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From 2000 to 2010, bicycle commuting rose 40 percent in the U.S. But, in the 38 largest BFCs, the rise in bike commuters was almost double the national rate, growing a staggering 77 percent over the same time period. Cities like Portland, Ore.; Boulder, Colo; Davis, Calif., and other leading BFCs are almost ready to join the ranks of world-class bike communities - and the League has been working with BFC representatives to envision a higher standard that challenges and charts new heights for bicycle-friendliness in the United States. "If it sounds like we are moving the goalposts, it's because we are," says Andy Clarke, League President. "Communities are doing so much more, and the state of the practice in innovative infrastructure and programs has developed so rapidly in recent years, that it really is time to challenge communities to do even more to make biking better." Attaining Diamond designation will involve an individualized challenge tailored to each community. The League will conduct a detailed audit for each city and work with community leaders to create clear 5-, 10- and 15-year goals for important factors like bicycle mode share, land use, crashes, network connectivity and bike culture. The primary measure to Diamond designation: The number of people riding and citizen satisfaction. Cities will delve into a more detail evaluation of ridership and level of service, using standard methods of measure like the American Community Survey and National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project, but also more challenging and broader tools such as Copenhagen's Bicycle Account. The end goal: American communities that rival top international cycling cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam with world-class facilities, like protected bike lanes - and so much more. "In Portland, bikes mean business," says Tom Miller, Director of the Portland (Ore.) Bureau of Transportation. "Our commitment to bike-friendly streets has helped to attract a wealt

Leerone Nesmith said he sometimes finds sharing the road to be a bit of a squeeze. Nesmith, 66, of Erie, rides his bicycle every day, weather permitting, and said he is occasionally overtaken by motor vehicles that come too close to him when they pass. "It can be a little nerve-racking. You have to keep watching traffic real close," he said. Changes to Pennsylvania's Vehicle Code that took effect a year ago require motorists to stay at least 4 feet from bicyclists when passing them on the road. Nesmith said he's familiar with the new law but doesn't believe everyone is aware of the changes. "Some come pretty close to you," said Nesmith, who has never been in an accident while riding his bike. The education continues as the Erie region heads into a new bike-riding season. Sgt. Jeff Annunziata, a traffic investigator with the Erie Bureau of Police, said he first heard of the law change from a citizen and learned more about it later during police updates. Annunziata said he's not sure the newly designated passing "buffer" will help much in cutting down accidents involving bicycles and other vehicles. The biggest problems Annunziata says he sees are motorists not paying attention to bicyclists, and bicyclists not paying attention to other traffic and not knowing the rules of the road. "The avid bike riders absolutely know the rules, but others don't," he said. "Probably 90 percent of the accidents involving bikes in the city are probably caused by bike riders not paying attention." The bulk of the attention given to the vehicle code changes adopted under Act 3 of 2012, signed by Gov. Tom Corbett in February 2012, centered on the distance vehicles must stay from bicyclists when passing. It's the greatest distance established by any of the 25 states that have specific distance requirements in their traffic laws. Two states have distance requirements of at least 2 feet, while 22 require a distance of at least 3 feet, according to data compiled by the League of Am

Bicycles are here to stay as part of our transportation system. While MAP-21 reorganizes and reduces funding opportunities, advocates and agency staff will need to look beyond Transportation Alternatives. This may be the Highway Safety Improvement Program, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, Surface Transportation Program, or a number of other federal and state sources. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced the FY2012 grant recipients for their Bus Livability grant program. Highlighting the importance of connecting bicycles and transit, many of the approved projects include a bicycle component. At the same time, states are recognizing and funding important bicycle programs and projects. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley recently announced 28 Bikeways Program Grants, part of his Cycle Maryland initiative. The grant winning projects include on and off-road bicycle route connections, bike route signage, bike racks and safety improvements. Salisbury, a recent host of a Bicycle Friendly Communities workshop, received funding to complete their downtown bicycle lanes project (way to go bike-SBY!). Baltimore will be using the grant to install a downtown cycletrack. Click here for a complete list of projects. As these two programs show, there are funds available for bicycles, but not always in the first place you look. Advocates and agency staff will need to be creative and tenacious in finding sources and getting projects funded. The Advocacy Advance team is always here to answer questions, brainstorm ideas, and help get your projects funded.

When it comes to walking, many businesses understand pretty intuitively the value of fostering good foot traffic - the ones that are surviving, anyway. With bicycling, however, a lot of business owners and political decision-makers just don't get it at all. When Elly Blue wrote "Why an additional road tax for bicyclists would be unfair," which was later followed by a series of posts on Grist under the banner of bikenomics, I started to view bicycling under a completely different lens. This view and emphasis on economics has influenced my own writing and advocacy ever since. Elly Blue (left) & April Economides (right) At Pro Walk-Pro Bike April Economides, principle of Green Octopus Consulting, who headed up the program to create bicycling friendly business districts in Long Beach, is another voice in the bike movement who has been emphasizing economics. She was recently hired by Bike Nation to manage their bike share program proposed in Long Beach. Blue and Economides got together for the first time for a presentation at Pro-Walk/Pro-Bike titled "Bikenomics & the Business Case for Bike-Friendly Business Districts". Their presentations complimented each other very well, with Blue setting up some of the conceptual framework for why looking at the economics of bicycling is important, while Economides outlined the nuts and bolts of the outreach and programs done so far in Long Beach. April encouraged people early on in her talk "to engage the business community; we can't just preach to the choir". Some of the most well known aspects of the Long Beach bicycle-friendly business districts are the discounts participating businesses offer for those arriving on bike, and the themed bike racks selected by and installed for businesses. Each business district also received its own cargo bike to be used by businesses for whatever use they may find for them. Given the difficulty of finding places to either buy or rent such utilitarian bicycles throughout most

The Senatorial Advisory Committee on Arts and Culture, under direction from State Senator Sean Wiley, requested exhibits from Erie County that could be featured in the State Capitol in Harrisburg. The Erie Art Museum partnered with Senator Wiley and is highlighting six bike racks that will be on view for the month of February as an exhibit that emphasizes the Museum's commitment to Erie and the community.

Assuming a one-to-one tradeoff between vehicle trips and non-motorized trips, the DOT report estimated that the program conserved 1.67 million gallons of gasoline and averted more than 30.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions between 2007 and 2010. The report also noted that the increase in non-motorized travel and the decrease in automobile trips resulted in notable reductions in other air pollutants that contribute to health problems. It estimates that boosting the amount of pedestrian and bicycle activity in these communities reduced the economic cost of mortality by about $6.9 billion in 2007. Doctors and the broader public health community have long been advocating increasing opportunities for biking and walking as a cost-effective strategy to reduce illness and wasteful spending on reactive health care. The U.S. DOT report, "Report to the U.S. Congress on the Outcomes of the Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Program", is available at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/ntpp/2012_report/final_report_april_2012.pdf.

In 2002 the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission dedicated a historical marker to the career of this famous American bicycle racer. The plaque is located at 1103 State Street in the City of Erie and reads: "A champion racer during the bicycle craze that swept the United States in the 1890s. After racing locally for several years, he competed against bicyclists from other states and nations in major contests between 1896 and 1906; foremost among these were the six-day team races at the old Madison Square Garden in New York. Maya lived here as a boy above his family's business, which he later managed on his return to Erie in 1907." Otto Maya was an American cyclist from Erie, Pennsylvania who during his life time witnessed the development of the bicycle as both a business and recreational means of transportation. He as well experienced the immense popularity of bicycle racing in the 1890s where spectators by the thousands would flock to the wooden cycling track to witness the speed, thrills and spills of cycle racing. Otto was born in 1876 and started racing professionally when he was eighteen years old in 1894. Between 1899 and 1902 Otto Maya raced in 6 six-day races, always capturing a podium placing. He won three six-day races: in Boston at the Revere Beach Cycle Track in 1901 partnered with James B. Bowler and as well in Boston at the Park Street Garden in 1902 with Floyd McFarland. He also was victorious in Philadelphia in 1902 partnered with Howard Freeman. Otto placed second in the first team six-day bicycle race in 1899 at Madison Square Garden New York, partnered with the Canadian cycling star Archie McEachern. In December 1901 at the Madison Square Garden six-day race in New York Otto was partnered with fellow Pennsylvanian Lester Wilson and they worked well together coming in second place. The last six-day race that we have information of Otto participating in was the 4th New York Madison Square Garden six-day race, partnered again with Floyd Mc

The purpose of the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide (part of the Cities for Cycling initiative) is to provide cities with state-of-the-practice solutions that can help create complete streets that are safe and enjoyable for bicyclists. The NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide is based on the experience of the best cycling cities in the world. The designs in this document were developed by cities for cities, since unique urban streets require innovative solutions. Most of these treatments are not directly referenced in the current version of the AASHTO Guide to Bikeway Facilities, although they are virtually all (with two exceptions) permitted under the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The Federal Highway Administration has posted information regarding MUTCD approval status of all of the bicycle related treatments in this guide.. All of the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide treatments are in use internationally and in many cities around the US.

The Marginalization of Bicyclists Dan Gutierrez, who helped write this article, took the video from which these snapshots are taken. In the left photo, Dan's colleague Brian DeSousa is riding close to the curb in the right-hand lane of a multilane arterial. That position invites motorists to pass him within the lane, and sure enough, one does. On the right Brian is in a lane control position, which tells motorists they need to change lanes to pass. How the car lane paradigm eroded our lane rights and what we can do to restore them Not long ago I was riding in the middle of the right-hand (slow) lane on a 4-lane urban street with parallel parking and a 25 mph speed limit. I had just stopped at a 4-way stop when the young male driver of a powerful car in the left lane yelled at me, "You aint no f***ing car man, get on the sidewalk." He then sped away, cutting it close as he changed lanes right in front of me in an attempt, I suppose, to teach me a lesson. That guy stated in a profane way the world view of most people today: If you can't keep up, stay out of the way. My being in the right-hand lane and therefore "in his way" violated his sense that roads in general and travel lanes in particular are only for cars, a viewpoint that I call the car lane paradigm. The car lane paradigm conflicts with the fact that in every state of the union, bicyclists have the same rights and duties as drivers of vehicles. So which is it? Do bicyclists have the same right to use travel lanes as other drivers or not? Before lanes existed, bicyclists simply acted like other drivers. But now that travel lanes are common, most people grow up with the car lane paradigm with bicyclists relegated to the margins of the road. This article goes into the history of how the car lane paradigm came to be and what we can do about it now. Reading this is going to take a while, so here is an outline of where we're going: 1897: In the beginning, bicycles were vehicles and bicyclists were drivers

"Nonprofits that want to report the value of volunteer service in external financial statements must follow generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), which state: Contributions of services shall be recognized if the services received: create or enhance nonfinancial assets; or require specialized skills, are provided by individuals possessing those skills, and would typically need to be purchased if not provided by donation. Services requiring specialized skills are provided by accountants, architects, carpenters, doctors, electricians, lawyers, nurses, plumbers, teachers, and other professionals and craftsmen. Nonprofits must also report the number of full- and part-time volunteers who contributed services during the year. For more details, please see Form 990 Schedule A: Reporting Value of Volunteer Time."

Biking & Walking in MAP-21 Congress passed a new federal transportatin law, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), in June 2012. The law significantly cuts available funding for biking and walking projects, but also presents an opportunity for Americans to encourage state and local governments to fully utilize available funds to make biking and walking safer and more convenient.

Reporting on the value of investing in Bike/Pedestrian Infrastructure.

Barriers to Municipal Planning for Pedestrians and Bicyclists in North Carolina Authors: Kelly R. Evenson, Semra A. Aytur, Sara B. Satinsky, Daniel A. Rodríguez Background: The Guide to Community Preventive Services recommends implementing community- and street-scale urban design, as well as land use policies and practices, to promote walking and bicycling. To better understand barriers to municipal walking and bicycling projects and policies, we surveyed municipal staff in North Carolina.  Methods: We surveyed all 121 municipalities with at least 5,000 persons, and 62% responded. We also surveyed 216 of 420 municipalities with less than 5,000 persons, and 50% responded. The municipal staff member most knowledgeable about walking and bicycling planning was asked to complete the survey. Responses were weighted to account for the sampling design, to reflect prevalence estimates for all North Carolina municipalities. Results: Common barriers to walking and bicycling projects and policies were selected from a 14-item list. For walking, barriers included lack of funding (93% of responding municipalities), other infrastructure priorities (79%), automobile infrastructure priorities (66%), and staffing challenges (65%). For bicycling, barriers included lack of funding (94% of responding municipalities), other infrastructure priorities (79%), automobile infrastructure priorities (73%), issues were not high priorities for the municipality (68%), staffing challenges (68%), and insufficient support from residents (63%). Barriers generally were more prevalent among rural municipalities than among urban municipalities (9 of 14 barriers for walking and 5 of 14 for bicycling; P < .10). limitations The study relied on 1 respondent to report for a municipality. Additionally, job titles of respondents varied with municipality  size.  Conclusions: Health professionals and multidisciplinary partners can assist in overcoming the common local- and state-level barriers

Abstract: Pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure such as sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails, can all be used for transportation, recreation, and fitness. These types of infrastructure have been shown to create many benefits for their users as well as the rest of the community. Some of these benefits are economic, such as increased revenues and jobs for local businesses, and some are non-economic benefits such as reduced congestion, better air quality, safer travel routes, and improved health outcomes. While other studies have examined the economic and non-economic impacts of the use of walking and cycling infrastructure, few have analyzed the employment that results from the design and construction of these projects. In this study we estimate the employment impacts of building and refurbishing transportation infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians. We analyze various transportation projects and use state-specific data to estimate the number of jobs created within each state where the project is located.

Seaway Trail PA is committed to joining NY in achieving the National Scenic Byway status, with both states seeking the All-American Road status. If successful, this designation will make the corridor eligible to receive additional grant funds for various types of improvements; including safety enhancements, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, scenic overlooks/pull-offs, streetscaping, information kiosks, interpretive signage, and visitors centers. A formal working relationship between the County of Erie and Seaway Trail, Inc. will only enhance the likelihood of receiving funding for corridor-wide improvements, with the partnership between NY and PA potentially leveraging additional Federal funds. Planning Tourism Development Plans for Seaway Trail regions, Byway Interpretation Plan, Conservation Plan (under development) and Bicycle Plan (under development). Seaway Trail, Inc. is pleased to extend the opportunity to our Seaway Trail partners in Pennsylvania to participate in a number of ongoing and new projects to enhance, interpret and market the Great Lakes Seaway Trail. If you have any questions or would like to discuss any of these projects further, please contact David Cutter. Bicycle Guidebook and Development Plan S 11,000.00 Existing total project cost $148.000.00; completion 12131106. * Add Pennsylvania to new byway bicycle map and guidebook as appropriate

A little background: First, we are talking only about high-volume streets here. Neighborhood streets can have much narrower lanes. The classic American residential street has a 12-foot lane that handles traffic in two directions. And many busy streets in my hometown of Washington, D.C., have eight-foot lanes that function wonderfully. These are as safe and efficient as they are illegal in most of the United States, and we New Urbanists have written about them plenty before, and built more than a few. But what concerns us here are downtown streets, suburban arterials and collectors, and those other streets that are expected to handle a good amount of traffic, and are thus subject to the mandate of free flow. Second, you should know that these streets used to be made up of 10-foot lanes. Many of them still exist, especially in older cities, where there is no room for anything larger. The success of these streets has had little impact on the traffic-engineering establishment, which, over the decades, has pushed the standard upward, almost nationwide, first to 11 feet, and then to 12. Now, in almost every place I work, I find that certain streets are held to a 12-foot standard, if not by the city, then by a state or a county department of transportation.