By David Young, the Coloradoan
First Published May 13, 2013
Fort Collins has been climbing the ranks of “bicycle friendly”
communities for 10 years now, but there’s still one more rung to go.
The city has been working toward becoming a platinum-level
Bicycle Friendly Community ever since it reached the gold level, said Molly
North, FC Bikes Program Specialist. To finally achieve it is a proud moment.
The League of American Bicyclists awarded Fort Collins the
Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community status on Monday. It puts Fort Collins into
the upper echelons of cities that embrace bicycles as a lifestyle.
Troutman Underpass on the Mason Trail, March 2013
Next up, the city is striving to reach the next level: diamond.
In the past five years, programs such as the bicycle library,
bicycle ambassador program and bicycle infrastructure were key in reaching the
next level, said North, who applied for the designation. She also credited both
the city and the community for sustained commitment to cycling.
“Part of the spirit of this bike-friendly community program is
that competition,” North said. “Really, competition against oneself.”
With bikes used as recreation as well as transportation, the
city needs to get more people on bikes and further the programs in place if it
wants to reach the diamond designation.
“We are not going to rest on our laurels,” North said. “We are
not going to be ‘as is,’ but if not broken, we won’t fix it.”
Nicole Wynands, program manager of the Bicycle Friendly
Community program with the League of American Bicyclists, said one of the big
achievements that helped Fort Collins move to the next level was the Bike
Ambassador Program, in which trained cyclists work with the community to
advance safe cycling.
In addition, the infrastructure, such as an expansive 133 miles
of off-street trails and 280 miles of bike lanes, contributed to the
designation. Wynands also noted how CSU and businesses encourage cycling by
offering bike parking.
More people ride bikes than walk in town — a rarity — as 6.6
percent ride and 3.3 percent walk, she noted.
The diamond designation is still in the works. In addition to an
application, it would require a survey and some stricter requirements that
accompany it. A diamond designation requires that ridership would need to be 15
percent and bike crashes would need to be limited to 50 per 10,000 daily
commuters, with fewer than .02 fatalities, Wynands said.
Rick Price, Fort Collins Bike Co-op safe cycling coordinator,
said the award is well deserved and the city has been working toward this moment
for years. He gave much of the credit to City Council for its foresight in
helping put Fort Collins on the map for biking.
Price has his eyes on the next level — diamond — noting that to
reach it, there needs to be more education and policies that will help raise
the next generation of cyclists.
Fort Collins achieved the status for its investment in bicycling
promotion, education programs, infrastructure and pro-bicycling policies.
The Bicycle Friendly Community program evaluates quality of
life, sustainability and transportation networks, providing benchmarks toward
improving bicycle-friendliness. There are 259 Bicycle Friendly Communities in
47 states across America. But there are only four platinum cities in the
country: Fort Collins; Boulder; Davis, Calif.; and Portland, Ore. There are
five levels of the award — diamond, platinum, gold, silver and bronze. Fort
Collins received a silver designation in 2003 and a gold designation in 2008.
No city has reached the diamond level yet.
Moving forward, Dan Porter, cyclist and operator of local bike
website yourgroupride.com, said he would like to see more races, such as the
USA Pro Cycling Challenge, become standards for Fort Collins.
Coinciding with the award, FC Bikes new program manager, Tessa
Greegor, started Monday. Greegor, 30, comes from Seattle, where, for the past
five years, she has been the principal planner for the Cascade Bicycle Club,
the largest bicycle advocacy organization in the country.
Greegor said the award reflects the level of commitment that the
city has to cycling.
Coming into her first day on the job, she noted the framework is
in place for bikes freeing her up to focus on updating the bike plan, expand
the bike library and work on bike safety.
Greegor wants to help families and children feel safer when
riding.
