The League of American Bicyclists has designated the City of Alpharetta a Bicycle Friendly Community for its leadership and investment in infrastructure, education and outreach that enables and inspires people to ride bikes. Only 464 communities across the United States have earned the designation.
“Congratulations to the City of Alpharetta for creating a safe, supportive and inviting environment for people to bicycle," League Executive Director Bill Nesper said in announcing the Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) designation. "Their vision and dedication have transformed local landscapes to ensure bicycling is a viable option for transportation such as commuting, making short trips around town and recreating. Together, we can continue to shift towards making easily accessible, healthier, active transportation options such as bicycling and walking an essential element in every community."
In considering communities for the BFC designation, the League bases its evaluation on 10 “building blocks” divided into four categories; engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation / planning. The individual building blocks range from the ratio of total bicycle network mileage to road network mileage, to the presence of bicycle friendly laws and ordinances, to how well a community is implementing its written bicycle plans.
“This national recognition for Alpharetta is a result of a tremendous number of hours of collaboration between Bike Alpharetta volunteers and City leaders in the Departments of Public Works, Public Safety, and Recreation and Parks,” said Bill Lusby, president of Bike Alpharetta, a non-profit, 501c3 community organization that advocates and promotes bicycling in and around Alpharetta. “Bike Alpharetta began assessing and advising the City on ways to be more bicycle friendly back in 2011. We are encouraged that City leaders will continue to create safe and useful facilities for all types of multi-modal transportation, such as bicycling and walking.”
“We are very proud of earning the designation of Bicycle Friendly Community,” said Alpharetta Mayor Jim Gilvin, “but we are more proud of the impact that our partnership with Bike Alpharetta is having on Alpharetta. Their volunteers have spent countless hours working with our staff to identify and pursue goals and strategies that are making Alpharetta safer for bicyclists and pedestrians; directly improving the quality of life of our citizens and visitors.”
Communities that have earned the BFC designation must renew their status every four years to ensure that they not only maintain existing efforts, but also keep up with changing technology, national safety standards, and community-driven best practices.