Bridging the gaps

Last week, our friends the Alliance for Biking & Walking’s PeoplePoweredBlog reported on an achievement in Missouri: After years of work by the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation, the Missouri DOT put a separated bike lane on the Heart of America Bridge. The Alliance quotes the Federation’s Brent Hugh on the importance of this success: “Advocates have been working for this day for more than two decades,” Hugh says. “The Missouri River cuts the Kansas City metro area in half, and a safe crossing point for bicyclists and pedestrians has been the biggest missing piece of the area’s bike-ped network.” Congratulations.

Photo by the Mid-America Regional Council

We know that gaining safe access to bridges is a perennial issue for bicyclists. That’s why it is the topic of the next Advocacy Advance report. If you have a story of a successful — or challenging — campaign to get bikes on bridges that you would like to share, please email me at darren [at] bikeleague [dot] org.  I’d love to learn for you.