We’re making biking better in Texas 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 November 2019, we helped pass Prop. 5, ensuring that all sales tax revenue (6.25%) from sporting good sales statewide would go to the Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Historical Commission. In 2018, $322 million was raised in revenue from this tax. 

On December 11, the PeopleForBikes Coalition Board of Directors approved our 2024 Industry Community Grants, totaling $75,000 across 10 grants. The grants will help fund projects that support our focus on building infrastructure that makes communities across the U.S. great places to ride a bike. This year’s supported projects include urban and rural trail systems, a pump track and a skills trail, several projects that make it safer for children to bike to school, and infrastructure development in large metropolitan areas. 

2024 PeopleForBikes Industry Community Grants

Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia — $10,000

Philadelphia, PA | Support for the Schuylkill Crossing: Connecting Communities and Opportunities project that will activate a set of bikeways that constitute an entirely off road bike and pedestrian connection from Southwest Philadelphia and South Philadelphia to Center City and beyond.

Richmond, CA | A collaboration with community groups and county agencies to support the North Richmond Bike Bus program, leading to safe routes to school and critical improvements to this long-time disadvantaged community.

Pittsburgh, PA | Resources for the development of children’s bike buses throughout the region that may be used as a national guide and lead to advocacy for safe routes to school in hundreds of communities nationwide.   

California Bicycle Coalition — $10,000 

Sacramento, CA | A critical guide to the development of “slow streets” infrastructure on neighborhood streets that represent key links in urban bikeway networks in every American city. 


Berkeley, CA | Materials and advocacy for a demonstration project of a slow street in West Berkeley. 

Houston, TX | Infrastructure, including signage, for the improvement of dozens of dangerous intersections where the 4-mile Columbia Tap Trail crosses roadways.

Lake Placid, NY | A critical match for other donations that will close the funding gap for an 8-mile trail linking rural communities in the High Peaks region in New York’s Adirondack Park.


Native American Advancement Foundation — $10,000

Tohono O’odham Nation, AZ | The addition of a much-needed pump track in a brand new and popular “Free as a Bird Skatepark” in this native community. 

Austin, TX | Eva Carrillo de Garcia Park will get a new Skills Trail connected to a disadvantaged neighborhood in East Austin and a 4-mile bike loop around the perimeter of the park.

McClintock High School Bike Club — $5,500 

Tempe, AZ | Bike bus advocacy for improved school access, including an off-road path reaching the school, neighborhood bike route enhancements, and a new highway overpass.

PeopleForBikes' 2024 Industry Community Grants Recipients

From bustling cities to small towns, communities from coast to coast amplified their commitment to better biking with an unprecedented surge in safer, more comfortable places to ride in 2023. And, with thousands of additional projects planned across the country and more federal funding for bikes available than ever, we can reasonably expect the pace of construction to increase more dramatically in the coming years. 

Even for the most ardent naysayers, it’s difficult to deny that the landscape of bicycling in America is transforming (although not as quickly as many of us would like to see). While we have yet to see any U.S. cities emerge with truly bold citywide plans for bike networks as we’ve seen in places like London, Paris, and Bogota, many are (slowly) beginning to envision a future where cycling takes center stage. Although there remains a substantial amount of work ahead of us to cultivate a safe and comfortable environment for people of all ages and abilities to ride bikes in the U.S., it's well worth pausing to commemorate the significant infrastructure victories U.S. cities achieved in 2023.

Photo credit: New York City Department of Transportation

After car-free streets took the top spot on last year’s list, we’re delighted to witness locales like New York City continuing to adopt more of these low-stress environments for cyclists. Launched in March, NYC’s much-anticipated vision for Broadway is beginning to transform the iconic street with pedestrian plazas, inviting outdoor dining structures, planters, and bike improvements, with the stretch between West 25th and 32nd streets being reshaped in 2023. While the full vision includes a “people-centric” Broadway connecting Union Square to Columbus Circle, the city’s next phase is on the horizon, with planned improvements underway between West 33rd and 21st Street.

2. 156th Street Cycle Track | Redmond, Washington

Featuring a two-way cycle track, Redmond’s 156th Street Cycle Track improves access to the Redmond Technology Station — part of Sound Transit’s East Link Extension — and the NE 40th Street Shared Use Path. This area of Redmond, the longstanding home of the Microsoft Corporate Campus, remains a focal point for the tech giant's ongoing commitment to community development. While the Microsoft-funded section is complete, the City of Redmond is working to expand it further from 140th to Turing.

In September, Salt Lake City celebrated the completion of its most significant public works project to date, the 300 West Reconstruction Project, which features a separated, two-way, 10-foot-wide bike lane, upgraded sidewalks, and more than 200 new trees to provide shade and serve as a buffer to the roadway. New "bioswales" were also integrated to improve water quality by filtering debris from stormwater runoff. The project, funded through the "Funding Our Future" bond, showcases Salt Lake City's commitment to prioritizing biking as a sustainable and accessible mode of transportation while fostering greener and safer corridors for all road users. Special project features include raised sidewalks and bikeways at all non-signalized intersections, bike counters, wayfinding signage, and green-tinted concrete.

4. Inman Square | Cambridge, Massachusetts

After two and a half years of construction, the Inman Square project in Cambridge reached its much-anticipated completion in 2023, featuring sidewalk-level bike lanes, protected intersections, shorter crosswalks, and a vibrant new plaza. Serving as a pivotal crossroads for various modes of transportation, these enhancements further Cambridge's dedication to Vision Zero and demonstrate the power of their Cycling Safety Ordinance, which propelled Cambridge to a score of 58 in PeopleForBikes’ annual City Ratings program. As evidence of its high quality, the project made headlines earlier this year after a social media video seemingly showcasing bike infrastructure in the Netherlands went viral, only to be revealed as a playful deception filmed in Cambridge's Inman Square.

5. Bryant Avenue South | Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis’s Bryant Avenue South reconstruction project, stretching from Lake St. to 50th St. W., reshaped a residential street in the heart of south Minneapolis. Despite its quiet residential character, Bryant Avenue is a key bicycling corridor parallel to the congested Lyndale Avenue. Previously converted into a "bicycle boulevard" in 2010, the reconstruction — which created a bidirectional sidewalk-level protected bikeway, intersection improvements, pedestrian-scale lighting, and stormwater infrastructure — reflects a forward-looking commitment to safer and more sustainable transportation that’s helped Minneapolis become the best large U.S. city this year’s City Ratings.

In September, Pasadena celebrated the completion of its first two-way protected bike lane along Union Street. The new 1.5-mile protected bike lane enhances connectivity to Pasadena's popular destinations, including Old Pasadena, Playhouse Village, Pasadena City College, Caltech, and the Metro Gold Line Station at Memorial Park. Approved by the City Council in 2016, the project repurposed existing road space to accommodate the protected bike lane, converting the previous one-way westbound street into a cyclist-friendly corridor. This initiative supports Pasadena's commitment to sustainable transportation and efficient urban planning. The project was funded through a combination of local and federal sources, including the American Rescue Plan Act, California’s Active Transportation Program, Gas Tax, Los Angeles County’s Measure R, CMAQ, and Pasadena’s Traffic Reduction Fee.

Inspired by successful implementations in cities like Toronto, Boulder introduced new "tall curbs" along Baseline Road in 2023 to physically separate bike and vehicle lanes, offering increased protection for people biking. The project is a critical element of Boulder's Core Arterial Network (CAN), which includes plans for strategic improvements along some of the city's least safe corridors for people walking and biking. With local artist Talia Swartz Parsell adding vibrant paintings to the barriers, the initiative combines safety and public art that complements the surrounding mountainous landscape. Further enhancements are slated for 2024, including additional bike lane barriers. 

8. Pinellas Bayway South | Tierra Verda, Florida

The Pinellas Bayway South Cycle Track in Tierra Verde is a significant addition to the more extensive Pinellas Trail network that spans more than 50 miles. Originating in 1983, the Pinellas Trail has steadily expanded since, becoming a regional destination with more than 1.5 million annual users. The new cycle track, separated from traffic by a raised concrete island, rectifies safety issues caused by vehicles parking in the prior non-protected bike lanes and helps reduce speeding along the corridor. Managed by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) as part of a resurfacing project, the new cycle track closes a two-mile gap between the Pinellas Trail, connecting trail users to Fort De Soto County Park. “FDOT was able to use their existing standard detail for median islands to separate the cycle track from the travel lanes,” said Kyle Simpson, an active transportation planner with Forward Pinellas. “[That] reduced the cost of the project and did not require moving any drainage.”

9. East Main Street | Rochester, New York

Photo credit: Erdman, Anthony and Associates, Inc.

Rochester’s East Main Street Reconstruction project features sidewalk-level bicycle lanes designed in accordance with the City's Complete Streets policy. While addressing needs such as roadway repaving, water main replacement, and new sidewalks, the project also introduced decorative lighting, street trees, and new signage. As part of Rochester's "spine network," a vital element outlined in the city’s Active Transportation Master Plan, the East Main Street project reinforces the city's dedication to creating a well-connected and accessible bike network.

Through a $6 million Midtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone project, San Antonio transformed Avenue B into a one-way, southbound street to accommodate protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks, on-street parking, and landscaping. Serving as a vital connection between the River Walk, Downtown, and various amenities, Avenue B contributes to San Antonio's expanding network of bike lanes and links to trails along the San Antonio River. Ultimately, the city hopes to extend the bike lane north of I-35 to reach the Witte Museum and Brackenridge Park. 

In a commitment to enhance road safety, the City of Dayton completed a $12 million reconstruction project along Salem Avenue between the Great Miami River and Cornell Drive. The federally funded initiative transformed a six-lane “stroad” into a lower-speed street with widened sidewalks, a bi-directional protected cycle track, decorative lighting, and pedestrian islands. The Salem Avenue project connects to more than 350 miles of regional trails as part of the Miami Valley Trails network. In September, Dayton approved an Active Transportation Plan to expand the network further, with more than 20 projects slated for construction by 2027. 

12. 12th Avenue South | Nashville, Tennessee

Photo credit: Nashville Department of Transportation

The 12th Avenue project in Nashville — envisioned as part of the 2017 WalknBike master planning process and subsequently identified as a top bikeway priority by the community — transformed a vital stretch of Nashville into the city’s first complete and green street. The 1.5-mile project includes physically protected bike lanes, bioswales for stormwater management, bus boarding islands, and safer pedestrian crossings. 

“The corridor had existing, substandard bikeways — with significant demand for better, safer facilities to connect affordable housing and student housing with Nashville’s downtown and other commercial districts,” said Anna Dearman, NDOT’s walking and biking manager. In response, NDOT moved the project swiftly from conceptualization to reality, with accelerated final design and construction phases to improve connectivity for affordable and student housing residents along the corridor to downtown and other commercial districts.

13. Turner Avenue | Grand Rapids, Michigan

With funding from a combination of the city’s Vital Streets program (a voter-approved income tax for road and sidewalk projects) and federal Surface Transportation Program and Carbon Reduction Program sources, Turner Avenue represents a major bike infrastructure upgrade for Grand Rapids. This transformative project, which replaced a striped one-way bike lane with a new, separated, two-way facility, spans 1.2 miles from 4th Street to Richmond. The project also increased greenspace to mitigate stormwater runoff and filter pollutants entering the Grand River. The city plans to begin design work to extend the bikeway from 4th Street to Fulton Street West in 2024.

14. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive | Atlanta, Georgia

Photo credit: Central Atlanta Progress/The Atlanta Downtown Improvement District

The Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Cycle Track in Downtown Atlanta was a collaboration between the City of Atlanta Department of Transportation and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, furthering the Downtown Atlanta Master Plan by enhancing safety and accessibility in the city center. According to Stacy Grolimund, senior project manager with Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, the project began in late 2022 when the Atlanta City Council voted to resurface streets near City Hall and the State Capitol. Councilmember Jason Dozier advocated for the inclusion of multimodal safety enhancements to align the project with the City’s Vision Zero goals. For now, the protected two-way cycle track stretches from Forsyth Street to Capitol Avenue, but the project is part of a more extensive planned network that will ultimately provide direct access to State Farm Arena, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Georgia World Congress Center, and westside neighborhoods like Vine City. 

Physically separated bike lanes in the suburbs? Yes, please! In Agawam, Massachusetts, Dutch-style bike infrastructure emerged as one of the standout bike lanes of 2023. Sparked by the Morgan-Sullivan Bridge replacement and MassDOT’s Complete Streets directive, the project resulted in separated bike paths along Main Street, Springfield Street, Suffield Street, and Memorial Avenue. The area, dotted with strip malls, now offers improved accessibility to local businesses and schools, marking a significant step toward sustainable transportation for this suburban area. Since completion, it's proven highly successful, with increased student biking and plans for further extensions to expand the network. Michelle Chase, Agawam’s town engineer, emphasized, “MassDOT’s Complete Streets program has been absolutely critical for the success of this project,” noting that it “inspired everyone involved in the design to push for the best accommodations even when challenges were encountered.”

16. 17th Street | Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica further solidified its reputation as a great city for bicycling with the completion of curb-protected bike lanes along 17th Street. Stretching just over a mile from Wilshire Boulevard to Pico Boulevard, this project features Southern California's first curb-protected intersections, offering significant safety improvements for cyclists. The 17th Street bikeway conveniently connects key locations such as the 17th Street Metro E Line Station, Santa Monica College, and the Michigan Avenue Greenway, creating a more accessible and interconnected bike network.

Earlier in 2023, Santa Monica's innovative use of a concrete extrusion machine for bike lane construction garnered significant attention, with the efficient, precise technology creating multiple blocks of protected bikeways in a single day. In a Streetsblog article from June, the city's principal engineer, Selim Eren, highlighted the sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and speed of the method, emphasizing the significant transformation from traditional bike lanes to the new protected design on Ocean Avenue, resulting in a substantial increase in cyclist volume. 

17. Meadowbrook Road | Jackson, Mississippi

Jackson’s new Meadowbrook Road project, unveiled in May 2023, has been championed by the Mississippi Department of Health for its role in improving public health and well-being. From Old Canton Road to West Street/Northbrook Drive, the $3.3 million project features a new road-adjacent shared-use path for people walking, rolling, and biking. Funded through a federal FAST Act grant and Jackson’s One-Percent Municipal Sales Tax, the project also included roadway resurfacing, ADA modifications, and traffic signal upgrades. Meadowbrook Road is one of several projects the city has underway to connect its downtown to the Fondren District and Jackson State University. “In our community, our residents value both cycling and walking along with accommodating wheelchair users. With a smaller right-of-way in the heart of the city and the need to use our limited space efficiently, the shared-use path has become our go-to choice in the city,” said Robert Lee, Jackon’s city engineer.

Stretching approximately 1.25 miles, the recently constructed Belmont Avenue protected bike lanes create a low-stress, east-west route across Chicago’s Kennedy Expressway and over the Chicago River while connecting several north-south protected lanes, neighborhood greenways, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Belmont Station, and the 312 Riverrun Bike Trail. The project also improved safety for pedestrians and transit riders through curb bump-outs, concrete refuge islands, and bus priority treatments. 

The project marks just one of the dozens recently completed by Chicago — contributing to more than 55 miles of bikeway projects completed in the last year alone along streets like Augusta, Central Park Avenue in Garfield Park, Clinton, Dearborn, Grand, Kedzie, and Milwaukee. Together, these projects are signs of definite improvement for Chicago, which scored only 7 out of 100 points in our 2023 City Ratings. We’ll be watching closely to see how the city’s score improves in the coming years with its new commitment to protected bike lanes. 

On December 12, the PeopleForBikes Coalition Board of Directors approved our 2023 Industry Community Grants recipients, totaling $100,000 in funding across 13 grants. The grants will help fund projects that support our focus on building infrastructure that makes communities great places to ride a bike. The projects include several pump tracks, efforts to build safe routes to schools, demonstration projects to promote the importance of protected bike lanes, innovative solutions to combat bike theft in college towns, and mountain bike parks in flat urban areas.

2023 PeopleForBikes Industry Community Grants

Delmont, PA | Trail construction and intersection improvements for a connection to the Westmoreland Heritage Rail Trail. Our funds leverage an additional $18,000 to build a new and vital bikeway for residents and visitors in Delmont.

Sandersville, GA | Funding to construct the first 3 miles of a 250-mile trail system in Georgia, leveraging $6 million in other funding.

Los Angeles, CA | One in a series of “CicLAminis,” a neighborhood-focused open streets event celebrating new neighborhood bike infrastructure. This grant will highlight the specific trail extensions and protected bikeways that improve bicycling locally. 

Ann Arbor, MI | Demonstration project to install and evaluate permeable surfaces on a segment of the Treeline-Allen Creek Urban Trail to create a safe and accessible bike path through a floodplain.

Durango, CO | Demonstration projects of fully protected bike lanes on key portions of a proposed citywide network of low-stress bikeways.   

Saint Johns, AZ | A collaboration with the Legacy Teen Center to build a new pump track that will help launch the Legacy Bike Club. 

Jersey City, NJ | Demonstration project to install and evaluate protected bike lanes in Jersey City to leverage $670,590 in state funding for permanent construction.

Clear Creek Off-Road Bike Association — $7,650

Pearland, TX | Initial construction costs for an innovative mountain bike trail system in an urban park, using shipping containers to create hills in an otherwise flat, low-income neighborhood.  

Providence, RI | Community rides and organizing to win community support for protected bike lanes in low-income communities and leverage $28 million in federal grants.

Tempe, AZ | A "bike bus" to highlight the need for infrastructure that’s safe for children to enjoy on a bicycle and support its construction.

Eugene, OR | An innovative solution to prevent bike theft with a strategy to expand the use of public funding and provide an example for other college towns where bike theft prevents people from relying on a bike for transportation.

St. Louis, MO | Support for the construction of a quick-build protected bike lane on Compton Avenue, a key connection to existing bike boulevard projects in the citywide network.

Kearns, UT | An upgrade to the Lodestar XC Bike Park to enhance the trails and add skills features including adaptive features. Open to the public, the park provides the only training opportunities for students from six high school mountain bike teams.  

PeopleForBikes' Industry Community Grants Program provides funding for projects that make bicycling better in communities across the U.S. Since 1999, PeopleForBikes has awarded more than 400 grants to nonprofit 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 for bike-related projects nationwide.

PeopleForBikes' 2023 Industry Community Grants Recipients

This November, a substantial $1.86 billion is on the table for bicycle projects aimed at enhancing paved and off-road infrastructure across 17 different ballot measures throughout the United States. Through our VoteForBikes campaign, we track and advocate for local, pro-bike ballot measures across the country, alerting our supporters when something on their ballot could improve bicycling in their community. 

Below are the top five ballot measures we’re currently tracking that are poised to significantly move the needle for bike infrastructure.

1. The Centennial Parks Conservation Fund Amendment
Texas

Texas is on the verge of becoming a cycling haven. Should voters give the green light to the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund Amendment, they will endorse an astounding $1 billion investment in state parks, with a substantial chunk of those funds earmarked for bike trails. With more than 700 miles of paved and natural surface bike trails within Texas’ state parks, this initiative is a game-changer for recreational riders and presents a golden opportunity to expand and elevate bike infrastructure across the Lone Star State.

2. Streets and Transportation Bond and Parks and Recreation Bond
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Two significant ballot measures are up for a vote in Albuquerque, New Mexico: The Streets and Transportation Bond and the Parks and Recreation Bond. If these ballot measures gain approval, cyclists can anticipate safer streets, enhanced intersections, reduced neighborhood speeds, and the creation of dedicated bike lanes and trails (more than $50 million is allocated to these crucial infrastructure improvements). Moreover, the Parks and Recreation Bond will contribute more than $12 million towards park and trail maintenance and acquisition. To learn more about each ballot measure, click here.

3. The Greenways 5 Levy
Bellingham, Washington

Bellingham’s Greenways 5 Levy, should it receive approval, will inject new life into the region’s bike infrastructure. The levy's proceeds will support property acquisition, development, climate resilience, and maintenance for greenways, parks, and trails. This initiative aligns perfectly with Bellingham's commitment to green transportation and outdoor recreation. If approved, this initiative will benefit riders by creating well-maintained trails and green spaces, ensuring a scenic and sustainable biking experience for all.

4.Open Space and Park Development Bond
Kootenai County, Idaho

The Open Space and Park Development Bond will not only fund the acquisition of public open space but also the development of new recreational trail systems in Kootenai County, Idaho. Riders can look forward to more trails, open spaces, dog parks, and connections between existing systems. This initiative caters to the needs of the bicycling community while preserving Idaho's natural beauty, which will help make it an even more appealing destination for riders of all kinds.

5. County Issue 1A (Open Space Sales and Use Tax Extension and Revenue Change)
Boulder County, Colorado

In Colorado, Boulder County is taking a significant step towards extending its support for bike infrastructure. County Issue 1A aims to renew a sales and use tax dedicated to acquiring, improving, managing, and maintaining open space lands — a crucial component of bike trails and paths. Bike riding in Colorado, with its breathtaking vistas and diverse terrain, is set to receive a substantial boost from this measure. Cyclists can anticipate better-maintained trails and a more bike-friendly environment should the measure be approved.

By supporting these measures and others like them, voters nationwide can pave the way for safer, more scenic, and well-connected bike infrastructure. But this funding won’t be possible without making a plan to vote.

Using our VoteForBikes tracker to identify upcoming ballot opportunities in your state, city, or county. See a measure missing? Let us know by sending an email to info@peopleforbikes.org.

Making your plan to vote! Early in-person voting and vote by mail begins as early as six weeks before election day. 

Helping to spread the word by telling your family, friends, and local groups about these important ballot measures.

Join us in ensuring that our state and local governments are helping make our streets and trails safer and more accessible for everyone. We hope to see you at the polls!

There’s $1.86 Billion on the Table for Bikes

Time and again, we’ve seen that when speed limits fall, safety rises — as do cities’ Bicycle Network Analysis scores.

“Slow streets are safe streets.” While somewhat cliche, that oft-repeated adage is also true: Speed is a key factor in traffic deaths. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speed played a role in a quarter of all fatal crashes in 2018 — as speed limits and speeds increase, so do fatalities. Between 2019 and 2021, as speeding has increased, per capita vehicle deaths have only gotten worse, rising an astonishing 17.5%.

All of this is terrible news for pedestrians as well as bicyclists, who make up a fifth of traffic deaths and are far more vulnerable to dangerous street design and aggressive driving. As the National Organization of Transportation Officials (NACTO) notes, vehicle speed at the time of impact is directly correlated to whether a person will live or die. That means that a car traveling at 35 mph is five times more likely to hit and kill a person than a car traveling at 20 mph. Not to mention, cars traveling at higher speeds are also more likely to crash in general.

Because the likelihood of fatality increases exponentially with vehicle speed, even small reductions in speed limits can have an outsized effect. The Highway Safety Manual shows that deadly crashes can be decreased by 17% if speeds are reduced by just 1 mph, while a separate study from Sweden's Lund Institute of Technology found that a 10% reduction in the average speed led to 34% fewer fatal crashes.

Not only can lower speed limits save lives but they also make it easier for people to choose not to drive. When travel speeds are low, bikes and cars can safely mix. When cities reduce speed limits on residential streets to 25 mph or lower, their Bicycle Network Analysis score — a major component of the PeopleForBikes' City Ratings system — improves. Speed limit reductions on other kinds of streets can also improve BNA scores. In fact, the fastest way for cities to make streets safer for bicycling, and thus improve their scores, is by slowing down streets.

Aside from better, more accurate data inputs, the main reason cities experienced a drastic improvement in their 2022 City Ratings score was due to speed limit reductions. In Miami, after the city lowered speed limits from 30 to 25 mph on neighborhood streets, its BNA score jumped from 4 to 20. As a result, Miami’s City Ratings score went from 13 in 2021 to 26 in 2022. Similarly, in 2021, when Knoxville, Tennessee, decided to lower its default speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph, its BNA score improved from 8 in 2021 to 24 in 2022 and its City Ratings score jumped from 19 to 31. Seattle’s BNA score also rose from 53 to 58 last year, thanks in part to the city’s widespread reduction of speed limits on most major roads.

From 2020 to 2021, St. Paul, Minnesota's City Ratings score also increased significantly, owing to a series of infrastructure improvements but also to the city lowering its default speed limits, switching from 30 to 20 mph on residential streets and 25 mph downtown. St. Paul made the decision after the Minnesota state legislature changed its laws in 2019, allowing cities to deviate from the state standard and set speed limits on their own streets for the first time. While not required to repost new signage on every single residential street (the city instead relied on a substantial marketing campaign), St. Paul still installed or changed more than 725 speed limit signs on city-owned streets.

Alongside concerns about enforcing new speed limits, the cost and labor required to repost street signs can be a major deterrent for cities looking to rethink speed limits. In Texas, cities aren’t allowed to change the default speed limit — 30 mph on residential streets — unless it also posts new signage on every affected street. If the state’s largest city, Houston, wanted to change its default speed limit, the estimated cost of posting new signs citywide would be about $25.6 million. In 2020, the capital city of Austin voted to reduce the speed limits on particular roads by 5 to 10 mph, lowering the default residential speed limits down to 25 mph. Due to the signage requirements, however, the process has been slow and expensive — many neighborhoods remain unchanged and under state law, police can't enforce the lower speed limits until signs are posted.

In Flower Mound, Texas, a city of some 80,000 people just north of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area, the town has gradually been reducing speed limits since 2019. According to Matt Hotelling, senior engineering transportation manager with the Town of Flower Mound, the process started with school districts before expanding so that neighborhoods could petition the town to lower speed limits.

“If the neighborhood had overwhelming support, we’d take it through our city’s transportation commission, and then if they provided a favorable recommendation — which 99% of the time they did — it would go on to council for a vote,” said Hotelling. “And again, almost 99% of the time, they decided to lower speed limits.”

In 2021, by the time Flower Mound’s transportation commission opted to look into a town-wide policy for speed limits, close to one-fifth of the town’s streets had already been changed. After weighing the numerous safety benefits, the commission eventually recommended that all residential streets should default to 25 mph — if a neighborhood wanted a 30 mph minimum, the onus would now be on them to go through the process of changing it back. In the end, four out of five council members voted to lower the default speed limit.

Hotelling notes that the change wasn’t contentious. After all, much of Flower Mound’s streets have already been changed to 25 mph and the safety benefits are well-known and accepted. Flower Mound’s BNA Score improved four points as a result of the residential speed limit reduction.

Again, what’s proved most difficult is Texas’ posting requirement. Some neighborhoods have resisted signs, especially when their streets are small and going fast is already near impossible. Some signs can be posted at every entrance to a subdivision to a thoroughfare, which raises the question of whether or not Flower Mound can just post signs at its corporate limits.

“That’s part of what we’re going through now, checking with the local [Texas Department of Transportation] TxDot folks,” said Hotelling. “I’m not sure if we’re going to get the green light.”

Although there have been some efforts at the state level to lower default speed limits, little progress has been made. In California, Assembly Bill 43 took effect this year, offering cities more control over their speed limits. Before the new law, the City of Los Angeles was actually required to increase speeds on many city streets. In March 2022, after the bill was pushed through, the L.A. Department of Transportation announced it was reducing speeds by 5 mph on more than 177 miles of city streets.

L.A. worked with its City Council to implement the new changes quickly and there’s hope that more places will follow suit, prioritizing roads with high concentrations of vulnerable road users. There’s increasing evidence that when cities lower speed limits, it saves lives and encourages the sharing of our roadways. A widely celebrated success story comes from Spain: When the speed limit on single-lane urban roads was lowered to 18.5 mph, road deaths fell by 14%. In regard to cyclists, deaths were cut almost in half.

While an important start, lowering speed limits alone isn’t enough. Along with speed limit reductions, PeopleForBikes encourages cities to implement traffic calming features that ensure drivers follow the posted speed limit, as well as comprehensive bike networks for all ages and abilities. After all, people can and do disobey speed limits. Good design and widespread infrastructure, however, are powerful tools that can’t be ignored. Ultimately, both reductions in speed and traffic calming designs are necessary to create safer, bike-friendly cities.

Slow Streets Pave the Way to Better Bike Cities

Austin, Texas, and Paris, France, both made big commitments to prioritize bicycling. But how do the cities’ efforts compare?

When people talk about great bicycling cities, places like Copenhagen and Amsterdam usually lead the conversation, perhaps followed by Portland or San Francisco if you’re focused on biking in the U.S. While these lofty reputations are thanks to a myriad of work done by each of these cities over many years, one underlying similarity links many of the world’s best places to ride a bike: a dedicated, concerted investment in infrastructure that gets people where they need to go, safely and conveniently, without needing to get behind the wheel of a car. 

Two cities — Austin, Texas, and Paris, France — both recently made such commitments to prioritize bicycling — connecting communities, relieving traffic congestion, improving air quality and fostering healthier residents along the way.

Paris’ journey began in 2014 under their newly elected Mayor Anne Hidalgo. In an effort to curb the city’s growing car traffic problems and make Paris a global cycling capital, Mayor Hidalgo’s “Plan Velo” was an aggressive, $167 million bicycle infrastructure program that promised to build 1,400 kilometers (~870 miles) of cycleways by 2020, essentially doubling the size of the bike network at the time. 

Also in 2014, Austin, Texas, set a similarly ambitious goal: Build a 400-mile bicycle network that winds throughout the city, connecting urban trails, quiet neighborhood streets and new protected bike lanes. The envisioned “All Ages and Abilities Bicycle Network” would be accompanied by other infrastructure updates, with the end goal of improving mobility and creating a more livable community for all Austin residents. 

“We have to do a better job of giving everyone in our city more equitable, safer and convenient transportation choices,” said Mayor Adler in a 2021 interview with PeopleForBikes. “People of all ages — whether they’re a child or in their eighties — and of all backgrounds have to feel comfortable and secure moving freely in Austin.”

Paris managed to build 1,000 of their planned 1,400-kilometers of cycleways by 2020, increasing bicycle use in the city by 54%, but Austin’s network rollout wasn’t as immediately successful. The city had constructed less than 20 miles of their envisioned network by the end of 2017, a pace that meant the project wouldn’t likely be completed for decades.

Thanks to the efforts of MoveATX, a coalition of community leaders, advocates, activists and local organizations, buoyed by the work of the PeopleForBikes Final Mile project, which sought to accelerate the construction of bike networks in five U.S. cities, Austin sped up the pace of construction, building more than 100 miles of new bikeways between 2019 and June of 2021. This accelerated progress brought the All Ages and Abilities Network to 215 miles, more than half of the envisioned miles in the 2014 plan.

While Paris’ initial success outweighs Austin’s by more than 400 more miles of bikeways built in the same timeframe, there are still lessons to be learned from the Texas Capital. The fact that Austin is only one of few North American cities to reach such a milestone while Paris is following in the footsteps of its bicycle-famous neighbors in Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium shows Austin’s commitment to leading the way on building better bicycling infrastructure in the U.S. This network transformation taking place in its home state of Texas, known for its highways, big trucks and even bigger car-centric attitude, only doubles down on Austin’s dedication to bucking the norm and taking proactive steps that benefit everyone, not just those who drive. 

Outside of their network achievements, the physical size and density of Paris and Austin also makes them an interesting comparison. Austin’s population of just over 1 million resides on 272 square miles where Paris’ 2 million residents are squeezed into just 41 square miles, making Austin seven times larger than its French counterpart with half of the population. 64% of Austin residents currently being able to access the All Ages and Abilities Network show’s the city’s ongoing dedication to making sure infrastructure improvements aren’t solely tied to busy city centers.

Looking ahead, both Austin and Paris show no signs of slowing down. After re-election in 2020, Mayor Hidalgo announced “Act 2” of her Plan Velo, with $290 million in funding dedicated for cycling improvements through 2026. Beyond bike lanes, the additional plans also include removing more than 100,000 on-street parking spaces and limiting vehicle traffic across the city, taking street space back from cars and allowing more room for bike lanes, bike parking, green spaces and other public amenities. 

Thanks to overwhelming voter support for Proposition B in November 2020, Austin passed a $460 million active transportation bond meant to continue the expansion of walking and biking networks throughout the city. $40 million will be directly funding additional miles for the AAA network, of which City of Austin officials expect to pass more than 400 total miles (more than 100% of the original miles envisioned in 2014) by 2025. Once complete, Austin expects 83% of residents to be able to easily walk, bike or scoot using the AAA network throughout the city.

Depending on what metrics you look at, weighing the work of Austin and Paris may seem like comparing apples and oranges. But the common thread that unites the efforts of these capital cities located thousands of miles apart is this: Both cities are not historically known for cycling. But thanks to the strong political will of elected officials combined with existing public support for bicycling, both Paris and Austin made a decision — to prioritize bicycling in order to make their city a better place to live. Cycling utopias aren’t built in a day, but by laying the groundwork to position bicycling as a safe, healthy and easy way to get around, Austin and Paris may soon see themselves amongst the Copenhagens and Amsterdams of the world. 

Learn more about Austin and the Final Mile by visiting finalmile.peopleforbikes.org.

An interview with Austin Mayor Steve Adler on the city’s ambitious, 400+ mile bike network.

In Austin, Texas, a more than 400-mile bike network is being built in record time. As of September of this year, 215 miles of the all ages and abilities network are complete, connecting protected bike lanes, neighborhood bikeways and urban trails. Impressively, Austin’s investment of $460 million to complete the network by 2025 exceeds the commitment recently made—and widely celebrated—by Paris, France ($291 million, with a 2026 completion date).

We spoke with Austin Mayor Steve Adler to discuss the ways the city rallied around the network’s construction, the major challenges to achieving comprehensive mode shift and how transit and bike projects benefit drivers, too.

PeopleForBikes: Why is this all-ages and abilities bike network important to the city of Austin?

Mayor Steve Adler: We have to do a better job of giving everyone in our city more equitable, safer and convenient transportation choices. People of all ages — whether they’re a child or in their eighties — and of all backgrounds have to feel comfortable and secure moving freely in Austin. People are not going to survive if it takes an hour and a half to commute to their medical office, to care for their kids or to get back and forth from their job. We also set climate goals in this city which we won’t reach unless we’re able to get people to make a mode shift.

For people who aren't from Austin, can you explain the two transportation bonds that passed and why they were such a big deal?

Two really important bond initiatives went before Austin voters last November, which, due to the pandemic, was an exciting time to take a bond initiative to voters. Many cities backed off of taking bonds to voters in that period of time for fear that people wouldn't tax themselves. Of our two bond proposals, one passed by 58% and the other by about two-thirds. The first one was really to bring mass public transit to our city in a way that people would actually use. 

We went to voters and said, “Let’s not focus on one transit line, let’s focus on the city and adopt a whole regional plan.” It required people to vote to increase their city property taxes by about 20.4%. But we were able to do that because people recognized that we needed to get this done. That was a $7.2 billion project and at the same time it was going to the voters, it was suggested that surely we could free up half a billion dollars to actually improve active transportation projects in our city, which would only complement and support the other proposition on the ballot.

We had the infrastructure in place. The elections were in place. The campaign and the messaging were supportive of one another. Advocates were supportive. We figured we should do them both while the time was ripe and fortunately, we were successful.

So this support from the public helped accelerate the buildout? 

We set what we thought were pretty ambitious goals and frankly, I would've been really proud if we had just met those original goals. But then we had a community that indicated that it was ready to open up the pocketbook and really develop these multimodal choices faster. At the same time as we were getting our community together to approve a multi-billion dollar urban rail system and transit overhaul, it became apparent to us that we could also accelerate the goal we had of building up the bicycle network. It was popular and people wanted us to do it.

How have different players in the city come together to make this happen?

It took a lot of grassroots work — a lot of the bicycle advocacy organizations in our city really helped position our community to be able to do this. We have some very strong bicycle advocacy organizations in this community — smart folks, strategic folks — that have always been pushing this agenda. But I think Austin really did come together on this and part of it is it fits with the culture of who we are in this city. Things happen fast when cities and communities are being their best selves, and this is just who we are.

How has the city built support for the network from residents that do not bike or will never choose to bike?

There are some people in our community that say that they're never going to give up their cars. And to those people, I say, "Great, but wouldn't you like all the other people in their cars to get off the roads so that you have more space? Let's give more options for the people that you'd like to see leave our roads.” That one's hard to argue with. 

The other thing we hear a lot is that's not going to happen in Texas. That it’s possible in a Scandinavian country, but not here. So we show people that in the early seventies, those countries were as car-centric as we are today. 

You also hear from people that no one will ever do this in Texas because it's just too hot and that the climate doesn't lend itself to it. And I say, “I hear you on climate, it can get a little warm here. Go ahead and get yourself an electric bike.” Then I show them a picture I took in Oslo, Norway, where it was below zero and the snow was coming down pretty heavy and people were dressed warmly and still using their bikes. When people are used to doing something because it’s easy, convenient and safe, they keep doing it, no matter the weather.

Austin is rare in that it’s coordinated between city transit organizations, advocates and the community. The city is promoting bikes, but in concert with transit and even drivers — why is that a winning strategy?

When you address the issues of transportation and mobility — and if you really are putting a certain effort into driving equity and opportunity — then you have to take a holistic approach. There is no one mobility solution that's the answer for everyone or in and of itself. It has to be an integrated system. You can pick pieces of that system but that’s going to leave people out. 

Our challenge is to have a comprehensive mode shift. The good thing about moving forward holistically is that the transit people are supporting the bike programs and vice versa because we’re all supporting the same concept. Seventy percent of the people that are traveling to Austin downtown right now are doing it alone in their cars. We can't survive that way on lots of different levels. The way we get from 70% to 50% by 2039 isn’t just bikes and it isn’t just transit. It isn’t just one thing — it’s everything. 

How do safe and equitable mobility options benefit Austin's larger goals?

There are so many things that are going right in Austin right now — it's kind of a magical place. It's the fastest-growing large metropolitan area in the country and has been for the last five years. We are just hitting on so many cylinders, but we’re not hitting on every cylinder for everybody. If we're going to be able to preserve the magic that is Austin — the kind of the culture that keeps things weird and supports innovation — we have to maintain diversity in our community. And that is the hardest thing to do when you become the “it” city because so many people want to come and everything becomes so expensive so fast. 

A mass public transit system and an all-ages and abilities bicycle network are both great for people's lives. These are all things that enable everyone to participate in a community, which is really important to our economy because our economy is all about the people. It will also help us to meet our goals around climate change. For Austin to get to a zero-carbon footprint by 2040, it's going to require us to take another look at how we're doing transportation, getting more and more people in fewer and fewer vehicles. This work fits in with that. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you see in Austin when it comes to large-scale, equitable mode shift?

There are challenges in any community, Austin included, when it comes to achieving real equity. To a large measure that's because so many of the systems and institutions are built around systemic challenges like racism. Those things are built-in. So if you actually want to change things, you have to be pretty disruptive. 

We're trying to do that in this city with homelessness and policing — disruptive change — to rethink how we do those kinds of systems. The same thing is true for transportation. And that's hard because people like to live with incremental change. I would say that the biggest challenge is recognizing that there's a lot of inertia working against you and that sometimes the needed change is going to have to be disruptive, and that can be tough for any community.

What’s your 10-year vision for Austin? Paint a picture of life and the city’s streets for us.

Twenty years from now, I hope life on the street just looks active and involved, with lots of people doing many different things and the streets being used in a variety of ways. I want everyone in Austin to have the ability to be able to come together and to move with one another and talk to one another in an environment that is safe, friendly and accessible to everyone. We have a lot of that already in our communities, we're just not using our streets in all the different ways that they could be used. That’s changing in many ways right now.

PeopleForBikes, a national bicycling advocacy organization, and the U.S. bicycle industry’s trade association announced its latest round of community grants totaling $92,000. The 11 projects funded in 2022 will support bicycle infrastructure and advocacy projects across the U.S. 

PeopleForBikes’ Industry Community Grants Program is funded through the Employee Pro Purchase program, which collects donations from individuals who work in the bike industry and take advantage of pro-pricing discounts on new bikes and bicycling equipment. Cannondale and Trek currently participate. 

Since 1999, the PeopleForBikes Industry Community Grants Program has funded more than 400 projects in all 50 states totaling more than $3.6 million in direct funds. The total funding this year represents more than 1,000 individuals in the bike industry who gave back to grow bicycling through an employee pro purchase. 

“Seeing the industry come together to support community grants big and small continues to be incredibly inspiring,” said Jenn Dice, president and CEO of PeopleForBikes. “We thank the companies and thousands of employees that contribute to this important program. These projects will make a tangible difference in 11 communities while aiding our larger mission of getting more people on bikes more often and making biking better for everyone.” 

The Center of Southwest Culture
Albuquerque, NM 

This grant will support Story Riders, a program at The Center of Southwest Culture, Inc. that empowers Indigenous and Latino youth to reconnect with their natural and cultural heritage, all while providing practical training in bicycle safety, maintenance, and guided cycling experiences. Each student will take home the bike they work on and a new helmet. 

BikeHouston will use the funding to launch Gear Shifters, an advocacy training program for BikeHouston staff and volunteers. Gear Shifters will expand and enhance advocacy efforts by representing the needs of people who ride bikes at public meetings, as well as in conversations with elected officials, community groups, and developers.

Bike Works Seattle’s mission is to promote the bicycle as a vehicle for change and a tool for building resilient communities. This grant will be used for general operating support, more than 80% of which will go directly to youth, adult, community, and environmental cycling programs and services. 

Trails Utah will use this grant to launch a pilot project to modify existing trails with the specific goal of accommodating adaptive mountain bikers. Funds will be used to purchase equipment and signage, as well as pay for physical trail work by the Utah Conservation Corps.

Trailnet works to foster healthy, active, and vibrant communities where walking, bicycling, and the use of public transit is a way of life. Funding will help accelerate the installation of safer mobility networks in St. Louis by focusing on high-crash corridors, which are predominantly in Black and underserved communities. 

The Red Line Parkway Initiative empowers diverse communities to enjoy, develop, and enhance the Red Line Trail and Parkway, a 32-mile, multimodal rails-with-trails project. Grant funds will support a portion of 2023 engagement activities with an emphasis on social equity and physical and mental health. 

Girls in Gear teaches life skills through bike skills to help young female riders build confidence on and off their bikes. Funding will be used for coach training and support, as well as program supplies, to ensure every girl has the chance to safely and confidently bike through life.

Community Action Duluth’s BikePlus program provides those recently released from incarceration with a free bicycle, helmet, and bike lock. This grant will allow Community Action Duluth to continue its efforts and reach more people in need. 

This grant will fund bikepacking trips for those in Deaf community in the Mid-Atlantic region, offering environmental education, leadership training, and essential bicycle maintenance. Funds will also be used to provide a day trip for groups to a gravel or mountain biking trail, allowing for local community connections.

With this grant, Salem Bike Vision (SBV) will host three community rides in 2023, working to educate the public about what makes for effective bike infrastructure and helping identify areas where safety is lacking. The organization will also engage local decision-makers around opportunities to use the city’s recently passed bond for safe bike infrastructure.

Dunn Gardens will use funding to purchase and install two bike racks, which will allow for more car-free commuting and send a welcoming message to the many visitors in the neighborhood who rely on bicycles for transportation. 

PeopleForBikes Announces 2022 Industry Community Grant Recipients

“We are a huge mountain bike community but we didn't have anything that was good for kids to learn how to mountain bike in a safe, controlled environment,” said Brian Canales, board member at Desert Downs Bike Park and Mountain Action Sports El Paso (MAS El Paso), a nonprofit that promotes mountain sports and trail stewardship in the greater El Paso region.

Founded in 1978, Desert Downs is Texas’ oldest BMX park. In 2021, the park partnered with MAS El Paso to expand its mountain bike trails and features in accord with rising local interest in the sport. Later that year, PeopleForBikes awarded Desert Downs a community grant to help fund the expansion. In building out the park, Desert Downs and MAS El Paso hope to reduce barriers to bicycling for people of all ages, skill levels and incomes. 

When it’s open, an average of 25 kids and seven adults visit Desert Downs every day, and participation is growing. By offering bike clinics, camps and competitions in both English and Spanish, the park is much more than just off-road bike infrastructure. Although greater El Paso has more than 120 miles of singletrack mountain bike trails, maintained with the help of partners like the Borderlands Mountain Bike Association, many are remote and designed for more advanced riders. There’s a need for bike facilities closer to home that are designed to accommodate all ages and abilities. 

“You get a lot of rogue trail builders who really don't have the experience to build jumps and features properly,” said Canales. After building beginner and intermediate routes for people to practice mountain bike jumps, Desert Downs is making plans to develop natural features like tabletop jumps and drops that simulate riding on trails around the city, continuing to ensure that people can continue to level up their bike skills.

Desert Downs also puts an emphasis on building accessible, inclusive spaces for youth, which has a positive impact on the community at large. Likewise, parents and teachers have noted that the enthusiasm and joy that kids have for riding provides a strong incentive for them to work hard in school. 

“I’ve had parents come up to me and say, ‘You know, we appreciate what you're doing. It's because of my son coming here that I can see a difference in his behavior at home and at school,’” said Canales, noting that many kids sign agreements that make riding at the park conditional on academic performance. “It gives them that incentive to do well in school because they want to come out to the track and ride. We also do other things like give ‘track bucks’ if they get all As or all Bs to buy snow cones or ice cream.” 

Canales’ observations are backed up by research. While there are extensive studies showing the health benefits of bicycling more broadly, Outride — a nonprofit that focuses on getting more youth bicycling — maintains a research library specific to adolescents. In “Riding for Fun, Friends, and Freedom,” Outride summarizes data from its middle-school-based bicycling education program: Bicycling has the power to better engage students, helping them build new skills while supporting their physical and mental health. As an added bonus, the more kids Desert Downs gets on bikes, the more adults follow suit. Appropriately, in 2022, Outride also awarded the park a grant to continue its expansion efforts.

“I get parents at the track all the time who tell me they haven't been on the bike in 20 years,” said Canales. “And then I'm saying, ‘Well, you know what? We have a bike here for you!’ And that's when they fall in love with the sport.’” Canales has seen young bike riders inspire their mothers, fathers and siblings to ride for the first time — Desert Downs even maintains a fleet of rental bikes for this purpose. “If you're an adult and you don't know how to ride, we'll show you how and give you lessons or give your kids lessons,” he said. “There are a lot of single mothers, a lot of single fathers out there who either don't have the time or the knowledge of teaching their own kids how to ride a bike.”

Desert Downs charges $5 for bike rental at the park and $7 for park use. If youth would like to race with the local USA BMX chapter, it’s an additional $3 to compete. Renting bikes to adults and youth at such a low cost is one small piece to getting more people riding at the park, but sometimes it’s not enough. For those who can’t afford rental or competition costs, Desert Downs and local bike shops provide sponsorship funds.

Reducing barriers to the cost of entry is critical to make biking better for everyone. “Mountain bikes are expensive,” said Eddie Sanchez, outreach coordinator at MAS El Paso, adding that community buy-in will take time and support. Desert Downs is also completely bilingual, an important feature in a community where 81% of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latino and 65% of people speak Spanish at home. “We’re trying to get kids to be lifelong riders,” said Sanchez. “An elitist kind of mindset has shifted completely since the pandemic.” 

Desert Downs is seeing strong support from local bike shops including The Shock Lab, Crazy Cat Cyclery and Border Bicycle. “A lot of technicians will come out and help put the bikes together and maintain the bikes,” said Canales. “They all donate whatever they can, whether it's monetary or equipment like tubes, tires, pedals and more.” 

Local restaurants and businesses have also stepped up to support the park, noting how cycling and bicycle infrastructure bring tangible economic benefits. “We've had several different restaurants in Northeast El Paso say ‘I want to participate. Here are some gift cards to be part of the trophies,’ or donate coupons for free kids meals,” said Canales.

Desert Downs and MAS El Paso hope that city and district representatives, as well as the El Paso community at large, will up their support for bicycling and the economic and public health benefits bikes offer. Representative Alexsandra Annello has been a huge advocate for Desert Downs and more political support is necessary to push for more bicycle parks and infrastructure in the city. In time, Desert Downs hopes to partner with the city of El Paso to develop additional bike parks throughout the city. 

"People have come from all over the city and they're like, ‘Oh! We want this on our side of town,” said Sanchez. “Minds are slowly shifting.” 

PeopleForBikes is proud to have awarded a Fall 2021 Community Grant to support the Desert Downs Bike Park. Outride also granted the park a Spring 2022 Outride Fund grant, bringing Outride’s investment in youth cycling projects around the country to more than $1.5 million.

Gravel biking has a somewhat nebulous definition. It does not mean biking solely on small rocks, but rather exploring any variety of unpaved surfaces, with conditions ranging from smooth forest service roads to rutted out double track. The bikes are multipurpose — lighter than mountain bikes but burlier than road bikes — combining road bike geometry with mountain bike capabilities. With more than two million miles of unpaved roads across the U.S., there are opportunities for gravel riding nationwide. 

Gravel racing, one of bicycling’s fastest-growing sectors, features courses ranging from 30 all the way to 200 miles, many winding through smaller towns. Legendary competitions are held in places seldom heard of nationally: Emporia, Kansas; Stillwater, Oklahoma; and Cable, Wisconsin, to name a few. These small towns are uniquely situated for gravel riding because they have old farm roads, nearby public lands, and a sense of mystery that many big city riders are attracted to. Small towns offer many benefits for gravel racing, but gravel racing has reciprocal positive effects on the communities — towns that play host for a weekend can see economic, cultural, and conceptual benefits year round.

Outdoor recreation is not often associated with Kansas, even less so with the small town of Emporia, located about an hour’s drive southwest of Topeka. Visitors love the community in the Flint Hills because of the stellar quality of gravel, the people, and the big annual race. Unbound, a 100-mile race, began as a small ride of 34 people. It has since blossomed into an entire week of celebration with 4,000 riders at the starting line. It is called the world’s premier gravel event and attracts pros from around the globe. LeLan Dains, founder of Unbound and a bike shop owner in Emporia, said the biggest gain from this race is the sense of pride locals now feel as a “destination” instead of just a dot on the map. 

People, businesses, and nonprofits have all felt the effects of the event, Gravel City Roasters being a prime example. Operating under their current ownership since 2011, the downtown coffee shop has witnessed the changes in both Unbound and the city as a whole. The owner, Angela Baker, has developed relationships with returning riders throughout the years. As a safe space for the local LGBTQ community, the cafe seemed like a natural option for a fundraiser. The cafe partnered with pros Yuri Hauswald and Molly Cameron to raise funds for Bloom House Youth Services, an all-inclusive shelter for at-risk youth. When they held a shakeout ride on the Thursday before race weekend, the cafe expected 40 or 50 people at most. Instead, hundreds showed up and rode in support of the local shelter. The feeling that Unbound has brought to the town is unique. “Anytime a town organically builds what turns into an international event, there’s a lot of community pride that comes with it. The whole town looks forward to it every year,” says local Jeremy Johns. His brewery, Radius Brewing Company, in turn helps sponsor a smaller gravel race in nearby Americus, Kansas. These community-cycling partnerships are common, and can often reach farther than the small town itself.

Kansas is also home to a burgeoning NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) league, currently in its second year. There are more than 200 competitors, with two dozen in Emporia alone. Cycling is becoming a sport starting at younger and younger ages in Kansas. Bikepacking routes are also being developed across the Great Plains, creating more access to the unseen natural beauty of the region. People have moved to Emporia solely for gravel biking. A prime example is what Dains called “the tale of two Bobs.” Two remote business owners from opposite coasts moved for the friendly small town and the Flint Hills. The draw of small towns, for cultural and recreational reasons, has only grown since the COVID pandemic with the explosion of remote work.

Gravel biking creates economic change, especially in small towns like Emporia. 4,000 riders race, but the actual number of people coming into town for the event is much higher. The Flint Hills of Kansas become engorged for race weekend with more than 25,000 out-. A 2018 study by Penn State put the economic impact of the weekend at $5.5 million. The sales tax, restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, and of course bike shops all share in the dollars flowing for Unbound weekend. This doesn’t count the number of people who come for a week before or after, as all of the professional riders interviewed for this story did. Visitors often return as well, both annually and more frequently. 

Gravel riding can bring people to small towns for both sanctioned events as well as training rides. Training for longer rides usually involves getting off the beaten path, meaning riders get to become familiar with small towns, and see changes that most people in a city wouldn’t otherwise notice. The small Texas town of Castell hosts the Castell Gravel Grind, a 550-person race that sells out within the first hour or two registration is open. The unique Hill Country topography and proximity to Austin and San Antonio make Castell a hot-bed for out-of-town visitors . Many stop at the local gas station/saloon/restaurant, the Castell General Store. This historic building is in turn supported by the race’s nonprofit partner, the Castell Preservation Association. This community ethic is reflected in the races themselves.

The biggest difference many professional racers note from road events is that gravel races feel egalitarian and community-driven. Everybody lines up at the same start line at many races, and people are there to complete a race with their friends instead of competing. In the words of professional racer Ryan Standish, “Gravel is much more communal. People are there for fun and to race with their buddies at the end of the day.” This communal feeling means tight-knit communities provide a perfect stage.

The cultural and economic changes gravel cycling brings are abundant for these small towns. Community members can have a positive local event to hang their hat on and urbanites gain a new appreciation for small towns off the beaten path. This appreciation can be expressed in return visits for training rides, learning new history, and interacting with people they wouldn’t run into in  everyday life. Gravel cycling has grown 109% over the last few years, and the opportunity to ride in safer, but still wild, environments means it is more than a passing trend for those looking to get out there explore by bike.

Gravel Biking Is Transforming Small Town America

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