Building Bicycle-Friendly Communities
 |
BACA
works closely with our home communities in central
Arkansas to encourage and foster facilities, conditions,
and cultures that support and promote bicycling for both
recreational and transportation purposes. In
November, 2009, we were successful in supporting North
Little Rock in their quest to be designated as
Arkansas's first Bicycle-Friendly Community, at the
"Bronze" level.
We are also working with the City
of Little Rock in pursuing bike-friendly status.
While Little Rock still has a long, long way to go, BACA
seeks to be a resource in planning and implementing
solutions to making Little Rock -- and the rest of
central Arkansas -- a better and safer place
to ride. |
| |
|
|
|
|
The Five "E's" of Bike-Friendly, (plus 1 more...) |
| |
|
|
|
|
BFC Links:
|
| |
|
|
|
Bike-Friendly
State Rankings:
Arkansas (as a state) received a big, fat "F"
in it's ranking as a "bicycle-friendly state" from the League of
American Bicyclists in May. Of 50 states, Arkansas ranked
48th, falling from 45th in last year's scoring, and from 39th in
2008. The scores for each state in each area are listed here:
http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bicyclefriendlyamerica/bicyclefriendlystate/pdfs/2011_rankings_and_grades.pdf
In a year where sustainable funding for bike
programs is critical, the League came down hard on states which held
onto funding for highways and sent back most of the available
funding for bicycle and pedestrian facilities in recissions of
federal fund allocations. Arkansas spent the least ($53,071
out of $12.6 million available); the next most bike-stingy state was
South Dakota, which in spite of having less than have the federal
funding available to Arkansas, still spent more than 6 times as much
on bikes than Arkansas did.
The campaigns for bicycle-friendliness are
being waged a community at a time. This year's scoring at
state level is probably a wake-up call that we also need to raise
our sights beyond the local bike paths and trails so that we can
connect our neighborhoods to the rest of the state, and the rest of
the country.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
