Encouraging physical activity with safer streets

It’s a foundational belief at the League: when more people ride bikes, life is better for everyone. One way we know bicycling improves lives is that it contributes to the overall health of our nation: our neighbors, ourselves, and our fellow Americans across the country. It’s why the League and our national network of advocates and partner organizations work so tirelessly to build Bicycle Friendly Communities with activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations so biking and walking is a possibility for more people, more often. 

It’s also why the League is proud to be a partner and to promote today’s launch of the CDC’s Active People, Healthy Nation^SM, a new initiative aimed to help 27 million Americans become more physically active by 2027. The initiative promotes strategies that work, like Complete Streets policies, zoning policies, and communities with connected sidewalks, trails, bicycle lanes, and public transit–all based on a foundation of equitable and inclusive access.  

The need for improving lives and communities through bicycling and active transportation couldn’t be clearer. In every community, inequities and disparities that are made worse by community planning that prioritizes motor vehicle speed and convenience over the ability of people to move around without a car must be addressed. We have seen the power of the Bicycle Friendly Community program as a tool to improve safety, comfort, and convenience for bicycling and walking in every neighborhood, in every community.

Active People, Healthy Nation^SM presents an opportunity to combine the efforts of individuals and organizations across the country around a goal to be physically active. This goal isn’t set in a vacuum, either. It was set with the recognition that we have to improve the opportunities for activity available to everyone, wherever they live. The League encourages individuals and organizations alike to join Active People, Healthy NationSM to collectively bring attention to the importance of being active and the strategies that work to build safe places for active people.