We’re ready to roll up our sleeves and go for GOLD

Pittsburgh has come a long way since the League of American Bicyclists first recognized Pittsburgh as a Bronze bike friendly community in 2010.

The League of American Bicyclists, a 145 year-old national bicycle advocacy organization, recognizes communities, universities, and businesses on their commitment to being friendly to bicycling. When municipalities apply for an award from the Bicycle Friendly Community program, they fill out an extensive application which requires collaboration across city agencies and with local advocates and other partners. Based on the communities’ responses, the League determines if they deserve recognition and at which award level. 

Cities who apply need to renew every four years to reassess their status, but Pittsburgh let our status lapse in 2018. However, as part of Mayor Gainey’s commitment to Vision Zero, his Department of Mobility and Infrastructure reapplied to see how we’ve improved and where we need to go. 

Thanks to major changes and future commitments to improving bicycling in Pittsburgh, the League of American Bicyclists has formally recognized Pittsburgh as a Silver Level Bike Friendly Community.

The state of bicycling was very different in 2014, the last time Pittsburgh applied to the program. 

For instance, the very first protected bike lanes were just installed on Penn Ave in Downtown and Schenley Dr in Oakland. The bike plan at the time was written in 1999. OpenStreetsPGH didn’t exist. There was no Complete Streets Policy, nor a commitment to Vision Zero. The term “Neighborway” wouldn’t be introduced until 2020, and traffic calming was basically non-existent.

We’ve compiled a collection of before and after images of several bike lane projects around the city. Check them out here!

The League’s ranking also includes a report card explaining the areas that are in need of improvement. Based on the “Five E’s” of a bike-friendly community, they track everything from Education to Events to how equitably bike lanes are distributed. 

Helping Pittsburgh achieve the Silver level are several large institutions and businesses. Both CMU and Pitt have achieved a Silver ranking in the League’s Bike Friendly University Program, with Chatham receiving a Bronze level. 

Now that we have a modern Bike(+) Plan, and Mayor Gainey’s Vision Zero commitment to eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries, we look forward to working toward bringing home the Gold!