Wes Groleau wrote:
> On 05-14-2012 13:31, Garrison Hilliard wrote:
>> CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati is moving forward with efforts to make the
>> city better for bicyclists.
>>
>> This week is "Ride To Work" week for the city and Bike Month for the
>> city and northern Kentucky.
>>
>> The League of American Bicyclists named Cincinnati one of three
>> "Bicycle-Friendly Communities" in Ohio.
>
> Fort Wayne, Indiana got it, too. Unfortunately (for me), Fort Wayne
> thinks bicycles are for recreation not transportation. Getting to the
> doctor on the bike path took me an hour to figure out where the bike
> paths were and weren't and to realize "sharing the road" was easier.
There you have it.
These days, "Bike Friendly" means, to LAB, "Has lots of bike lanes and
paths." It doesn't mean they're particularly useful; nowhere-to-nowhere
trails still get positive points. It doesn't mean that they're properly
designed; even door zone bike lanes still get positive points! It
doesn't mean that they're swept of gravel or are otherwise maintained.
But it is, apparently, literally impossible for a town to be proclaimed
"Bike Friendly" unless it has bike lanes and paths, no matter how
pleasant that town may be for riding. LAB even stripped the award from
Vandalia, Ohio, a town that had previously qualified based on education,
maintenance, traffic light detectors that always detected bikes, bike
parking, etc. because Vandalia didn't have bike lanes.
A worker at the League of American Bicyclists strenuously denied that
bike lanes and paths were mandatory, but when I pressed him, it became
obvious that there was not even one town that qualified without them.
--
- Frank Krygowski