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America's Most Bike-Friendly Communities Named

BY: | Nation | May 14, 2012



The United States is now home to 214 bicycle-friendly communities in 47 states, according to a new list released Monday by the League of American Bicyclists.

Municipalities are evaluated based on their efforts to promote bicycling, investments in bicycling infrastructure and bicycling education programs, the league said in a news release. They must apply to be considered for the list. Localities are also divided into four categories: platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

Boulder, Colo., Davis, Calif., and Portland, Ore., remained the only three communities to earn the platinum distinction on the 2012 list. All three ranked in the top 10 for their percentage of commuters who bike to work, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 American Community Survey, as Governing previously reported.

The league also singled out Durango, Colo., and Missoula, Mont., which were moved up from a silver to a gold designation.

More than 7 percent of Missoula's commuters bike to work, according to the league's report, well above the national average of 1 percent. The city has recently installed protected bike lanes, added bike path signage and created more bike parking. Durango has constructed more than 300 miles of mountain biking trails and continues to invest in city biking lanes, the league noted in its release.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans who use bicycles as their primary mode of transportation has doubled in the last decade, up to 730,000.

The full list from the League of American Bicyclists, which has more than 300,000 members, is below.

 

 

Alternative Means of Transportation Map

Governing compiled 2010 American Community Survey estimates for means of transportation to work for more than 400 U.S. cities, towns and other census-designated places.

Larger icons represent higher total percentages of workers who either walk, bike, use public transportation or another alternate means of commuting to work.

Zoom in or drag to pan the map, then click a marker to display a city's 2010 estimates. Please note that some cities had significantly high margins of error, as indicated in parentheses.


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Dylan Scott

Dylan Scott is a GOVERNING staff writer.

E-mail: dscott@governing.com
Twitter: @dylanlscott

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