The designation is granted by the League of American Bicyclists and recognizes St. Pete’s commitment to improving conditions for bicyclists.

ST. PETERSBURG – The League of American Bicyclists on Thursday (Nov. 30) recognized the city of St. Petersburg with a Silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community award.

The League of American Bicyclists is leading the movement to create a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone. As leaders, our commitment is to listen and learn, define standards and share best practices to engage diverse communities and build a powerful, unified voice for change.

The bicycle friendly community designation represents a significant improvement over the city’s previous Bronze designation which has been held since 2006. The Silver BFC award recognizes St. Petersburg’s commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through investment in bicycling promotion, education programs, infrastructure and pro-bicycling policies – a ranking that no other mid-or large-size city in Florida has attained.

The BFC program provides a road map for communities to evaluate their quality of life, sustainability and transportation networks while allowing them to benchmark their progress toward improving their bicycle-friendliness. Since its inception, more than 800 distinct communities have applied, and there are now over 400 BFCs in all 50 states. Key achievements that have led to St. Petersburg’s elevated ranking include the launch of the Coast Bike Share program, inclusion of bike-friendly events such as Open Streets St. Pete, continued implementation of bike-friendly infrastructure, which now totals 130 miles of bike lanes and trails across the city, and the forthcoming Complete Streets Implementation Plan.

“We applaud these communities for making bicycling a safe and convenient option for transportation and recreation,” said Bill Nesper, executive director at the League of American Bicyclists. “We are encouraged by the growing number of leaders who see bicycling as a way to build more vibrant, healthy, sustainable, and connected communities and be a part of the solution to many complex challenges faced at both the community and national levels. We look forward to continuing to work with these communities as we move closer to our mission of creating a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone.”

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman said, “Bicycling is good for workers, good for businesses, good for neighborhoods, good for sustainability, and good for the city. Active transportation, and bicycling in particular, is a core element of the Healthy St Pete program that encourages citizens to live, shop, eat, and play healthy. I am excited about the Silver ranking, and all the additional ways we are going to keep making cycling in St. Petersburg even better in the future.”

To learn more about the BFC program, go to bikeleague.org. To learn more about St. Petersburg’s efforts, go to stpete.org.

St. Petersburg | League of American Bicyclists | Rick Kriseman | Bicycle Friendly Community | Bicycle | Tampabay News

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