Should We Go Platinum

Op-ED Iowa City Press Citizen April 2012

Should we go platinum?

Iowa City is recognized as a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclist (LAB) at the bronze level. Currently, the League has given three communities in the nation a platinum level Bicycle Friendly Community designation, its highest recognition. It’s time for Iowa City to challenge itself to achieve that designation within the next 10 years. Why?

According to 2010 US census data, 5.6 percent of our residents commute by bicycle. That’s 10 times the national average and 10th among the nation’s 250 largest cities. Three of the nine cities ahead of Iowa City received the LAB’s platinum award and another, Madison, Wis., has a gold level Bicycle Friendly Community designation. Seven of the nine are “college” towns.

Are there any other compelling reasons? You bet. Five or six years ago the Iowa City City Council passed a resolution with the goal of making our community an environmentally friendly city. There can be little argument that a bike-friendly community would move us in the direction of being environmentally friendly too. Increasing the number of bicyclists and bike miles ridden would improve air quality, decrease congestion, and reduce the use of fossil fuel.

Becoming a platinum level Bicycle Friendly Community would make Iowa City a healthier place too. Recently, there’s been much attention paid to Blue Zones and the Governor’s goal to make Iowa the healthiest state in the country. One significant characteristic of Blue Zones is an environment that encourages biking and walking for transportation. Iowa City is a perfect environment for those 1-2 mile trips. There’s a strong positive correlation between an active population and good health.

Bike friendliness, like other rankings on quality of life, provides marketing value to attract new business and professional class families. Promoting biking in the workplace has significant economic value too. A Minnesota-based company, with 450 employees, paid out $45,000 in bicycling commuter incentives. In return there was a decrease in health care cost of about $170,000 for the company and more than three times that amount to the participating employees.

So what would we need to do to become a platinum level bike friendly community? The LAB has five criteria for evaluating bike friendliness. Two of the five, engineering and enforcement, are driven by city policy. Two others, education and encouragement, need significant effort from the community and the fifth, evaluation, receives input from everyone. Our streets and trails make Iowa City well-suited for bike friendliness. We’ve already added some bike lanes and sharrows and modified Washington Street in the downtown to better facilitate bike traffic. At minimal redesign costs south Sycamore was put on a “road diet” a couple years ago. The change enhanced traffic flow and offers safe bicycling space. This technique could be used in other places around town, e.g. Gilbert Street, with similar advantages to both motorist and bicyclist. Another low cost modification would be the addition of “bike boulevards” heading out of downtown. Bike boulevards, without restricting car travel, give bikes full access to the street and caution motorist about high bike traffic. If used strategically, they offer safer routes for bike commuters to move around the city. College Street ,which already experiences heavy bike traffic, comes to mind as a candidate.

For more than 20 years, one of the ways our community has encouraged more bicycling has been through Bike to Work Week. This year it will be the week of May 14-18. Check out the Think Bicycles website (www.thinkbicycles.org) for a list of events, business discounts, and to get in on the prize raffle. The Old Pi to New Pi ride on Wednesday at 5:30 pm from the Chauncey Swan Park is a favorite event and always draws a big crowd. There will be about a dozen bike rodeos for kids at the schools in May. If you think Iowa City should go platinum, I encourage you to attend the forum, Ride the Bikeways: Imagining IC with Boulevards and Road Diets on Tuesday May 15 at the Iowa City Public Library. A discussion will start at 5:30 p.m. followed by a demonstration ride about 6:15 p.m..

See you on your bike in May.