclists announced this week the largest number of cities it has ever added to its list of Bicycle Friendly Communities.
Several Great Lakes cities were upgraded or added to the list for the first time. The annual evaluation recognizes investment in bicycling promotion, education, infrastructure and. Regional cities on this year’s list:
Minnesota
- Minneapolis (gold)
- Greater Mankato (bronze)- First time
Wisconsin
- Madison (gold)
- La Cross (silver)
- Milwaukee (bronze
Michigan,
- Ann Arbor (silver)
- Grand Rapids (bronze)
- Lansing (bronze)
- Traverse City (bronze)
Indiana,
- Bloomington (silver)
- Indianapolis and Monroe County (silver)
- Columbus (bronze)- First time
- Fort Wayne (bronze) — First time
Illinois,
- Chicago (silver)
- Schaumburg (bronze)
- Naperville (bronze)
Ohio,
- Cincinnati (bronze) — First time
New York,
- New York City (silver)
Pennsylvania,
- Philadelphia (bronze)
- State College-Center Region (bronze)- First time
- Franklin (bronze)
- Pittsburg (bronze)
And here is how the league ranks the Great Lakes states in terms of bicycle friendliness:
- Wisconsin (3)
- Minnesota (4)
- Illinois (11)
- Indiana (19)
- Michigan (22)
- Pennsylvania (25)
- New York (34)
- Ohio (37)
The entire state rankings are here.
Well said Doug, from another Yooper. Marquette is a bike friendly community with several miles of paved bike paths courtesy of the city, and I think we have been designated as such. Also a not-for-profit group the Noquemanon Trails Network has about 50 miles of off road bike trails near Mqt., and has a goal of developing 100 miles. But you are right, unfortunately kids and adults in rural areas are addicted to motorized recreation and travel.
Incidentally, I just did a 33 mile Mt. Bike ride this afternoon that was a combination of paved bike trail to get to the off road trails. Great fun with my one “horse” motor.
Several comments:
It is unclear how the League of American Bicyclists evaluates places as being bicycle-friendly. Their website suggests that communities may need to apply for recognition by them. If so, their list of bicycle-friendly communities may be quite incomplete.
From my own experience larger cities are often more bicycle-friendly than smaller communities (i.e., those with fewer than 10,000 residents). That’s really too bad. Many rural areas, here in the North Woods at least, have a focus on motorized recreation (ATVs, snowmobiles)and local kids may have good, safe places to ride bikes. Kids from smaller communities and in adjacent rural areas often seem to get less exercise than city kids.
If you think of communities not just as cities but as counties as well, rural counties in particular have great challenges in terms of being bicycle-friendly. Few have any interest in having bike lanes along rural roads, and many rural roads are gravel, making them less inviting for road bikes. Rail trails may provide good biking options in rural areas, and I applaud those communities that embrace them, but here in the UP it seems that rail trails almost automatically become ATV trails in summer and snowmobile trails in winter unless they are close to major towns. As such their surface is not road bike-friendly, and they do not provide guaranteed quiet bicycling experiences.