Blog
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and her leadership colleagues on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee published their eagerly anticipated proposal for the next transportation bill — and the proposal gets a solid B+ rating from the League, offering the certainty of long term-funding that transportation agencies need to make much-needed infrastructure investments while making some small but important changes to make the programs run more efficiently and with greater transparency.
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When Sheclismo adventure racer Crystal Day signed up for the National Bike Challenge, her enthusiasm must’ve been contagious. Her daughters, Baylie and Kiara, asked if they could help out Sheclismo in logging miles. Crystal posted this to Sheclismo’s Facebook group, and in short order, Sheena Christiansen’s daughters Ren and Nevaeh had signed up, too. “I feel like no one can judge my when I’m on my bike. I feel unstoppable!” says Ren, 12. Nevaeh, who is 10, says “I love riding my bike really fast down big hills!”
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For Emily Gresh, her health was her livelihood. As a professional ballet dancer, her body was her medium. When she got cancer, at age 39, that seemless relationship came undone. As she underwent surgey and started the long road to recovery, bicycling rebuilt her strength and reconnected her to the joy of pushing her physical limits — and sharing her inspiration with others.
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Our Evaluation & Planning category showed the second best improvement of any Bicycle Friendly State category this year. This looks at how states plan to accommodate and protect bicyclists. To have good plans and ensure that they are working this category also looks at measurables – such as bicycle commuting rates and bicycle fatalities. This year, we saw a lot of improvement among states that scored either a 1 or a 2 in this category last year. Hopefully this means that these states are putting plans in place to increase cycling rates and decrease cycling-related fatalities, and that we will be reporting on those successes in the future.
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For many bicyclists becoming a parent can change everything. Kidical Mass DC recognized these challenges and created the ABCs of Family Biking to help parents overcome those hurdles. This weekend, at the annual event, organizer Megan Odett and other area advocates, spoke with Stone Soup Films for a 5-minute video that captures the energy and possibility of empowering more families to ride.
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When we examine Policies and Programs as part of our annual Bicycle Friendly State ranking we are primarily looking at the policies that accommodate bicyclists and state staff time for bicycling-related programs. Examples of policies that accommodate bicyclists include complete streets policies, facility design guidelines, bicycle parking policies, and bridge and tunnel access policies.
Read More →Today the Census Bureau released its newest report on commuting in America, heralding a 60 percent increase in bike commuting in America over the past decade. We’ll be discussing this new report with Census Bureau staff via Google Hangout next Tuesday, May 13, at 12 p.m. Tune in here.
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In honor of National Bike to School Day, we’re showcasing stories of family biking this week. A Seattle mother of two and founder of the blog Family Ride, Madi Carlson is a longtime leader of Kidical Mass and Critical Lass rides — but this year’s BTSD was her first time as a conductor. In this guest post, she shares the joys — and challenges — of this “tornado of fun.”
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Last week, we announced our 2014 Bicycle Friendly State Ranking and, to give you greater insight into the annual assessment, we’re breaking down each of the categories and identifying key trends. Education & Encouragement is a category in which many states excel. This can be seen in the strong growth in Signs of Success associated with the Education & Encouragement category.
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Today, nearly 2,000 schools participated in National Bike To School Day, with parents and kids hopping on two wheels for their daily commute to school. We asked our followers to Tweet and Instagram your favorite photos from this morning, using the hashtag #BTSD. The feed was flooded with photos of bright, cheerful faces ready to head out on their rides to school. We pulled out a few of our favorites here, and feel free to keep sending them in — we’ll update this post!
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