(Philadelphia, November 16, 2016) – The League of American Bicyclists – a national organization that works to create safer roads, stronger communities, and a bicycle-friendly America – is renewing the City of Philadelphia’s designation as a Bicycle Friendly Community at the Silver level.
A Bicycle Friendly Community actively provides safe accommodations for bicycling and encouraging people to bike for transportation and recreation. The Silver designation recognizes the City of Philadelphia’s commitment to making bicycling safe and convenient in order to improve public health, reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, and improve quality of life.
“One of the best things about living in Philadelphia is all the great choices people have to move through neighborhoods. Between the introduction of Indego bike share, the first Philly Free Streets, and the continuing growth of the bike network, the city is becoming more fun and easy for people to bike in everyday,” said Kelley Yemen, the City’s Compete Streets Director at the Office of Transportation & Infrastructure Systems. “The Silver Bike Friendly Community designation recognizes the great work we are doing and provides us with a roadmap to move towards a Gold designation in the future.”
This award follows on the City of Philadelphia’s first Bike Friendly Community Designation at the bronze level in 2009, which was upgraded to Silver in 2012. Since 2002, the Bike Friendly Community program has accepted over 870 applications for designation and there are currently 408 Bicycle Friendly Communities in 50 states.
About the Bicycle Friendly America Program: The Bicycle Friendly America program provides incentives, hands-on assistance and award recognition for communities, universities and businesses that actively support bicycling, and ranks states annually based on their level of bike-friendliness. Learn more at http://bikeleague.org/bfa
About the League: The League of American Bicyclists is leading the movement to create a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone. As leaders, our commitment is to listen and learn, define standards and share best practices to engage diverse communities and build a powerful, unified voice for change. For more information about the League, visit http://www.bikeleague.org