Portland Becomes First Major U.S. City to Win Top Prize for Bicycle Friendliness
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 04.29.08
Congrats Portland! The city just became the first major U.S. city to be designated as a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists. The only other city to reach that level in the U.S. is Davis, California, but it only has a population of 63,000, so the challenge wasn't quite the same (not to take anything away from their accomplishment - kudos to them!).
"Portland earned the Gold designation back in 2003 and has been working to achieve Platinum for well over two years. Back in February of 2006, Commissioner Sam Adams launched a nine-part strategy and called together advocates and community leaders to work toward achieving the goal."
Even the Gold level was pretty exclusive: Only six other cities have reached it. 15 have attained Silver, and 49 got Bronze. Five main factors have been evaluated (they call them the 5Es, though there's a 'P' at the end): engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation and planning. Once again, congrats Portland! ::Portland earns Platinum; becomes first major U.S. city to win the award, ::Portland earns a Platinum rating from the League of American Bicyclists
That's great news! Perhaps the solutions reached in Portland can be implemented in other cities. They are really addressing two problems: epidemic obesity and the need for environmentally friendly transportation.