Bicycle Friendly Communities

San Luis Obispo, CA | Silver Level

Education: With 14 League Cycling Instructors, San Luis Obispo has one of the highest number of active LCIs per capita in the nation. The LCIs offer bi-monthly Road 1 classes. There is an annual bike day on the Cal Poly University and San Luis High School campuses and students are encouraged to leave cars at home, with prizes distributed to all participants. The Bike First program provides 30 SLO County residents with a bicycle, a helmet, cycling computer, and a bicycle education course.

Encouragement: The city offers weekly bike valet at the most popular event: Thursday Night Farmer's Market. There is active promotion and education by SLO Rideshare and SLO County Bicycle Coalition club rides and events. The city also has a Racks with Plaques program.

Engineering: The $20,000 Bill Roalman Bike Boulevard created a safe and fast route into downtown from the south side of town, allowing cyclists to avoid a high volume, narrow right-of-way arterial. It included tree plantings, intersection/signalization improvements, stop sign flips (to favor cyclists) and pavement markings. All major intersections are equipped with loop or camera detection that is sensitive to bicycles. In Sept. 2003, six blocks of a significant cross-town arterial—Pismo Street—were put on a road diet. The right-hand lane of the two-lane, one-way road was converted to a bicycle lane.

Evaluation: The City is currently updating the Bicycle Transportation Plan; adoption is expected in Summer 2007. The new plan identifies and prioritizes over $53 million in projects. The City’s Bicycle Transportation Plan proposes 31 new miles of bike paths including 6 major bikeways. It also proposes bicycle facilities on the remaining 3.2 miles of arterials that are currently without facilities, thus achieving 100 percent bike-friendly arterial streets.