Columbia, Mo. gets bike friendly designation
Columbia, Mo. became the first city in the state this week to receive a Bicycle Friendly City designation from the League of American Bicyclists.
Nationwide, 108 cities share the status. There’s a lot we could learn from Columbia. To start, many of its intersections have sensors that detect bicycles as well as cars, which means bicyclists don’t have to sit and wait forever to get a green. The Get About Columbia program has proven to be effective in getting more people out of their cars and onto two wheels. The city has bicycle trails and places to lock up bicycles. There are bicycle racks AND bicycle corrals, as seen here in downtown:
Other cities to receive the bicycle friendly designation this year include Lakewood, Col.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Irvine, Calif.; Savannah, Ga.; and Alexandria. Va.
I hope the St. Louis area follows suit.
Good for Columbia. Mizzou’s home frequently gets on the top places to live in america lists. It’s a great town. Much better than Springfield or Jefferson City.
Good for Columbia! I agree with Beth that St. Louis needs to get with it. You take your life in your hands when you ride in some areas.
Note to drivers, the designated bicycle lane IS NOT a driving lane. The picture of the bicyclist on the pavement isn’t an indication that you’re supposed to flatten any riders you come across.
LOL @ Mike’s bike lane comment.
Scares the hell out of me to ride in west county, especially Edison Road and Wild Horse Creek area. Once was leading a paceline of about a dozen riders on the farthest possible position I could go to the right (I think it was on Edison). Between the road being so narrow and a gravel shoulder forcing us to stay on the road itself, the drivers behind us couldn’t pass until the oncoming traffic had passed. Some jerk in a huge Suburban got ticked off that he was inconvenienced by having to wait to pass and decided he would show us by buzzing all of us. I could have reached out and touched the side of his vehicle — we were all very fortunate that none of us got whacked in the head by the giant mirror sticking out from the side of the vehicle.
Drivers, please have patience.
It’s so much easier to allow for bicyclists in Columbia though…It’s a small town, and because it is so heavily populated with college students, a lot less people are driving anyway. Campus is entirely dominated by people on foot and bike. It’s a pedestrian campus! And the college kids know to watch out for bicyclists.
When I was there (graduated in ‘08), there was a rumor that if you were riding your bike on campus and got hit by a campus vehicle you would receive tuition reimbursement. Doubt that’s true though, or highly likely. Regardless, in St. Louis, there are a lot of BUSY, NARROW roads that can only suit bicyclists on sidewalks unless drivers want to drive at 10 mph in a 35 mph zone. I don’t think so! St. Louis has a LOT of work to do if it wants to resemble Columbia’s model.
Jenny,
It’s against the law to ride on the sidewalk.
Congrats! What level did Columbia achieve? It hasn’t been published on BikeLeague.org yet.