America's Biking Boom Moves to the 'Burbs

"As we mentioned a few days ago, more suburban-style communities received the League of American Bicyclists’ BFC honor this week," writes Tanya Snyder. "That’s a shift from previous years."

"We wanted to hear more about this suburban bicycling renaissance, so we checked in with the League’s Bill Nesper, director of the Bicycle Friendly America program. He said suburbs often have more work to do than bigger cities to become bike-friendly because of the challenges implicit in their land use."

“Places that don’t really have the density, the average trip distance might not be as short as in a place like New York or Chicago,” said Nesper, “but that isn’t stopping them from making improvements to make bicycling easier for everybody.”

For those cities anxious about being lapped by the 'burbs, assistance awaits: Starting today, the Green Lane Project, a nonprofit program that helps cities design and build better bike lanes, is welcoming applications to join its second two-year round of focus cities.