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America’s top bicycling cities
Bicycling Magazine has unveiled its annual list of the country’s best cities for cycling.
And no, Austin’s not on the list.
The usual suspects made it once again:
- Portland, Ore.: Check out the above picture, taken in Portland. “What perennially puts Portland atop our list is that you don’t need to know anything about bike lanes or city planning to see that it is a haven for cyclists,” the mag says. “Just hang out in a coffee shop and look out the window: Bikes and riders of all stripes are everywhere.”
- Seattle: “The city council has unabashedly stated that its goal is to unseat Portland as the best U.S. city for cycling. Its 10-year, $240 million bike master plan, passed by a unanimous council vote last fall, may just get it there. Among the objectives: tripling the number of journeys made by bike and adding 450 miles of bike paths.”
- Chicago: Richard Daley, the mayor for the past 19 years and a dedicated roadie, has ushered in a bicycle renaissance, with a growing network of bike lanes, a bike station with valet bike parking, showers and indoor bike racks.”
- San Francisco: “All bike infrastructure projects here have been halted since 2006, when two ‘concerned’ groups sued the city for not putting plans through the environmental impact review process. A judge ruled that the review needed to happen, and the city may not get back on track until 2010. But here’s why San Fran rules: The local bike culture has stood strong, and the number of cyclists increased by 15 percent last year alone.
- Boulder, Colo.: “Fourteen percent of all trips here are now taken by bike — an almost European figure. Perhaps even more telling is that Boulder is raising the next generation of cyclists: The city’s Safe Routes to School program has had such an impact locally that one school reports that 75 percent of its students now bike or walk to school.
To read all the nitty gritty details, go here: http://www.bicycling.com/topic/0,6614,s1-2-19-0-0,00.html
On the magazine’s list of most improved cycling cities? New York City, Louisville Ky., and Washington, D.C. It also named Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Boston, Columbus, Ohio and Fargo-Moorehead, N.D. as future best cities.
Austin didn’t make the list of top cities, but at least it didn’t land in the list of worst cities for cycling, like Dallas did. Also on the worst list were Memphis and Miami.
“Dallas boasts a vibrant cycling community, but riding in and around the city requires nerves of steel,” the magazine wrote. “Fast, multilane highways choked with traffic dominate the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metroplex, which some suspect might soon even sprawl over the Oklahoma border.”
Austin does get a mention, along with a couple of dozen other cities that like bikes. Oddly, it names Capitol of Texas Highway our city’s best ride.
Really?
Maybe 10 years ago. But in my book, traffic’s gotten too heavy to make that an enjoyable ride. Factor in the cyclist fatalities that have occurred there and I’ll take my training rides outside of town. My favorite spot is the two-lane park road between Bastrop and Buescher state parks 30 minutes east of Austin. Or some of the two-lane roads near Dripping Springs.
Hey. We’re making progress.
Have you tried the new bike lanes on Barton Springs Road? Checked out the parts of the Lance Armstrong Bikeway that have opened? Been in any of our city’s awesome bike shops? Attended the Tour de Fat bike festival? Ridden the Veloway? Participated in the LiveStrong Challenge? The MS150 Bike Tour? Seen the AT&T Austin Downtown Criterium? Been to the Thursday Night Crit Series at The Driveway? Pointed your mountain bike down a trail at Walnut Creek? City Park? Seen Lance Armstrong cruise by on his bike? Seen the amazing creations of the Austin Bike Zoo? Raced the Dirt Derby cyclocross races in Del Valle? Cruised the Barton Creek Greenbelt …
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By Philip Dhingra
November 20, 2008 5:01 AM | Link to this
I used to live in Palo Alto, and biked all over the place. Moved to Austin, ditched the bike, and haven’t desired to get back on one since.
The biking culture in Austin is great, but the infrastructure support is terrible: Narrow bike lanes, bike lanes that are disconnected, a lack of bike-only passageways.
Whenever I drive past a biker, I think to myself, man, seriously, it’d require nerves of steel for me to do that.
Now I just skateboard on the sidewalk. Allows me to hop on and off if there’s pedestrians and it keeps me off the road.
My belief is Austinites think Austin is a great biking city, but it’s simply their lack of exposure to the good biking cities elsewhere in the US and the great biking cities in Europe.
We can do an order-of-magnitude better.
By Steve
November 20, 2008 7:21 AM | Link to this
I could not agree more Philip. The city, and surrounding areas (hello Round Rock)could do far more to create biking only routes that enable riders to avoid congested and dangerous intersections. At least think about bikes when building up the infrastructure.
By Mark (Dallas)
November 24, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this
Much of Texas’ problem with bikes stems from two things. The bicyclists sense of entitlement that makes them think that they are special because they are doing something physically exerting or creating no emissions and feel above the law. Second, that motorists believe that they are the only vehicles allowed on the raod and are out to prove it with 1 1/2 tons of metal. When we begin to learn how to actually share the road, things will change. However, it will not happen until both sides begin to change their outlook.
I am an endurance cyclist and a commuter and I do both in Dallas. But, I stop at stop signs, try to remind others to do the same, and allow cars their rights on the road. I have been both cheered and jeered, daily.
It is a mindset. If we all improve ours, everybody will win in the end.