The League of American Bicyclists has named St. Paul one of its 11 new “Bicycle Friendly Cities.”

New Orleans is one, too. And West Windsor, N.J.

St. Paul officials say their application for the designation was approved because of the “city’s demographics, infrastructure, facilities, community support, etc.”

It apparently helped, too, that St. Paul has hired a “sustainable transportation planner.”

City Council Member Russ Stark said: “This designation is an acknowledgment that our city is making progress toward a balanced transportation system, one where people who ride bikes feel safe and comfortable. We still have a lot of work to do, but this is an important milestone.”

 Here’s the list of new cities on the bike group’s list, all entering at the Bronze Level:

  • Conway, Ark.  
  • Goshen, Ind.
  • New Orleans, La.
  • Omaha, Neb.
  • Reno‐Sparks Washoe County, Nev.   
  • St. Paul, Minn.
  • Santa Fe, N.M.
  • Sheboygan, Wis.
  • Shorewood, Wis.
  • The Woodlands, Texas
  • West Windsor, N.J.

And the bike group said 14 other communities successfully renewed their designation with seven moving up to higher designations (marked with a *):

Platinum    

  • Davis, Calif.

Gold

  • Breckenridge, Colo.*
  • Corvallis, Ore.
  • Palo Alto, Calif.     
  • Steamboat Spring, Colo.*
  • Scottsdale, Ariz.*

Silver

  • Arlington, Va.
  • Burlington, Vt.*
  • La Crosse, Wis.*
  • Redmond, Wash.*
  • Sacramento, Calif.*
  • San Luis Obispo, Calif.
  • Tempe, Ariz.

Bronze

  • Chattanooga, Tenn.

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5 Comments

  1. “St. Paul has hired a “sustainable transportation planner.”

    You really have to give it to Mayor Coleman.

    There is never even a trace of a smirk when he rattles tears in a tin cup at the Capital every year.

    Bravo, Mayor; Bravo.

  2. I agree that St. Paul is a decent city to bike in, at least as long as you are riding east-west (or the reverse). There are lanes along Minnehaha, Marshall and Summit Avs. And before the Central Corridor construction started, University Ave. was a quick route between the two downtowns even though it did not have a dedicated bike lane.

    To make St. Paul truly worthy of the Bike Friendly title there need to be a few routes that go north-south across the BNSF/Energy Park and University Ave/I-94 corridors. Between downtown St. Paul and the East River Parkway there are few if any opportunities to make it quickly in a N-S direction. Snelling and Lexington are out of question and Dale, Hamline and Cleveland have serious bottleneck issues across University/I-94. Fairview and Victoria are not too bad but like Cleveland and Hamline they do not reach across the BNSF tracks.

    I do hope that we will eventually be able to from north to south and back without dodging heavy traffic on narrow roads or resorting to sidewalks and detours.

  3. This simply isn’t true, despite the prior comment that notes a few neighborhoods that have decent bike lanes — mainly in the Summit area — most of Saint Paul does not have bike lanes and the drivers are quite unfriendly to law abiding cyclists.

  4. Simply not true does not even express my beliefs of how unfriendly St Paul is towards cyclists. Are there any designated bike lanes in downtown? (Not that it matters as there is really nothing going on downtown.)

    It appears to me that this bike friendly designation is a joke as cities had to apply for it. Where is Minneapolis? What about Portland? Steamboat Springs and Breckenrdge, CO, are resort towns. Give me a break.

    Just another example of a lesser city’s attempt at being what it is not: Minneapolis.

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