This past July, PeopleForBikes launched their newest initiative, The Great Bike Infrastructure Project, which hopes to help build a more bikeable nation. The program’s main goal is the advancement of pro-bike policies and bike infrastructure projects across all 50 states, making biking not only safer, but more comfortable, equitable, and accessible for all ages and abilities.
Map and Project Inventory
The over 1,000 bike infrastructure projects included in the initiative’s website are accessible in two forms: an interactive map and a web accessible, text version for each mapped project. This first-of-its-kind inventory and map will allow anyone to check out what projects are in their area and provide them an easy way to contact the linked state and local advocacy organizations for the project so they can support and advocate for them.
Great Bike Infrastructure Map
Anyone interested in finding California projects local to them can click the “West” button at the top of the map and it will recenter the map to focus on Western states only. Each project included in the map is labeled based on where in the planning and implementation process it currently is: Approved, Funded, Proposed, Completed, Other. If you want to deep dive and look at only specific projects you can easily do that as well. For example, to look at only completed projects, you simply click on the “Completed” designation in the key and all other projects will be filtered out.
Great Bike Infrastructure Project List
If you’d rather access bike infrastructure projects in a web accessible, text version, simply navigate to the “Projects” tab on the site and you’ll have access to all 1,000+ projects. You can currently sort any of the headings by simply clicking on them and soon the projects page will allow you to filter by project type, project status, or state to find specific projects to support your own advocacy efforts.
Legislative Strategies for Bike Infrastructure
The project also created a Legislative Guide to help aid advocates and policymakers who wish to expand bike infrastructure in their communities. The guide is broken into the four most effective legislative approaches to accelerate the construction of bike infrastructure:
- Fund Bike Infrastructure
- Mandate Complete Streets
- Advance Bike Infrastructure Through Climate Legislation
- Create Safer Places to Ride
The guide includes legislative examples from communities across the United States alongside tips on how to customize them based on your specific needs. They have also included links to existing legislative language that anyone is free to use when creating legislation. You can download the guide on the Legislation webpage.
Get Involved
To learn more about the Great Bike Infrastructure Project and how to get involved, visit the project’s About or FAQ pages. You can also reach out with any other questions, by emailing infrastructure@peopleforbikes.org.