Louisville Gains Silver Bicycle Friendly Status
Upgraded from bronze status by League of American Bicyclists
Louisville, Ky. (August 10, 2015) – Mayor Greg Fischer today said the city’s recent designation as a Silver Bicycle Friendly Community means Louisville’s work to make traveling by bike easier as part of a larger plan that takes in motorists, pedestrians and cyclists is gaining national attention. The League of American Bicyclists upgraded Louisville from bronze status in June.
Each year the League examines hundreds of cities across the country to determine how bicycle friendly they are based on specific criteria. Louisville was cited for having a very good public outreach program, good Bike Month and Bike to Work events, having a very active bicycle advisory committee and a current bike plan that is being implemented.
It’s all part of a Complete Streets plan that looks for opportunities to optimize the city’s streets and sidewalks for all users when new roads are constructed and when existing roads are repaired, modified or identified as candidates for the implementation of traffic calming measures.
“The increase to a Silver Bicycle Friendly Community recognizes the work that’s been done over the past two years to grow Louisville’s network of bicycle lanes, multi-use paths and shared lane markings,” Fischer said.
Louisville is one of only two cities in Kentucky, along with Lexington, recognized by the League as being bicycle friendly, and the only one awarded silver status.
Most recently, buffered bike lanes were added to both Muhammad Ali Boulevard and Chestnut Street between Sixth and Thirteenth streets. Over the next couple of weeks shared lane markings will be added to eleven more streets in St. Matthews, which will add to the existing Nanz Avenue bicycle neighborway. Neighborways are low-volume streets that have been optimized for bicycle travel through pavement markings, signage, traffic calming and intersection crossing treatments.
Much of the thanks go to Rolf Eisinger, our Pedestrian and Bicycle Coordinator in the Public Works Department. He’s joined in the effort by our Parks Department, Louisville Forward, the Parklands of Floyds Fork and a robust biking community. All of them will continue working together as we develop our bicycle network even more and move toward gold status and beyond.
