As we wrap up another successful season of transportation events, including 10 SmartTrips: West Eugene events, seven Party in the Parks, six Breakfast at the Bike Bridges, and two massive Sunday Streets, we are excited to also celebrate our movement up as one of the “Best Bicycling Cities in America”. The magazine Bicycling recently released a list of the top 50 bike cities in America, and Eugene came in at number seven!
“This is a great honor and really reflects all of the efforts and emphasis the community continues to put forth on cycling,” said Reed Dunbar, Associate Transportation Planner. “We’re making a conscious effort to safely connect the city in more and more ways, including for people riding bikes, and this ranking really showcases those decisions.”
The magazine, which releases this list biannually, analyzed data from more than 100 cities across the U.S, including safety statistics, equity, political climate, and bike culture. In 2016 Eugene ranked as the 18th best city for bicycling.
Over the last two years the City has added bike lanes, bridges specifically for people biking and walking and added PeaceHealth Rides, a bike sharing service that has proved successful since its launch in April of 2018. Over the coming years, the City plans to make even more improvements for those biking, including three new bridges crossing Amazon Creek, protected two-way bike lanes on E. Amazon Drive, 13th Avenue, and High Street, and protected bike lanes on 8th Avenue through the downtown core.
To keep this momentum, City staff are working with both the 2035 Transportation System Plan and Eugene’s Active Transportation Strategy 2017-2021 to help better shape future transportation-related decisions. These plans call for tripling the number of people walking, biking, or taking transit and for working towards “platinum level bicycle and walk friendly community” status. They also provide clear actions for achieving those goals. The Transportation Planning team recently released the MoveEUG Active Transportation Annual Report for 2017 and that report gives information on the progress of those goals. With the vision towards 2021 and the IAAF World Championships Oregon21, the team is excited to work towards the goal of achieving Platinum status and becoming one of the top five Best Bike Cities in America by the time we take the world stage.