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Bicycling Mag ranks Austin 11th among bike-friendly cities
Austin ranks 11th in Bicycling Magazine’s list of America’s 50 Top Bike-Friendly cities.
Do we deserve it? Debatable.
The magazine looked closely at infrastructure, from segregated bike lanes to bike racks and bike boulevards, when compiling its list. Editors also looked for “a vibrant and diverse bike culture” and “smart, savvy bike shops.”
Well, we’re making great strides in Austin.
In the last few years, the city has added miles of bike lanes, including stretches on Exposition Boulevard and Anderson Lane. It’s also experimenting with the use of road markings like bike boxes at the front of intersections and painted markings to alert motorists that bikes might be crossing lanes. All good stuff.
Some cyclists howled this week when plans for a downtown bike boulevard, which encourages bike traffic and discourages through motor traffic on certain stretches of road, were watered down.
But looking at the broader picture, the situation is better than it was even five years ago. And the process the city’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Program went through in making its recommendation to install road cushions on both Rio Grande Boulevard and Nueces Street helps it earn credibility. City staff listened to community concerns, gathered more data, evaluated it and modified their recommendation based on that data.
Yes, it would have been nice to have a real bike boulevard. But we’re making progress.
We’ve got a great bike culture here, with tons of weekly social rides and hammerhead training rides. We’ve got weekly bike criterion and lots of other races. We’ve got a network of mountain biking trails. And we’ve got plenty of small bike shops.
Certainly, there’s room for improvement before we reach the likes of top-ranking cities like Minneapolis, Portland, Ore., Boulder, Colo., or Seattle. But we’re on our way.
To read Bicycling Magazine’s full report, go here.
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By E. Ray Collins
April 7, 2010 4:34 PM | Link to this
Wow! I’d hate to live in the 12th friendliest city.
By CO2creator
April 7, 2010 6:10 PM | Link to this
Consider whom is doing the rating and how. Like politics bike friendliness is local. As a cyclist if I have a ride able route to get from point A to B, legally, timely, and with a low probability of getting hit by a vehicle then all is well.
By erica
April 13, 2010 10:15 AM | Link to this
Wow, I had a bit of an unexpected knee-jerk reaction to this article. Yes, it’s good Austin made the list at all. Great. But we aspire to more. Let’s not pretend mediocre attempts at improving bike culture, by city officials who cave to big business interests, is acceptable. Where will that get us?