How Cheyenne’s Bronze BFC Award Started with One Local Champion
In the biking world, Cheyenne, Wyoming, is a bit of a hidden gem.
“There’s been a big interest in the community in bicycling for decades,” says Public Information Officer Matt Murphy. Indeed, the state capital’s first City-wide Bikeway Plan dates to 1975 and contained this simple but compelling pledge: “Through the continuous efforts of all of us, the potential of ‘two-wheeling’ will be realized.”
The wheels of time spin on, and the standards for American biking have gone up quite a bit in the last half-century. So the League was especially excited to read the City of Cheyenne’s 2024 Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) submission, assembled by Murphy and a colleague in the city’s Planning Department.
Key Results & Accomplishments »
- Cheyenne earned a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community award in 2024 on its very first application, reflecting strong leadership, collaboration, and vision.
- The City also earned a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Business award as an employer.
- Cheyenne is actively expanding its bike infrastructure, including planned Greenway extensions to schools and neighborhoods.
- A new Active Transportation Advisory Committee (ATAC) is launching soon, with a priority project to conduct a bike parking audit downtown—setting the stage for targeted improvements.
- The city is strengthening partnerships with community groups and health organizations, including ongoing support from the League through the CDC’s Active People, Healthy NationSM initiative.
- The city plans to adopt a Active People, Healthy NationSM Proclamation to show their support for increasing physical activity through community design.
- Recent events like the revived Bike to Work Day showcase Cheyenne’s vibrant and growing bike culture.
With their first-time application, Cheyenne earned a Bronze award thanks to much potential realized and a vision for more to come. The city exemplifies the power of inspired leadership, departmental collaboration, and productive partnership with the League that sets an example for communities, public officials, and bike champions across the country.
Making Strides
With Murphy’s leadership and the help of the BFC program, the City of Cheyenne is making major strides to become more welcoming to people on bikes.
Murphy brought to Cheyenne a wealth of bike-centric knowledge from previous work in other Bicycle Friendly Communities, including Fort Collins, CO, and Laramie, WY. In 2023, he teamed up with Planning colleague Lonnie Olsen to apply for the city’s first BFC award—earning Bronze—and also secured a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Business award for the City of Cheyenne as an employer.
“One of the big benefits [to partnering with the League] was going through the application process, both from a BFB perspective and from the [perspective of the] BFC program,” says Murphy. “Getting all of that data and information together in one space was really helpful. “
Murphy adds, “We had a lot of that stuff already—crash data, length of bike network, or the bike map—but it wasn’t all coalesced in one space. It’s nice to be able to have that improved data collection and analysis aspect of it. Where we have gaps, where we can improve, having all that information in one spot.”
Murphy points to the Greater Cheyenne Greenway—a 47‑mile municipal multi‑use path system—as the backbone of the city’s bike network and a highlight for local riders. It offers a mix of urban and natural scenery and connects people to parks, public art, and community spaces.
The Power of Collaboration
Murphy may be an enthusiastic proponent of all things biking, but the lesson of Cheyenne’s accomplishments isn’t that success depends on one or two motivated individuals. Rather, it’s a collaborative approach with others inside and outside of city government that stands out—and can be replicated by communities anywhere.
“I think there’s a pretty good … collaborative environment between all different departments,” Murphy says, ticking through the many city departments engaged with bike-related work in Cheyenne, from Planning to Community Recreation & Events to the City Engineer to Public Works.
It’s not just that Mayor Patrick Collins has owned and operated the bike shop, Bicycle Station, since 1991, though that is cool. That bike network data that Murphy pulled together? It got the League’s attention.
As one of our judges said, “The community of Cheyenne has committed to transportation planners and it shows. Excellent work to put together a transportation plan and commitment by the city to budget for implementation.”
As Cheyenne builds out its bike network—the city is planning a 2.6-mile Greenway extension to an elementary school at the Air Force base and a 2.4-mile extension to connect the Sun Valley neighborhood with a new community park—it keeps accessibility at the forefront. As noted in the BFC application, “As part of its work, the Mayor’s Council for People with Disabilities advises the City on accessibility issues for infrastructure around the community, including conducting audits of infrastructure to identify accessibility issues.”
Cheyenne’s collective approach to biking extends well beyond collaborations among city departments.
The Cheyenne Regional Medical Center “provides between 350 and 400 helmets to youth annually,” according to the BFC application. The Downtown Development Authority helped launch a community bike-share program in 2016 and supports bike events downtown. The local Rotary and Kiwanis clubs fundraise for “community bicycle amenities” from Greenway infrastructure to “new park and open space land that will increase opportunities for bicycling in the city.” And a nascent Active Transportation Advisory Committee (see more below!) promises to bring even more citizen voices into the city’s bike-related efforts.
Room to Grow
Murphy readily acknowledges that, as with any community, Cheyenne has improvements to make from “improving our on-street bike network” to putting a greater “emphasis on bike education.”
That aligns with the customized, city-specific feedback the League offered in its BFC Report Card. Recommended steps for Cheyenne to take include encouraging local businesses to promote biking in their workplace and seek recognition through the League’s Bicycle Friendly Business program. The report card also suggests increasing high-quality bike parking, conducting an analysis of local street connectivity, and partnering with local biking groups, schools, and parents to promote on-bike education and outreach to encourage residents of all ages to ride bikes.
The good news for Cheyenne is that they’ve continued to work together with the League, meeting with our Bicycle Friendly America team once a month this spring and summer for technical assistance and problem-solving, thanks to a partnership through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Active People, Healthy NationSM initiative.
It’s a partnership that’s bearing fruit. The League connected Murphy with partners at the American Heart Association who are helping elected leaders show their support for activity-friendly communities. As a result, the city plans to adopt an Active People, Healthy NationSM Proclamation.
Also with the League’s encouragement, Murphy is getting an Active Transportation Advisory Committee (ATAC) rolling. Advisory committees of this sort are a sure sign that a community is putting the systems in place to welcome those on bikes. “[Cheyenne’s ATAC] will help us significantly improve our bicycle- and pedestrian-friendliness…. We’d been wanting to do that for a while,” Murphy notes, citing how helpful the League’s support was. “It was in a few different plans, but it hadn’t got off the ground.”
Check out our recent blog and interactive map featuring great examples of active transportation advisory committees from BFC across the nation!
The people of Cheyenne were clearly eager for an ATAC, as well, judging by the number of people who applied to sit on the committee. “There are some military connections, some young professionals, people with families, we have that whole gamut.” Murphy plans to round out the committee with a broad set of representatives, including from a local hospital and the school district.
Once the advisory committee is fully launched, they’ll help with conducting a bike parking audit in downtown Cheyenne—setting the stage for tangible improvements to the city’s bike‑friendliness.
As Cheyenne continues its work to become more welcoming to people who bike, its ability to activate and engage residents’ voices will remain a key ingredient to success. A recently passed “Critical Traffic Control Area” ordinance enables neighborhoods to “request a traffic control study of streets,” an evaluation tool the city can act on to identify and implement safety improvements, said Cheyenne’s BFC application.
With all this positive momentum, Murphy was happy to report that Cheyenne’s “Bike Week” in late June was the perfect showcase of the city’s longstanding and growing bike culture.
Murphy helped the city revive Bike to Work Day—which had a long history in Cheyenne but had been paused during COVID—featuring activities and pop-ups to engage riders across the city, including seven breakfast stations and an after-work party at a local brewery.
The League’s Bicycle Friendly Community program requires places to reapply for designation every four years. Places that make progress are rewarded with increases in their award level – and a stronger biking community. We look forward to seeing how much more bikeable Cheyenne has become in 2028!
This project was made possible by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Contract #47QRAA20D003W). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC. These efforts are part of the CDC’s Active People, Healthy NationSM Initiative that is working to help 27 million Americans become more physically active by 2027.