We’re making biking better in North Carolina through funding local bike projects, supporting pro-bike policies and legislation at the local and state levels and highlighting great hometown routes on Ride Spot. In October 2019, we helped pass a bond referendum that improved the Town of Cary’s transportation infrastructure and improved its parks and recreation needs, including preserving open space and creating greenways and trails that improve the city’s bike connectivity. In spring 2018, our Community Grant Program provided funding to BikeWalk NC to work with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and leaders at the state level to strengthen the state’s Complete Streets Policy and build support for increased funding for active transportation infrastructure.

Photo Credit: Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau

PeopleForBikes’ annual City Ratings includes 816 new U.S. cities for 2024, 708 of which are home to less than 50,000 residents. While these newcomers may not have the populations of some of our other great places to bike like Minneapolis and Seattle, there is still plenty to celebrate and learn from small cities across the U.S.

The top 10 small cities in this year’s ratings scored an average of 89 out of a possible 100, showing that great places to bike come in all shapes and sizes. We collected a few of our favorite new small cities in this year’s rankings stretching from North Carolina to Alaska.

Located near Zion National Park in southwest Utah, there is one main road running through the town of Springdale, State Route 9, with sections of a nice bike path running alongside it. Thanks to a $10.8 million grant approved by the Utah Department of Transportation, an 18-mile paved trail will soon run from the city of St. George through Springdale all the way to the entrance of Zion National Park, giving local residents and outdoor recreationists from across the country a safe and accessible route to travel to the park without having to get in the car.

The small coastal community of Emerald Isle along North Carolina’s Crystal Coast has an 11-mile bike path that stretches nearly the entire length of Bouges Bank Island called the Emerald Path. The city hosts an annual bike ride called Bike the Banks, with the shortest race option taking place entirely on the bike path.

The community of Valdez supports a growing theme of Alaskan cities punching above their weight in our City Ratings. Viewing city score averages by state, Alaska is the highest scoring state for 2024 with an average population-weighted city score of 59 out of 100. The town sits on the edge of a bay and the 6.5-mile DOT Valdez Bike Path connects the town center to the west side of the town, where the Shoup Bay Trail takes bicyclists out further along the bay and into the wilderness. There is also a multi-use path that connects Port Valdez on the other side of the bay to the DOT path into town. Valdez is home to excellent fat tire biking, where you can bike on frozen lakes with icebergs, and partake in the annual Fat Bike Bash.

Despite its name, Jersey Shore is an inland town along a river in central Pennsylvania, neither close to New Jersey nor the ocean. The town’s main bike infrastructure is the Pine Creek Rail Trail, a 62-mile trail that terminates in Jersey City. The Bald Eagle Valley Trail project is currently underway (tracked via our Great Bike Infrastructure Project), ending in Jersey Shore and connecting to the rail trail. The Bald Eagle Valley Trail is part of a much bigger effort for this region called the Susquehanna Valley Greenway, along the Susquehanna River in Appalachia. 

Situated between Los Angeles and Santa Barabara, Ojai is not as rural as the other cities on this list, but it is currently constructing a major bike path and safety project along one of its most dangerous roads, Maricopa Highway. The project is a great example of a dedicated effort to improve safety for people biking and walking because it takes a lot of work for small cities to marshall the kind of resources needed to complete a project of that size, with Ojai receiving competitive Active Transportation Program funding from the state. The city is also choosing to tackle one of its biggest connectivity barriers rather than go after easy, cheap, but less impactful projects. An existing regional trail, the Ojai Valley Trail, runs 15 miles from the coastal city of Ventura into the town center of Ojai, allowing residents and visitors to bike from the town to the beach.

This small historic island located off the northern tip of Michigan’s mitten is our #1 ranked city in this year’s City Ratings. Mackinac Island received an impressive score of 99 out of a possible 100 and for good reason — the town banned motor vehicles in 1898. While the island itself is only 3.8 square miles in size, 80% of Mackinac is a state park and is home to more than 70 miles of trails to explore, including an 8.2-mile coastal trail that circumnavigates the perimeter of the island. Mackinac Island’s lack of vehicular traffic and 19th-century charm have made the small Michigan town a major national tourism destination, with the year-round population of around 600 welcoming nearly 1 million visitors each year.

In late May, Annette Clapsaddle, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and author, welcomed an intimate group of tribal leaders, federal land managers, and recreational advocates to Cherokee, North Carolina, for the inaugural Recreational Trails Workshop.  In her welcome to the group, Clapsaddle focused on the land where her ancestors have lived for generations and shared her experiences enjoying the multi-use trails of Fire Mountain, which were built by the tribe for all to enjoy. 

“These mountains are a special place because our ancestors have been protecting, safeguarding, and loving this place for generations,” says Clapsaddle. “When we talk about generations, we learn from the generations before who have adapted and innovated and we’re learning from seven generations ahead of us.” 

The Recreational Trails Workshop was a first-of-its-kind gathering hosted by PeopleForBikes in partnership with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in a mountainous and forested area best known as the Qualla Boundary. The goal of the workshop was to explore opportunities and challenges associated with recreational access and economic development on tribal and public lands. Participants included representatives from four different tribal nations, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, and the International Mountain Bike Association. 

“Never have we been able to coordinate and corral so many different tribal perspectives into one room,” says Jeremy Hyatt, secretary of operations with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. “Being able to have meaningful discourse with other tribal nations that are pushing cycling initiatives, along with our friends and partners in the recreational space and industry, was extremely rewarding.” 

Hyatt is the person behind the creation and operation of the Fire Mountain Trail System in Cherokee, a trail system that includes more than 11 miles of multi-use trails for mountain bikers and hikers. The Fire Mountain Trail System was an excellent case study for participants to explore during the workshop, with Hyatt noting that, “the exchange of ideas and perspectives was incredible, and will bear fruit in the immediate future for Cherokee and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.”

During the workshop, PeopleForBikes eMTB Policy and Program Manager Rachel Fussell, as well as E-Bike Policy and Campaign Director Dr. Ash Lovell, facilitated discussions with the group exploring how participants could learn from one another and find shared solutions. The discussions prioritized the perspectives of tribal leaders so that all participants could better understand the opportunities and challenges these communities face and how they differ across the country. By bringing together diverse groups of stakeholders, events like the Recreational Trails Workshop can help break down some of the silos that currently exist in the recreation space. 

As the demand for outdoor recreational opportunities continues to grow, these inclusive conversations have the potential to create innovative solutions to shared challenges. For example, Adrian Herder, who attended the gathering as a representative from Rezduro, an indigenous-led mountain bike enduro race, and as a member of the Navajo Nation, shared his thoughts on why the workshop was valuable. “The benefit of the workshop for us in relation to the work we're doing on Navajo is that we were able to share our struggles and strengths with those unfamiliar with rural mountain bike organizing on tribal reservations,” says Herder. “We finally met the folks behind Fire Mountain Trails and saw the trails ourselves.” 

After the workshop concluded, Herder noted that he left the meeting with ideas and potential future partnerships. “The big takeaway from our time together would be meeting and potentially partnering with other tribal nations doing similar work,” says Herder. “We may come from different lived experiences, but we're all working to get more of our people on bikes while increasing the representation in this predominantly white space. I want to thank all the non-BIPOC folks for listening to what we had to say and hopefully offering support or connections to help us in our efforts in the future. Ahéhee' [Thank you]!” 

In addition to hosting this workshop and other events related to recreational access, PeopleForBikes is developing a tool to measure access to recreational bicycling facilities across the country. The recreational bicycle network analysis will quantify the quality and access of trails similar to how PeopleForBikes’ Bicycle Network Analysis measures the quality of urban bike networks for everyday transportation. From remote gravel roads to bike parks in city centers, the tool will catalog recreational bicycling facilities around the country and help guide investments for new facilities. REI is generously funding the development of the tool, which will be released in spring 2024.

Learnings From the Inaugural Recreational Trails Workshop

North Carolina officially named 2023 the “Year of the Trail.” For most mountain bikers and recreationists who utilize trails to connect with nature, boost their mental health, and as a great form of exercise, the declaration was an undeniable win. But what exactly does the designation entail?

Palmer McIntyre, a conservation planner with the Greensboro-based Piedmont Land Conservancy, describes the Year of the Trail as a $1 million marketing campaign meant to raise awareness about one of North Carolina’s greatest assets and build a future where all of the state’s counties enjoy the proven benefits of trails. In addition to her full-time role as a conservationist, McIntyre also spearheads the Great Trails State Coalition, a 70-member-strong collaborative composed of nonprofits, government agencies, and industry partners. 

The coalition was formed with the goal of garnering more state funding for trails and came up with the Year of the Trail designation as a way to bring that vision to life. In 2021, the coalition pushed the North Carolina state legislature to name 2023 the year of the trail and House Bill 554 easily passed the House and the Senate before being signed into law by the governor. As written, “the State of North Carolina would encourage all North Carolinians to use their local and regional trail networks, to further enhance the State’s trail networks, and to pay tribute to those who maintain these public amenities.” 

“It’s literally the law — no one has ever done something like this to the magnitude we’re doing it,” says McIntyre, noting how the coalition drew inspiration from smaller legislative efforts in Indiana and Ohio. “It’s the biggest celebration of the outdoors in North Carolina history.”

The Year of the Trail goals are relatively simple: Inspire people to try trails of all different types and better connect with the landscape around them. By educating, informing, and engaging a broad spectrum of people — in part by hosting events in all 100 North Carolina counties — the Great Trails State Coalition hopes to also increase diversity among users and make trails more inclusive. DEI stipends for encouraging engagement from underrepresented groups and building partnerships with non-endemic organizations are key to the overall vision. To achieve its myriad of goals, the coalition enlisted the help of YouTuber Seth Alvo.

Alvo, who lives in Asheville, runs Berm Peak, one of the most popular mountain bike channels in the world with 2.5 million subscribers. A passionate trail advocate, Alvo successfully raised funds to build Berm Park, a free skills park located in nearby Canton that opened to the public in 2022. That same year, the Great Trails State Coalition reached out to Alvo to serve on its Year of the Trail advisory committee. In time, it became apparent that he’d have a greater impact by overseeing the campaign’s media strategy and creating content.

“What we’re really trying to accomplish is taking the Year of the Trail resources and making them last longer than the campaign itself,” says Alvo, who works in partnership with Daniel Sapp (the duo run a consulting agency called The Backslope). “We could just use our funding to build trails but I think we can do more to make people realize where trails come from and why they’re needed.”

Most people, even avid trail users, would experience a bit of sticker shock if they found out how much trails actually cost to build and maintain. By putting that investment into context, and helping folks understand the economic benefits and reduction in healthcare costs, for example, the campaign hopes to create more local advocates and allies in government. Alvo and his team’s strategy is to first get people engaged through the content they’re producing and building up an audience before segueing into legislative action to create lasting change. 

“We want to get all these voices together that are interested in trails and leverage their voices,” says Alvo. “Long term, we hope to provide the talking points to be convincing before helping them get in touch with local governments. We feel that can have a wide-reaching effect.”

The Year of the Trail website offers a Trail Community Toolkit so communities can use best practices when holding trail events and engaging community members with helpful resources, background information on the campaign itself, and the history, impact, and opportunities surrounding North Carolina trails. It also includes templates, logos, and other necessary branding assets. 

“We’re providing the resources so communities can do advocacy work for trails on their own,” says McIntyre. “Our ultimate goal is to help our residents and elected leaders understand the importance of trails as part of their community infrastructure.”

Investment continues to be crucial for trails in North Carolina and across the nation. Most outdoor recreation takes place on trails and with more people utilizing them each year, largely spurred by the pandemic, more money for infrastructure and improvements is needed to meet the growing demand.

Even more, studies prove that trails provide impressive economic and health benefits. “Economic, Environmental, and Social Benefits of Recreational Trails,” a report from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office released in 2019 found that investing in trails is worth the cost. For instance, the study found that for every dollar spent on trails, trail users saved $2.94 in healthcare costs. 

In North Carolina, the benefits to trail investment are no different, with one study showing that for every dollar spent on trails, the return is $1.72. Trails and greenways are a vital part of community infrastructure and are the cornerstone of North Carolina’s $11.8 billion outdoor recreation industry. Having lost much of their once-flourishing textile and manufacturing industries, many North Carolina communities are realizing outdoor recreation is one of their greatest assets for economic prosperity.

“We want to spur more intentional investment to make communities more attractive for tourism, improving the quality of life and health of all North Carolinians,” says McIntyre, noting that North Carolina has not traditionally invested a lot in trails — typically, it's all federal pass-through money. “We’ve built the Year of the Trail branding but we’re also building a more permanent vision for North Carolina — we're branding North Carolina as the ‘Great Trail State.’”

Relying on Alvo’s content team is key to this sustained strategy. Simply asking people to engage or watch an educational video doesn’t work in a world where everyone’s social media feeds are crowded and attention spans are short. A lot of the campaign’s content will touch on things many experienced trail users might take for granted, including Leave No Trace principles and explainers on why cell phones don’t work in the wilderness, but there will also be plenty of entertaining content on what makes trails enjoyable.

“You have to entertain people first. Give people something of value and once they see something interesting, they’ll come back for more,” says Alvo. “Making content that’s fun and entertaining — that’s more important.”

Going beyond just bicycling and ensuring content is accessible to all types of trail users is equally important. The Year of the Trail campaign is really about getting outside, and trails are the main mechanism for people to do just that.

“If it increases the access to mountain bike trails or off-road trails or gravel, that's great,” says Alvo. “But we're really trying to get everybody on board because that's the only way we're going to get governments and municipalities to dedicate resources to trails.”

Alvo points to Arkansas as another state where a small group of bike enthusiasts managed to have an outsized impact on the overall recreation economy, achieving notable wins for all trail users. As with most things that offer undeniable benefits to communities, once trails are built, promoted, and used, support for them continues to grow. The Year of the Trail is a model for fueling that cycle. If successful, every state should take note.

In 1984, when Will Chavez was 17, he signed on to participate in a month-long, multi-state, 950-mile bike ride. A member of the Cherokee Nation, Chavez grew up in Eastern Oklahoma where he’d spend summer days riding a one-speed motocross bike with his cousins, exploring nearby Marble City and the local creek, where they’d go swimming. By the time he was finishing high school, Chavez was invited to participate in the inaugural Remember the Removal Bike Ride.

Founded by Mike Morris and Mose Killer, the Remember the Removal ride was envisioned as a way to better involve youth in their Cherokee culture. The school in Marble City only goes through eighth grade and about a third of kids often drop out when it comes time to transition to high school. Morris and Killer saw a need to cultivate leadership qualities in Cherokee youth, as well as help them build self-esteem and confidence to face life’s challenges. The pair settled on a bike ride that would not only test the youth mentally and physically but also allow them to honor their shared history.

The Remember the Removal Bike Ride retraces the Trail of Tears, a forced displacement campaign from the U.S. government that doubled as a form of ethnic cleansing. Between 1830 and 1850, some 60,000 people from the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations were forcibly removed from their homes in the southeastern United States and relocated west of the Mississippi River. The relocation to less fertile land took months, and more than 4,000 people died from exposure, disease, and starvation.

The Trail of Tears is actually a network of different routes  — Remember the Removal riders stick to the northern route.

By recreating the original route as a bike ride, Cherokee leadership hoped to expose youth to the hardships their ancestors faced when they made the same trek on foot decades before. That first year, Chavez joined 19 other students and ride coordinators on bikes, while support vans and a school bus followed with tents, food, and other necessary supplies. The group visited historical sites as they followed in their ancestor’s footsteps, averaging 60 miles a day. For Chaves, the trip was life-changing. 

“Before the ride, my self-esteem was not good and I didn’t have much confidence — that all changed after the ride,” says Chavez. “I credit the ride for giving me the confidence to take on numerous challenges like joining the army, finishing college, and having a career in journalism. The ride changed me because it forced me to go past my limits – physically and mentally. So, afterward, I had the fortitude to not give up when things got tough or when it seemed like a task was impossible.”

For the last 27 years, Chavez has been an assistant editor for the Cherokee Phoenix, which was first published in Cherokee and English in 1828 in New Echota (present-day Georgia), then the capital of the Cherokee Nation (the paper’s offices are now headquartered in the new capital, Tahlequah, Oklahoma). In addition to his full-time position, Chavez has worked as the coordinator and trainer for the Remember the Removal Bike Ride for the last four years. 

In addition to the inaugural ride in 1984, Chavez also participated as a mentor in the second iteration of the ride, 25 years later.

“In 2009, the chief at the time decided to bring the ride back and he consulted some of the original riders, asking how we did things,” says Chavez. “Except for 2020, it’s been going consistently since then.”

Today, the ride remains a youth leadership program for tribal members aged 16-24, with applications opening each year in September (there are also two mentor riders each year, for those 35 and older). The program interviews are comparable to a formal job interview — applicants are scored and selected by a panel at the end of October, before attending orientation in November. 

"When I was chosen to be on the ride, I felt a sense of pride grow within me," says Whitney Roach, who completed the ride in 2021. "I not only get to represent myself and my family, but I get to represent my ancestors who were forced on the Removal…I [had] the opportunity to retrace their steps in remembrance of their strength and resilience."

Selected participants sign a contract, committing to six months of rigorous physical training, clocking miles but also learning how to clip in and use a bike with drop handlebars and lots of gears. There’s also a cultural training component that includes Cherokee lessons.

“Most of our youth don’t speak Cherokee these days so that’s part of the training,” says Chavez, adding that the cohort’s formal introductions to the tribal council are always in Cherokee. “They learn the language, the culture, and the history of the Trail of Tears. They end up with a really good background of what happened so that they’re prepared when they go out on the road and people start asking them questions.”

Along the ride, which starts in Georgia, riders visit significant sites, including New Echota, the former Cherokee capital; Kituwah Mound, the original Cherokee homeland; Blythe Ferry, where Cherokees gathered during their forced removal; Mantle Rock in Kentucky, where the former Trail of Tears route is a hiking trail; and many, many unmarked grave sites. 

“There are so many points in history when the Cherokee people could have disappeared like some other tribes,” says Chavez, noting that in addition to surviving the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee survived a smallpox epidemic that decimated the tribe in the 1700s, the American Civil War in the 1800s, and the seizure of lands and destruction of tribal government the pushed the tribe into poverty in the 1900s. “Yet, we are still here today. From the standpoint of being a Cherokee person, the ride made me even more proud of who I am and even more proud of my ancestors for what they endured and survived,”

A body of research, published from 2020 to 2022, highlights the benefits of the Remember the Removal Bike Ride for participants’ physical, emotional, social, and cultural well-being. Past riders that were surveyed showed improvements in their diet and exercise habits, as well as their mental health, with reductions in things like stress, anxiety, depression, and anger. Perhaps most importantly, those surveyed also demonstrated improved social and cultural connection to one another, their Cherokee identity, and fundamental Cherokee values.

Participants from the 2019 Remember the Removal Bike Ride walk down a preserved section of trail used by Cherokees in Tennessee during their forced removal some 180 years ago.

Over the course of three weeks, the youth ride anywhere from 40 to 70 miles a day, some much more difficult than others (particularly those in Missouri, nicknamed “Misery” due to its constant heat, hills, and rough roads).

In 2021, the riders switched from using road bikes to gravel bikes, which makes traversing the mountains and backroads much easier. The Cherokee Education Department pays for rider’s helmets, shoes, sunglasses, a bike computer, custom cycling kits, and bikes, which are Fuji this year but have covered the gamut of quality brands over the last decade. To receive the kit, riders are required to pass a grueling 60-mile road test — friends and family are then invited to watch them receive their kits, an event with a strong ceremonial element. When participants complete the ride itself, they get to keep their bikes.

In an average year, Chavez takes 8-10 riders, although this year it’ll be a group of six, having lost two to injury. Interestingly, since 2018, the Remember the Removal riders have been trending female, and since 2021, the cohort has been completely female. 

This years Remember the Removal cohort, which will begin their ride on June 5.

“Elders and council members have been asking, where are all the boys?” says Chavez, noting that male youth just aren’t applying. “Obviously, the girls aren’t afraid to do it — it’s tough and these girls want to take on the challenge.”

At the end of May, Chavez accompanied the riders to North Carolina, where they met up with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who also has a team of six riders. While the two tribes share a lineage, there are still a few differences in language, which can become apparent in the call signs used, all of which are in Cherokee. After a training ride together to get on the same page, the group will travel to Georgia, where they’ll begin the Remember the Removal Bike Ride on June 5, traveling nearly 1,000 miles through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

Upon completion, the riders will join more than 200 alumni, many of whom are still as committed to the ride as Chavez is, showing up to help with training, mentorship, or on-route support. It makes sense — after all, Remember the Removal is first and foremost a spiritual journey. Not only does it test the endurance and emotions of those who participate, but it directly connects them to their ancestors. In riding, they remember where they came from and find the strength to go on.

If you’re interested in following the riders’ journey along the northern Trail of Tears route, tune in to the official Remember the Removal Bike Ride Facebook page. 

This Annual Bike Ride Connects Cherokee Youth to Their History

Mountain biking trails exist all across the U.S., and the number of bicycle-optimized trails continues to increase as more new trails open and old ones are refurbished or updated. To celebrate another great year of mountain biking, PeopleForBikes (with the help of our supporters on social media) compiled some great new mountain bike trails that opened in 2022.

After purchasing the 450-acre Chestnut Mountain property in 2020, the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy transferred the property to the Town of Canton in an ambitious endeavor to pair permanent protection of habitat and water resources with the creation of a conservation-friendly, community-centric outdoor recreation space. Chestnut Mountain will be an important stop along North Carolina’s Hellbender Trail, a 150-mile regional greenway system that is being championed by The Land of Sky Regional Council and local governments.

As of 2022, there are 11 trails for all ability levels on Chestnut Mountain, totaling four miles of singletrack with almost 700 feet of descent. 

Chestnut Mountain is also home to Berm Park, a public mountain bike skills park with trails for all skill levels.

Yakety Yak and Swamp Angel trails
Leadville, Colorado

After several years of planning and negotiations, the Leadville area’s first public trails on private land are officially ready to ride. After working with the Newmont Mining Corporation and Lake County, the Cloud City Wheelers, a local trail building and advocacy group, constructed two directional trails just outside of Leadville, Colorado. A directional uphill (Yakety Yak) and directional downhill trail (Swamp Angel) will bring users from the Landfill Road up to the Swamp Angel site on the Mineral Belt Trail. These trails provide new public access to land otherwise off limits to the public, and they are also the closest singletrack trails to the town of Leadville.

Swamp Angel: Lake County's first directional downhill trail. Lots of rollers, doubles, berms, and options make up this blue-rated trail with some black options. The trail is 1.8 miles long with 381 feet of descent.

Yakety Yak: An uphill trail that travels up to the Swamp Angel area on the Mineral Belt Trail, allowing for some great loop options as you can head east to the Mining District or west to the Timberline Trails. The trail is 1.7 miles long with 381 feet of elevation gain.

Serenity & Adrenaline trail
Stowe, Vermont

Stowe’s first downhill-only, double-black expert trail, Serenity & Adrenaline, opened in July of 2022. Part 1 of the trail was built between 2021 and 2022 by Stowe Trails Partnership volunteers, including an all-women trail crew. Serenity & Adrenaline is located in the Adams Camp trail network and is made possible through partner and landowner Trapp Family Lodge. This expert-level trail has Vermont’s longest wooden bridge feature, big rock slabs, skinnies, gap jumps, and challenges to keep even the most advanced riders entertained. The trail builders drew inspiration from trails in Vancouver’s “North Shore,” Squamish, BC, and Quebec. 

Serenity & Adrenaline: Stowe’s first fully sanctioned and mapped double-black trail located in the Adams Camp trail network on Trapp Family Lodge land. The current trail is 0.4 miles long with 131 feet of descent.

East Bluff Bike Park
Copper Harbor, Michigan

East Bluff Bike Park occupies East Bluff, a prominent topographic feature with more than 525 feet of vertical rise just east of Copper Harbor, Michigan. Rock Solid Trail Contracting currently owns 525 acres of East Bluff and constructed 8 miles of bicycle-optimized trails for all levels of riders on the property. Seven trails are open as of 2022 and the bike park also connects to the existing Keweenaw Point Trail Trailhead via a segment of newly completed singletrack. Looking ahead, Rock Solid intends to continue building a system of gravity and cross-country trails which will contain more than 30 miles of singletrack once completed. East Bluff Bike Park will also act as a link between the existing Copper Harbor Trails Club System and the Keweenaw Point Trail System.

Flo'Rion is an intermediate gravity trail. The trail is 1 mile long with 525 feet of descent.

Citrus Tech is a new advanced downhill trail. The trail is 1 mile long with 497 feet of descent.

Exciting New Mountain Biking Trails Opened in 2022

In North Carolina, mountain bike trails on Cherokee land are improving citizens’ quality of life and transforming the local economy.

There are some 16,000 enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a sovereign nation located on more than 57,000 acres in the western part of North Carolina. The area, known as the Qualla Boundary, is mountainous and forested and its main town, Cherokee, serves as a gateway to the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park and a number of recreational opportunities. 

In early 2015, Tonya “Tinker” Jenks, a tribal member and employee, received approval to start building trails on 212 acres within the Qualla Boundary. Rates of obesity and diabetes are high amongst the Cherokee and her goal was simple: provide another option for enrolled citizens to connect with nature and stay active. When Jeremy Hyatt, the tribe’s secretary of operations and an avid mountain biker, took over the program later that year, he expanded on Jenks’ vision to include 10.5 miles of singletrack. The Fire Mountain Trails opened in June 2017 and they quickly became a regional destination. 

“I’m excited about building outdoor infrastructure in general and being secretary, I’m always trying to find the low-hanging fruit,” said Hyatt, adding that outdoor initiatives tend to be significantly less expensive than other tribal expenditures.

Designed by trails specialist Valerie Naylor and built by Trail Dynamics, based in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, the Fire Mountain Trails system was paid for with revenue from Harrah's Cherokee Casino, the tribe’s main economic driver. Although it’s been optimized for mountain bikers, the trail system also accommodates hikers and trail runners. The latter makes up about 10% of the mountain’s users and so far, there hasn’t been any conflict — bikers yield to hikers no matter what, and everyone yields to the elk. 

While the goal was to keep the entry point low, the naturally steep terrain of Fire Mountain means it’s not great for all beginners. There are two green trails — one of which is aptly named “Tinkers Dream” — a handful of blues and one black diamond. Riders love it because it’s not too technical and a ton of fun, with top-to-bottom runs that offer a groomed, flowy ride. Plus, electric bikes are allowed, making tough uphills more accessible.

“We were surprised and taken aback by how popular it’s become,” said Hyatt. “It’s not just a tourist destination — it also improves the quality of life of our tribal citizens.”

According to Hyatt, the trail system has brought together the community in new ways, facilitating the intermingling of the tribe and surrounding Jackson and Swain counties. This is especially apparent on Thursday nights during the summer and fall when enrolled members and other locals come together around a love of mountain biking. Hyatt notes that the handful of tribal members that were already avid riders have helped spread the word, encouraging more people to get involved.

“There are several folks who haven't ridden a bicycle since they were 14 and they started riding two years ago,” said Hyatt. “They've lost weight, their health has gotten much, much better and they’re racing now — they're getting on the podium. They're doing well there and they're spreading the word to their friends, their family and their community members.”

Participants take a break during one of the Thursday night group rides.

Bicycling in general — and mountain biking in particular — can often be intimidating for those just starting, especially if you haven’t ridden a bike since childhood. You might not know the lingo or what to even ask when inside a bike shop, and that’s if you even make it there at all. When trusted members of your community make the introduction, however, the whole experience becomes more accessible. This is especially true in a tight-knit tribal community where people are rightfully wary of things. 

“We’re an Indian tribe that has fought for this land for millennia, that has taken the scraps off of the [Bureau of Indian Affairs] (BIA) table for generations,” said Hyatt. “It’s created a general suspicion of anything new.” 

Having buy-in from locals around a healthy, community-building activity has helped generate pride and bring in new business. The Fire Mountain Trails are accessed through the Oconaluftee Indian Village, a replica of an 18th-century eastern Cherokee community, and the routes connect to different parts of Cherokee proper. Three years ago, Motion Makers Bicycle Shop opened a branch in town, and in 2020, Bryson City Outdoors followed suit, opening its Fire Mountain Outpost. During the busy summer season, the trail system also brings in around 2,000-2,500 visitors each month, which has its own economic impact.

“In terms of the local input into the economy, I’ve estimated it to be about $100,000 to $150,000 a month on those big months,” said Hyatt, noting that his data is conservative and based on national averages. “That’s nothing to sneeze at.”

When considering the implications for Cherokee, Hyatt was particularly inspired by his trips to Bentonville, Arkansas, which has become a go-to destination for mountain bikers of all skill levels. Not only has Bentonville invested heavily in beautiful purpose-built trails, but it’s done a lot of work around activation, education and getting various community members involved, including beginner and differently-abled riders. Part of the rationale for allowing e-bikes on Fire Mountain — other than the fact that they’re a ton of fun and the largest growing sector of bike sales nationwide — was to increase accessibility. 

“If you don't get children or families involved, trails aren’t going to do the job they're supposed to,” said Hyatt. “That's to keep everybody active and create another aspect of community that they’ve never had before. That's something we're still working on.”

The trail system’s success has made it easier for Hyatt to push for more outdoor initiatives. The 18-hole Fire Mountain Disc Golf Sanctuary opened in March 2022 and an additional 12-plus miles of bicycling infrastructure is currently in the works. Located just a quarter-mile from the Fire Mountain Trails on land that’s steep and unusable for housing, the tribe is building out more advanced gravity trails, as well as an asphalt pump track, skills park, tot track and bicycle playground. There will also be a shaded, family-friendly area for hanging out, as well as a storefront. The facility is being built in partnership with the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) and is slated to open in 2024. 

“We'll be able to accommodate both the super-advanced rider and also, on the other end of the spectrum, the little guys and their families who haven't been on a bike in a while,” said Hyatt, who’s committed to carrying out a community vision. “I’d also like to include some sort of representation of tribal folklore, whether it be a painted installation or part of the pump track — something that is legitimately and truly Cherokee.”

Although other tribal nations have embraced mountain bicycling, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is the first to lay down purpose-built singletrack. It’s a decision that’s not only put the Qualla Boundary on many riders’ bucket lists but it’s also helped build local affinity around exercise, well-being and the outdoors. Naming the trail system Fire Mountain was fated in its own way — not only does the land have a history of literally catching fire but it also speaks to the enthusiasm that’s ignited around bicycling.

“Whether folks ride or not, the general attitude towards these trails is all positive,” said Hyatt. “If they’re not riding, they’re cheering on those that are."

Interested in learning more about the Fire Mountain Trails system? Jeremy Hyatt will be the keynote speaker at PeopleForBikes’ 2022 Electric Bicycle Summit, taking place in Asheville, North Carolina, on May 19.

PeopleForBikes is tracking eMTB access nationally and publishing the data on our eMTB map. This map is your one-stop shop to learn where eMTBs are allowed and find e-bike friendly trails near you. 

To help plan for your next two-wheeled adventure, PeopleForBikes will be taking you from coast to coast showcasing some of our favorite eMTB trails. In this next edition of our eMTB Adventures: Where to Ride blog series, we’ll be visiting Beaverdam Lake, a section of Falls Lake State Recreation Area in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

North Carolina’s Division of Parks and Recreation states that e-bikes are allowed access to designated bicycle trails. One of those designated trails is the Beaverdam Loop. This popular 13.7-mile loop can accommodate a range of mountain bike skills from beginner to advanced, depending on the section of the loop you choose to explore.

Beaverdam Lake does charge a $7 entrance fee from May 1 through Sept. 30, but visitors have found that the mountain bike trails are well worth the price.

Check out all of Falls Lake State Recreation Area’s mountain biking trails, including the Beaverdam Loop, by using our eMTB map. Want to learn about other great rides outside of North Carolina? Be on the lookout for our next eMTB Adventures: Where to Ride blog.

Find Your Next eMTB Adventure – North Carolina

Marcela Moreno, a 2021 Transportation Justice fellow, discusses the ways transportation (or lack thereof) impacts rural communities — and what needs to be done.

In May 2020, I was celebrating my birthday in Banner Elk, North Carolina, population 1,000. It was the peak of the pandemic and I was grateful to find a cabin for a weekend away with my partner. The rural area is full of outdoor recreation opportunities and we were hoping to hike before getting dinner in the neighboring town of Boone. Our plans were thwarted when a woman backed into my car and an accident slowly evolved into an ordeal. 

The woman that hit me was trying to avoid involving insurance. She attempted to get me to follow her home, insisting that she’d pay for the damage out of pocket. She's been in too many accidents lately and was at risk of losing her license. At one point, the woman stated point-blank, “If you call the police [to file a report], I’ll just tell them that you hit me.” My partner, sensing that she was acting erratically, recorded our conversation. 

Suddenly, the environment changed. The woman drove off in a panic and I assumed this was now a hit and run. After calling my own insurance company, she returned. She tried to enter my car. She drove away again. She came back with cash in hand but by then, a state trooper was on their way. She drove away again, found the state trooper, and lied about what she had done. When the state trooper approached us, he believed I was at fault. 

Although my partner’s recording absolved us, we hardly felt relief. That night, I cried. I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt for the woman, who likely acted out of desperation and now stood to lose her main mode of transportation in an area that has few alternatives. Banner Elk, like many small towns across the country, doesn’t offer public transportation, but rather a demand-response service that requires 24-hour notice for in-county trips and seven days for out-of-county trips. While biking and hiking are extremely popular recreational activities, there’s a lack of sidewalks and challenging terrain, discouraging casual riders and pedestrians alike. 

I work for the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) as a transit technologist, but more generally, I consider myself a transportation planner. I believe mobility is a basic human right, as does CTAA. Many of the communities that I work with aren’t so different from Banner Elk — they struggle with inadequate funding, policies and resources, unable to offer reliable mobility options. In a place like Banner Elk, a car can be a lifeline, a fact that helped put my interaction with the woman who hit me into perspective.

Recently, Smart Growth America and the Third Way released, “Rural Communities Need Better Transportation Policy,” which touches on ways federal lawmakers might rethink rural transportation policy. Improving transportation and mobility in rural areas is an equity issue. As demonstrated in the report, rural residents in low-density areas must travel farther to access shopping, work and social connections. Rural America is not a monolith, but its residents can often face similar struggles in traveling long distances to access essential services (such as regional hospital systems for specialized care), higher education and grocery stores, among other things. 

The Aspen Institute released a memo in 2019, “A Few Things to Know About Rural America,” painting a snapshot of life in these areas. The report shares a key fact about rural communities: While the percentage of people living in rural areas has decreased, the overall number has increased. In 2017, the rural poverty rate stood at 16.4%, with urban poverty at 12.9%. Rural children are also more impacted by poverty, with the rural poverty rate at 22.8% and the urban poverty rate at 17.7%. While persistent poverty has decreased (counties with 20% or higher poverty for the past four decennial census counties), the report states that most areas “where severe poverty persists are found in the Mississippi Delta, Appalachia, northern Maine, Indian Country, and colonias [unincorporated areas located along the Mexico–United States border region] with a few exceptions, predominantly counties where people of color are the majority.”

Rural residents are burdened with piecing together transit options through various local or regional providers to have freedom of movement. Sidewalks and bike lanes are not as prevalent or connected as they are in urban areas, making multimodal trips challenging even for a seasoned pedestrian or cyclist. On an individual level, getting coordinated information to make these complex trips can be difficult, especially considering the lack of broadband access in rural counties. Investing resources and time into these areas can not only help people age in place but can create vibrant communities where people want to stay. 

In a previous job, working as the transit projects coordinator for the City of Asheville, I would sometimes get phone calls from people trying to use public transportation to cross three separate counties. To do so, they would need to navigate three to four public transit systems, some demand-response and others fixed-route. So even if there are reasons for agencies to limit service to certain areas, the reality is that people don’t live their lives within geopolitical boundaries. We move around regions to access the services we need and to do the things that bring us joy.

For example, let’s say someone without a car calls from Madison County in North Carolina and is working at Mission Hospital in Asheville. They would need to navigate Madison County’s demand-response service, transfer to Buncombe County’s demand-response service and connect to the City of Asheville’s fixed-route service (which itself would require a transfer from one route to another). That’s two phone calls and a ton of planning to successfully execute four transfers and an hour and a half journey. If you had a car, your trip would take 30 minutes.

Compared to driving, that’s hours lost — hours where you need childcare, where you could have worked or where you could have spent time with loved ones. To reclaim their time and their freedom, rural residents are pushed to own a vehicle. In a 2017 report, the American Public Transportation Association noted that “because of lower average incomes and higher vehicle mileage, rural households spend a much greater portion of their budgets on transportation than urban households.” 

Rural poverty looks very different from urban poverty. Without the concentration of social services, jobs and recreation activities that you see in urban areas, you need to choose: car ownership and a significant monetary hit, or public transportation with a significant time commitment? If you can’t drive because you are elderly or a person with a disability, your options are even more limited. And if you live without broadband, things are near impossible.

Much of the information available on public transportation can be found in-person at points of interest (such as senior centers or transit stations) or spread by word of mouth. However, dealing with three different providers is much easier with reliable internet. Folks in urban areas may be able to use something like the Transit App or Google Maps for wayfinding, but seniors might not have smartphones or be comfortable using mobile apps even with LTE or 5G access. 

Many of the phone calls that I received about regional transportation in Western North Carolina were about navigating the disparate public transportation systems. Every time I explained that they would need to plan and coordinate their travel between separate booking systems, I could hear the frustration in people’s voices. To connect our rural communities to the services they need would require an investment in a coordinated, robust and frequent transit service and connectivity by way of universal broadband access.

The Smart Growth America and the Third Way report offers some solutions for rural communities across the country:

Invest heavily in transit in rural areas.

Prioritize projects that improve access and reduce trip lengths.

Prioritize safety for everyone in developed areas, such as town centers. 

Focus transportation policies and standards on the most vulnerable people using them, including pedestrians and bicyclists, people with disabilities, seniors and others who experience more risk than vehicular traffic. 

Prioritize maintaining rural highways over expanding them.

Connect rural communities by making a sizable investment in broadband access.

Recalibrate federal agency policies and grant programs to better support rural town centers.

There are already many advocacy groups and municipalities working to provide technical assistance and grants to rural communities. In addition, the community of people working behind the scenes for rural public transportation agencies is strong. There are a number of federally-funded technical assistance centers that can provide information or connection to people who have worked on these issues.

Still, it’s hard not to feel disheartened by the state of rural transportation affairs — or overwhelmed by the interconnectedness of mobility, health outcomes, economic distress and social isolation. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a great nudge in the right direction, but America’s rural communities need stable, ongoing commitment to ensure that its people have access to the same opportunities and quality of life as those in urban areas. It’s the responsibility of all of us working in transportation to reconsider our urban prejudice and not leave millions behind. 

The 12 projects utilize everything from community art to electric bikes and span the country from New York to Hawaii.

The Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP) awarded $89,970 in mini-grants to 12 projects that will reach and engage traditionally underserved populations through shared micromobility. This is the sixth round of grant funding that PeopleForBikes will administer through its partner role with BBSP. 

“Better Bike Share mini-grants allow us to support and share lessons from small, innovative projects," said Zoe Kircos, director of grants and partnerships at PeopleForBikes and manager of BBSP. "We look forward to learning from these grantees and seeing how their strategies help more people access bike share systems.”

The following projects were selected to receive funding: 

Reddy E-Bike Library Ambassadors | $10,000
Shared Mobility Inc./Reddy Bikeshare, Buffalo and Niagara Falls, NY

Reddy Bikeshare, in partnership with Independent Health, will join with East Side Bike Club and the Create a Healthier Niagara Falls Collaborative to use this funding to hire, train and support four community ambassadors to help underserved residents access electric bicycles through a new bike library program.

Bike-N-Ride: Linking Bike Sharing With Transit Through Art Tours That Highlight Community Narratives | $10,000
City of Fort Lauderdale – Transportation and Mobility, Fort Lauderdale, FL

The City of Fort Lauderdale will partner with local community-based organizations to host three bike tours featuring storytelling and art. The rides will coincide with and end at a local monthly art walk event.

Savvy Cycling | $10,000
Midwest Bikeshare, Inc./Bublr Bikeshare, Milwaukee, WI

As Bublr expands into historically marginalized neighborhoods with 26 new stations, system ambassadors from those communities will offer urban bike skills classes, free helmets and a complimentary 30-day pass to local residents.

North Tulsa Expansion/African American Community Outreach | $10,000
Tulsa Bike Share/This Machine, Tulsa, OK

Five new This Machine stations will be installed in North Tulsa, a historically Black neighborhood. The expansion will be matched with promotions, events and other activities offered in partnership with community-based organizations located in the area.

People for Mobility Justice ElectroBicis in Pacoima  | $10,000
Community Partners, Los Angeles, CA

People for Mobility Justice will work with Pacoima Beautiful to make 100 electric bikes available for long-term rental to residents as part of a pilot in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. PeopleForBikes’ grant will fund classes on safe bicycling and bike maintenance, along with safety equipment such as helmets and lights.

Justice on Wheels 2021 | $8,600
Family Matters, Chicago, IL

Practice rides and events, geared towards helping residents build endurance and community, will culminate in a 15-mile intergenerational ride through the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Speakers at stops on the route will explore themes of transformative justice and transportation equity, with a celebration at the end. 

Biki Ambassador Project | $7,770
Bikeshare Hawaii, Honolulu, HI

Biki will focus on outreach to Native Hawaiians and other underserved communities with the launch of a new Ambassador program. In partnership with a local organization, the bike share system will recruit, hire and train 10 people from the community to promote bike share and provide feedback.

The Way We Move: Making Biking Accessible for All in Raleigh | $6,500
Oaks and Spokes, Raleigh, NC

Reaching and engaging older adults in underserved communities is the focus of the events and activities in this new program. AARP and senior living facilities will serve as partners and an intern will be hired from a local HBCU.

Roll to Recovery | $6,000
OneFifteen, Dayton, OH

Through a partnership with Bike Miami Valley, OneFifteen, an addiction recovery campus, will support the mental and physical health of patients and staff by helping them ride. In addition to placing a bike share station on the facility’s campus, the nonprofit will offer helmets and annual passes to those who complete a free cycling safety class.

Allen County Micromobility Education Program | $5,000
Thrive Allen County, Allen County, KS

With this funding, Allen County’s free bike share system will hire a local ambassador to offer free bike repair workshops to residents countywide, addressing a common barrier to increased bicycling.

Segundo Barrio Mural Bikes | $4,300
Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority, El Paso, TX

Local artists will paint seven bike share bikes inspired by the murals located in the historically significant Segundo Barrio, introducing more people to the artwork and bike share. Once completed, the painted bikes will be part of a bike share demo and gallery event in the featured neighborhood.

Share Boxes for Bike Share Racks | $1,800
Green Apple Bikes, Inc., Manhattan, KS

This completely free, volunteer-driven bike share system will add share boxes to stations in select locations, offering donated items including bicycling safety gear with funding from this grant.

Better Bike Share Partnership Awards $89,970 in Grants

More than $50,000 awarded to projects dedicated to building great places to ride bikes

Since 1999, we have awarded 439 grants to non-profit organizations and local governments in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Our investments total more than $3.5 million and have leveraged $775 million in public and private funding. To decide which projects receive funding, we invite staff members interested in spending 10-12 hours reviewing, scoring, discussing and debating grant finalists to participate in the Grant Review Committee. We ask at least one person from each PeopleForBikes department to join the group because every team, and every person, brings a fresh and different perspective.

The process was shaped by the quarantine: Meet with the committee in the conference room? No way. Lay out the pros and cons on a whiteboard? Nope. Homemade rhubarb coffee cake to boost your blood sugar during the mid-review lull? Couldn’t do that either. After months of e-meetings, we struggled to stay focused, but the energy of the projects and the people who are building them lifted our spirits.

Every year, we get more top notch grant proposals than we can possibly fund. Selecting the best ones  is a difficult task. But as long as projects keep getting built, we’ll keep funding because we know, perhaps now more than ever, that great places to ride are essential. Here, with deep appreciation to the brands that support our Community Grants Program (Batch, Cannondale, Giant, Niner, Shimano, Trek and Vaast), are the Spring 2020 grant recipients:

The Urban Bike Project will use this funding to purchase and install a bike fix-it station to complement the two stations the City of Wilmington is building. The stations will be placed in key locations around the city that do not have access to other bike repair options.

Bike Durham Low Stress Network Advocacy Campaign: $10,000

This comprehensive advocacy campaign will help Bike Durham develop a complete multimodal network. Their ambitious goal: A city commitment to fund and implement 125 miles of slow streets, protected bike lanes and greenway infrastructure by 2025.

Creation of a Beginner Trail at Cacapon State Park: $10,000

This PeopleForBikes grant will help the Cacapon Resort State Park foundation build a 2.6-mile, beginner-level mountain bike trail to complement the existing advanced trails throughout the park. This addition will create a trail loop that meets the requirements  for NICA mountain bike team races, helping support the local team as well as residents and visitors from near and far.

Baltimore Play Streets Advocacy Program: $8,000

Baltimore will use this funding to develop a Play Streets pilot to plan and pay for community events that will  serve as outreach and engagement tools to help plan future infrastructure improvements.

A devastating flash flood in July 2019 created a 40-foot chasm in the 51-mile Redbank Valley Trail, rendering it impassable along a popular stretch. PeopleForBikes’ grant will help the Redbank Valley Trails Association build a bridge to reconnect these sections and revive this popular destination for residents and visitors.

Silver Dollar BMX Relocation and Track Rebuild: $7,500

PeopleForBikes’ grant will help fund this track relocation project. The new facility will include two world-class BMX tracks, allowing the organization to expand and serve more riders across Northern California.

Coos Cycling Club will use this funding to connect the existing mountain bike trail network in Gorham to the downtown area with three related projects: improvements to the main “Pipeline” trail, addition of an easy climbing trail and construction of a loop trail with skills features.

Neighbors Building Neighborhoods of Muskogee will use this grant to install bike racks in the newly renovated Depot District public space. The bike parking will serve people riding to downtown attractions including the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame and Muskogee Little Theater.

PeopleForBikes Announces Spring Community Grants Recipients

Starting this year, the BNA no longer assumes that all residential streets are set at a 25 mph speed limit. Unless updates are made in OpenStreetMap, the BNA now assumes speed limits according to the street type, and state laws. We’ve recently identified 10 states that have residential street speed limit defaults above 25 mph: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina and Washington D.C. When we applied those state defaults in the 2019 analysis, some BNA scores dropped because those residential streets are no longer considered low-stress.

Here’s where our City Snapshot is especially helpful. If a city has indicated in their Snapshot that they have a residential speed limit set to 25 mph or lower, despite the state default, their BNA score and City Rating are not negatively impacted. For instance, Colorado’s default residential limit is 30 mph, but many Colorado cities — such as Boulder, Denver and Fort Collins — have enforced lower limits. Lakewood, Colorado, had a BNA score of 50 last year, but dropped to 19 this year because of the Colorado 30 mph default. We encourage cities to update their OSM data or complete a City Snapshot, so that we have the most relevant information.

Every state is a little different when it comes to who controls speed limits. Proposed bills in California, Connecticut and Vermont would allow local control over speed limits to reduce them as low as 15 mph. When a city has the ability to change their own limits — without state approval — it’s then a matter of changing traffic codes. Often a traffic study is required, and pilot experiments are implemented, before a City Council will vote. Nashville, Tennessee, recently conducted a series of pilots, and found that they were effective in lowering average speeds.

This year the BNA score for Durham, North Carolina, dropped from 24 to 13, but their City Snapshot indicated that City Council is proposing a city-wide drop in speed limit. Often these bills and traffic studies are great ways to find out just how effective a drop in speed limit really is. Slower speed limits in residential areas are always a good move toward safer neighborhoods. We look forward to tracking the progress in Durham and elsewhere, and noting how scores change for the better when speed limits are reduced.

Lowering the speed limit is something that many cities are starting to recognize as a way to make spaces safer, especially in light of Vision Zero plans. Places like Boston, Massachusetts, and Portland, Oregon, have taken steps to reduce their speed limits even lower than 25 mph in residential areas. It makes sense for speeds to be reduced in areas where people are walking and riding bikes. Reduced speed limits create safer places to live.

If you have any questions about your BNA score or City Snapshot, feel free to reach out: placesforbikes@peopleforbikes.org.

Speed Limits Directly Impact the Quality of a Bicycle Network

Why are college towns good for biking? 

Working together, a city and a university can create a more complete network for everyone to take advantage of.

Video Production by https://www.activetowns.org

A not-for-profit organization dedicated to exploring, documenting and profiling the people, places, and programs that promote and sustain a healthy culture of activity. 

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People for Bikes City Ratings: College Towns

As we take a look at our City Ratings top-25, there are clearly some lessons that we can learn from college towns about supporting infrastructure. Here are some traits that allow for college towns to be great places for biking:

Parking: many colleges don’t allow students to have or park cars on campus. This automatically leaves students with the issue of getting around without a car. Bikes often become the mode of choice.

Money: even if students are allowed to have a car on campus, many are operating on a budget that makes a bike more attractive than a car that requires gas, insurance, and upkeep. Also, many colleges collect parking fees on campus and direct those funds to transit.

Support: college campuses tend to be filled with people — professors and students — representing a diversity of experiences in cities, domestic and abroad. This improves the chances of those people supporting bike infrastructure where they live and teach/learn.

Connectivity: students and faculty need and want access from campus to downtown areas, which increases the likelihood of a connected network. With more people riding around campus and throughout town, there’s a better chance that local businesses have advocated for safe routes for improved access.


Let’s take a look at some of our highest rated college towns from the 2019 City Ratings.

University of Oregon, Eugene: Overall City Rating — 3.4

PeaceHealth Rides — Eugene’s Bikeshare program — originated on campus with the University of Oregon’s bike program and funding from the student government. The city then received funding for a city-wide bikeshare system, and the final implementation was through a partnership between the city, the local transit agency, and the university.

According to Kelsey Moore, the University of Oregon Bike Program Coordinator and member of Eugene’s Active Transportation Committee, each year they include students on the committee, and hand out out safety messaging from the city and state departments of transportation. These relationships help everyone involved feel like they’re part of something united, working to make a better place to live.

 University of Wisconsin, Madison: Overall City Rating — 3.2

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