Bicycle Friendly Community
Sacramento and Folsom are both designated as silver-level Bicycle Friendly Communities by the League of American Bicyclists. Davis has the special distinction of being one of three platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Communities in the U.S.
These distinctions reflect the bike-friendliness of our region as measured by data on activities within five broad areas:
Engineering: Physical infrastructure and hardware to support cycling
Education: Programs that ensure the safety, comfort and convenience of cyclists and fellow road users
Encouragement: Incentives, promotions and opportunities that inspire and enable people to ride
Enforcement: Equitable laws and programs that ensure motorists and cyclists are held accountable
Evaluation: Processes that demonstrate a commitment to measuring results and planning for the future
The League judges cities based on their efforts to educate cyclists and motorists about proper road usage, develop Share the Road campaigns, promote bicycle tourism, produce bicycle maps, include bicycling in transportation planning, measures bike commuting rates, and train law enforcement agencies and traffic court judges to better enforce cyclists’ rights to the road.
In 2006, Sacramento’s education programs and engineering decisions garnered it recognition as a bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community. And this fall, Folsom moved up from silver- to bronze-level status.
There is still a long way to go. For example, Sacramento has come up short the areas of encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation. To help push Sacramento over the top, SABA has put together a list of ten steps Sacramento needs to earn that Gold star:
1. Increase the amount of bicycle parking. The city should commit to adding a number of bike parking spaces, revise its bike parking ordinance to include restaurants, improve its bicycle parking program to modify unused parking meter poles as bike racks, and start an on-street bicycle parking program.
2. Implement and improve the bicycle plan. The City/County Bikeway Master Plan is a good start, and Sacramento should be constantly adding to its trail system, removing barriers, and making other on-street improvements.
3. Use best practices based on the AASHTO and Caltrans standards, including trailhead design guidelines.
4. Develop a plan to reduce crashes and fatalities. The city should commit to a specific injury and crash reduction rate and consider means to get there, like two-way reversions lower speed limits, more traffic calming, complete streets implementations, and better “share the road” signage.
5. Encourage bicycle education. The city should make facilities available at no cost to League Certified BikeEd instructors and add information about BikeEd courses and other educational materials to the city’s web site. Along the way, the city should apply for Safe Routes to School funding and help publish a bicycle law brochure.
6. Connect law enforcement and cycling communities. The city should improve cyclist-police relations and help make sure law enforcement agencies are properly trained about cyclists’ rights and responsibilities.
7. Targeted enforcement and road-sharing. The city should develop tip cards and brochures for motorists and cyclists alike and increase traffic enforcement personnel trained in bicycle regulations.
8. Sponsor community bike rides to celebrate and publicize new facilities. The city should take an active role in planning, promoting, and sponsoring events to draw awareness to new bicycle facilities, with special outreach to bicycle clubs and shops.
9. New bicycle-oriented development. The city should review street connectivity standards, require bike parking, and ensure that its general plan and level of service standards are in line with smart growth principles.
10. Improve the bicycle trail system. The American River Parkway trail is a crowning jewel for the region, and the city should improve access to it by identifying additional.
Last updated 2011-04-5 01:00:26 PM (EST). Please send corrections and revisions to our Webmaster.