Gold-level award winners are: Corvallis, OR and Palo Alto, CA. Silver awards go to Denver and Fort Collins, CO; Missoula, MT; Santa Barbara and Stanford University, CA; and Tempe, AZ. The recipients of the bronze-level Bicycle-Friendly Community national awards are: Cary, NC; the Presidio of San Francisco, CA; Redmond, WA; Schaumburg, IL; Shawnee, KS; and Beaverton, OR. No communities were granted the platinum-level designation, the highest honor of the League’s awards.

Elissa Margolin, Executive Director of the League, said, “The League is very pleased to honor these remarkable American communities, where people benefit every day from reduced traffic, better air quality, and improved public health. These benefits translate to increased quality of life, higher property values, and heightened community spirit.”

The League of American Bicyclists considered several factors in granting Bicycle-Friendly Community status. Reviewers examined the traffic engineering facilities and policies and bicycling promotion efforts of the communities. The cities’ enforcement of traffic laws on motorists and cyclists, their efforts to educate both groups on traffic safety, and their processes to plan for and evaluate policies and facilities for cycling also were considered.

The League’s Bicycle Friendly Community Campaign is a national grassroots effort to increase the number of trips made by bike, promote physical fitness, and help make communities more liveable. The Campaign works in the most effective way possible—town by town, city by city—to encourage bicycling and achieve a bicycle-friendly America.

Gold-level award recipient Corvallis, OR is notable for the fact that 7.5% of trips to work are made by bike, one of the highest rates in the nation. The city provides extensive covered bike parking, a boon to cyclists in its rainy climate. Over 95% of the arterial and collector streets in Corvallis have striped bike lanes, with the rest of the arterials scheduled for completion in 2003.

In Palo Alto, remarkable 4.4% of all trips are by bicycle. Palo Alto encourages city employees to bike to work by offering them a $20 monthly stipend. The city supports a Bikestation, a staffed bike parking facility that serves some 50 cyclists per day, and provides bike lockers at transit hubs and in its business district. Palo Alto schools have a part-time coordinator who teaches a bicycle curriculum to children in the third, fifth and sixth grades. Younger children are introduced to traffic and helmet safety in a Safe Moves program.

A number of communities received honorable mention distinctions under the Bicycle-Friendly Community awards program. These are: Auburn, AL; Blacksburg, VA; Hennepin County, MN; Lawrence, KS; Orlando, FL; Rockville, MD; Newark, DE; Pittsburg, CA; Oakdale, MN: and Salinas, CA.

The award winners and honorable mention recipients are among the first communities in the nation that have applied to receive the League’s Bicycle-Friendly Communities designation. The program was launched in September 2002. As communities apply for the honor, the League anticipates a rapidly growing list of award winners. Communities wishing to be considered for the award should visit www.bicyclefriendlycommunity.org to view the application and learn more about the program. The Campaign is supported by generous grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (www.rwjf.org) and Bikes Belong Coalition (www.bikesbelong.org).