Grand Junction Has Been Recognized as A Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly Community for 2015-2019.
With miles of bicycle trails, the Riverfront Trail and bicycles all around town, we all know Grand Junction is a “Bicycle Friendly Community”. Receiving the Bronze Award is another bragging point for Grand Junction residents. The designation recognizes all the great trails and bikeways that have been established over the years and gives the City some additional goals to work toward. The recognition is timely with the recent re-establishment of the Urban Trails Committee as an advisory board to the City Council. The Committee will be active on adddressing transportation, the emphasis on funding Safe Routes to Schools projects and the City of Grand Junction signing onto the US Dept. of Transportation’s Mayor Challenge for Safer People and Safer Streets.
The Bicycle Friendly Community (BCF) Program transforms the way communities classify their quality of life, sustainability and transportation networks, while allowing them to measure their progress toward improving their bicycle-friendliness. There are now 350 Bicycle Friendly Communities in all 50 states. The Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly Community award recognizes the City’s commitment to improving surroundings for bicycling through investment in bicycling promotion, bicycle education, infrastructure and pro-bicycling policies. Grand Junction joins 350 visionary communities from across the country.
Colorado ranked #7 out of all the states and ranked #4 for western states. In 2014 Colorado ranked #6. Colorado’s overall points for 2015 was 54 out of 100. Scoring was based on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest. Colorado scored 4 points in Legislation and Enforcement and 4 points in Policies and Programs. Boulder and Fort Collins both share a Platinum level award. If you would like to see Colorado’s Scorecard Bike friendly community BFS2015_Colorado or see the list of all Bicycle 2015_state_ranking_chart.
Some of the attributes of a bicycle friendly state include:
- A Complete Streets policy with staff training, an implementation committee, a policy checklist, a compliance procedure, and compliance performance measures.
- Roadway facility design guidelines include good bicycle and pedestrian accommodation.
- People on bikes and pedestrians have access across all major bridges and tunnels.
- There is accountability so that projects proposed with bicycle and pedestrian components are built with those components.
- Bicycles are allowed on Amtrak trains, regional passenger rail, and state operated buses.
- There are many miles of bicycle trails
- The state commits state revenue for bicycle and pedestrian projects and programs.
- The state bicycle route system is signed and marked, is part of the US Bike Route System and included on an available map.
- A large percentage of schools participate in a Safe Routes to School program and state funds supplement federal funds.
- There is a Smart Growth land use policy that encourages bicycling and walking.
- State office buildings, state park and recreation facilities, and other state facilities are required to provide bicycle parking.
- The whole state highway network has paved shoulders and bike lanes at least 4 feet wide.
- The rumble trip policy includes a minimum clear space of 4 feet for bicycles with spacing gaps.
If you would like to read the complete list of “Bicycle Attributes_of_BFS“.
