Submitted by: Placementt123 Placementt123

Bicycling.com recently released its annual list of the most bike-friendly cities in the country, and Minneapolis has made the cut once again.

Minneapolis is already revered nation-wide as being an over-the-top bike-friendly city. It was also recently recognized by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) and designated as a Bicycle Friendly Community, which included the coveted a silver status ranking from the organization, which is dedicated to promoting bicycling for fun, fitness, and transportation. The four-year designation is handed out to communities that have demonstrated impressive, measurable efforts to integrate bicyclists into the community.

Harry Brull, LAB board member, presented the award to Mayor Rybak. He said that out of the 210 communities that had applied to receive the designation only 84 have received awards. The LAB application committee recognized Minneapolis for its high percentage of bike commuters; the investments it has made in bike-friendly improvements, including the Midtown Bike Depot, and education and awareness campaigns, including the city s Bike Ambassador Program.

Earlier this year the Twin Cities held its first Great Commuter Challenge in which Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak pedaled his bicycle to a first place finish over Hennepin County Commissioner Toni Carter who rode the bus and light rail, and Minneapolis Star Tribune Roadguy blogger Jim Foti, who drove.

Bicycling.com surveyed only those cities with 100,000 citizens or more, scrutinizing them for very specific bike-friendly integrations and infrastructure points, including segregated bike lanes, municipal bike racks, and bike boulevards, among othes. Researchers also considered more qualitative elements, such as community support for a vibrant and diverse bike culture, and the presence of what it designated as a good selection of “smart, savvy bike shops.”

In addition to the above criteria, the city also has extended reach into the broader community. The University of Minnesota has created an online portal called Cyclopath which allows visitors to enter personal bikeability ratings for roads and trails across the city and state. This unique rating system helps cyclists of all ages and abilities located the best routes while also supporting the community with individual knowledge of specific communities. Cyclopath is a geowiki, which is essentially an editable map that allows anyone to log on and share notes about roads and trails, enter tags about special locations, and fix map problems, such as add missing trails. Hundreds of Twin Cities cyclists are making regular contributions to Cyclopath, which aims to become the most comprehensive and up-to-date bicycle information resource in the world.

To prepare its annual list, Bicycling.com says it referenced the Bicycling and Walking in the United States 2010 Benchmarking Report, which is jointly prepared and published each year by the Alliance for Biking and Walking; the League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle Friendly America project; data from Mediamark Research, Inc., Dun & Bradstreet and The Nielsen Company. In addition, extensive street-level interviews were conducted with national and local advocates, bike shops and other experts in order to fully represent the community s perspective on their city s bike-friendly status.

About the Author: For more details please visit

montaguebikes.com

Source:

isnare.com

Permanent Link:

isnare.com/?aid=675030&ca=Sports