Local efforts toward bicycle friendly city increase | newspressnow.com

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Peddling to the store for groceries and walking to work may seem like a scene from an idyllic movie, but the idea is gaining momentum in a number of cities across the country.

Parts of Missouri are joining the effort to make more communities pedestrian and bicycle friendly.

“The time is ripe,” said Brent Hugh, executive director of the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation. “Fourteen years ago, Missouri was very behind in terms of bicycling and walking. Since then, cities are really moving forward in a positive way.”

While efforts are increasing nationwide, a new study by the Alliance for Biking and Walking places Missouri below the national average in many measures related to biking and walking. The report looked at walking and bicycle trends in each state and nationwide and ranked Missouri number 41 out of 50 with 2.2 percent of people walking or biking to work. Alaska ranked first with 9 percent.

“Compared to the rest of the nation and the world, the short answer is that we look pretty bad. We look pretty pathetic,” Hugh said. “We are pretty low on the amount of bicycling and walking. If you compare us to the great cities in the United States, we have a fraction of the biking and walking, even in our biggest cities.”

Despite low rankings in the study, the state of Missouri and St. Joseph are on track for improvements, Hugh said. He has been invested in the bicycling and pedestrian movement since 2002 and said he’s seen great improvements in the last seven to eight years.

Link: 

Local efforts toward bicycle friendly city increase | newspressnow.com

http://www.bikewalkalliance.org/resources/benchmarking