In April, Bike East Bay brought a vision for people-first transportation to life on Ninth Street in Berkeley, California. With a simple block party permit and a lot of community spirit, the organization transformed one city block between Dwight Way and Channing Way into a vibrant, educational, and safe space for walking, biking, and rolling. By temporarily redesigning the street, Bike East Bay showcased the power of tactical urbanism to create safer, greener, and more connected communities.

“We wanted to give some more attention to Ninth Street via this project to help inform opportunities via the county project and the city bike plan update, and to help attendees envision what was possible on the street and maybe bring back some of the positives from their experience with 'healthy streets' in 2020,” says Robert Prinz, advocacy director at Bike East Bay, “This part of Ninth Street was previously part of Berkeley's 'healthy streets’ network at the start of the pandemic, with barricades placed to discourage through car traffic and enable people to get out and recreate more in their own neighborhood. Ninth was a great spot for this, as it is wider than other streets in the area due to being a former rail corridor for electric trolleys back in the day.”

Key Street Design Features That Made an Impact

The Ninth Street pop-up featured four strategic traffic-calming tools that rebalanced the street for people:

Diverters rerouted car traffic in both directions, prioritizing walking, biking, and rolling, and cutting down on cut-through traffic. 

A two-way, parking-protected cycletrack created a safe and intuitive path for people biking, separated from moving traffic.

Speed cushions slowed vehicle speeds on the shared segment to improve safety for all road users.

Each element helped community members visualize what permanent improvements could look like. 

This project wasn't just a test, but a celebration of what streets can be when they prioritize people. The event featured:

A community potluck organized by neighborhood residents 

More than 400 people participated, thanks to the hard work of more than 50 volunteers who helped design, build, and staff the event. One of the most powerful moments of the day came when a participant shared their experience of being hit by a driver at the same intersection — a sobering reminder of why safer streets are so important. 

“We planned the event as a block party, and we connected early on with one of the neighbors as a local champion who was able to help with communications to get the word out and engage others to make it more than just a traffic safety demonstration project. More than anything, we wanted the event to be fun and inclusive,” says Prinz. “Just as important as the demonstration project were the chalk art stations, the kids' helmet decorating table, the free bike repairs, and other activities that helped to envision many more ways the street can be used when cars don’t dominate all the space.” 

Bike East Bay collected speed and traffic volume data on nearby Tenth Street to measure the event's impact. A follow-up control survey will analyze how the demonstration influenced driving patterns on surrounding streets. Participants also completed surveys during the day of the project, and notably, more than 60% of them lived on or near Ninth Street, demonstrating substantial local participation. Bike East Bay shared this data and community feedback with the City of Berkeley and the Alameda County Transportation Commission to inform plans for Ninth Street and San Pablo Avenue. This blend of qualitative and quantitative insight is a hallmark of successful tactical urbanism, bridging community input with data to shape infrastructure decisions.

Thanks to support from PeopleForBikes, the demonstration used durable, reusable materials that will soon be part of a new Traffic Calming Library — a free lending program launching this month. Community groups throughout the East Bay will be able to borrow signs, cones, and other materials to create their own people-centered street transformations.

Bike East Bay’s Ninth Street demonstration proves that change can start with a single block. When people get to see and feel what safer streets look like, they become champions for lasting change.

Bike East Bay’s Ninth Street Pop-Up Is Reimagining Safer Streets in Berkeley

Welcome to PeopleForBikes’ Building Better Communities series, where we highlight the people building great communities throughout the U.S. — with bikes in mind. Meet the developers building to meet the growing demand for walkable, bikeable neighborhoods, alongside a breakdown of the approaches these visionaries have adopted and their key takeaways on how other communities and developers can build better for bikes and the people who ride them. 

Ryan Johnson can see the future — and it's in the past. 

On his first trip to Europe as part of a scholarship program, he landed in Budapest and was inspired by the ancient streets he saw humming with the inevitable vibrancy of concentrated human activity. It offered a sharp contrast from his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona, where sprawl and distance too often diluted connections between neighbors, community, and commerce. The scholarship sent Johnson around Europe, where he saw how Budapest’s sister cities offered their own flavors of the same kind of energy. "People were happier, they were healthier, they knew their neighbors, they were more connected to their place, even to themselves,” he says. “I wanted to bring that back." 


When Johnson later joined the founding team at real estate startup OpenDoor, he almost immediately noticed how consistently American neighborhoods most like those in Europe outperformed others in the market, commanding premium prices. “Walkable” wasn’t yet a buzzword, but Johnson heard customers asking for it again and again, just in different words. "They were saying, 'I want to live somewhere cute and where I know my neighbors and there's a coffee shop and there's thoughtful architecture." Johnson saw how that translated to a place that was walkable, bikeable, and, almost always, allowed the freedom of not needing to own a car. 

The Opportunity: An Untapped Market for Active, Connected Communities

What those OpenDoor customers wanted either didn't exist, or was too expensive, and interest was only growing. “The demand for walkable neighborhoods is impossible to ignore,” Johnson says. “A National Association of Realtors' [NAR] recent study found that 92% of Gen Z would pay more to live in a walkable neighborhood, and that demand extends to every generation, including Boomers and the Silent Generation. But the U.S. is not building nearly enough opportunities for them.” NAR surveys have consistently reflected this shift since the first one in 2013. “We need to build millions of units. Every generation wants it."


And so, Johnson decided to build some of those units. He sold his stake in OpenDoor to found Culdesac, a developer dedicated to building car-free (and car-lite) housing. Johnson called the developer’s first and flagship project, Culdesac Tempe, “America’s first car-free community built from scratch.” 

Culdesac Tempe stands as a national model for real estate development, showing how bikeable urban planning can generate strong residential and commercial demand. Culdesac Tempe broke ground in 2021. As of March 2025, almost 90% of its 288 completed units were leased.  When all phases are completed in 2028, Culdesac Tempe will offer 760 units. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the decade-plus of industry data reflecting increased demand for close-knit walkable communities across generations comes to life in Culdesac’s demographics. "Sometimes people will assume it's one [age] demographic, because we're near ASU [Arizona State University]. Actually, it's quite broad,” Johnson says. 

Many residents enjoy a lower cost of living or more discretionary income, freed up from the demands of owning a personal car. The development makes it an exceptionally easy choice in part by offering a slate of transportation options, including unlimited Valley Metro passes, e-bikes and bikes, rideshare, AV ride hail, and carshare on demand. The cycling amenities are first-rate. Two miles of internal bike paths are complemented by bike repair stations, more than 1,000 bike parking spots, and ample secure bike storage throughout the neighborhood. The first 200 residents received free e-bikes that included service perks from the local e-bike shop. The e-bike premium resulted from a partnership with Lectric, a Phoenix-based e-bike company, celebrated by the naming of Culdesac's primary bike path, Lectric Avenue.

Other returns are less tangible but equally valuable. Residents report knowing their neighbors better, enjoying the ability to be outside and more active more often, easy access to so much of what they need and want from the retail shops just steps from home, and enjoying Culdesac’s plaza, designed to allow kids to recreate safely away from cars and in the company of neighbors.  "You’ll often see groups gathering or children playing in the plaza on their balance bikes as their parents supervise while sitting and talking,” Johnson says. “Culdesac’s open space allows for more varied play spaces and easier-to-organize social play for both kids and adults."

Retail success mirrors residential success, and Johnson attributes this largely to Culdesac’s courting of local retailers, whose familiarity with the region he thinks better positions them to appreciate the development’s promise. "We thought it would take years for there to be enough people living in our project and in the surrounding area to support that retail," he says. The half dozen initial shops have mushroomed to 22, offering everything from necessities like groceries to specialty services like aesthetics. 

Culdesac Tempe is a rental development, but Johnson is confident that an ownership offering is just as viable. The developer’s next ventures have broken ground on townhouses in Mesa, AZ, and Atlanta, GA.

Lessons for Developers and Local Governments

“Building great relationships with the city and our transportation partners is a key reason Culdesac Tempe has been so successful,” Johnson says. “It’s why we were able to reach the historic agreement to build with zero residential parking so we could focus on people-centered design.” 

The city and the developer recognized their common interests early on and built on that foundation — and it was a two-way street. For example, Johnson's team wanted to show how transformational protected bike lanes can be. "So we focused on the thing that would be the most catalytic," he says. The team looked around the corner to Smith Road, where a protected lane would link to a light rail line and a nearby shopping center and the adjacent Tempe Town Lake Trail, a regional bike/walk path. “We knew it was in an area where people would support it, it would get lots of use and show the city how many bikers [sic] they have already if they just create safe infrastructure." Culdesac worked with Tempe to win a federal grant that went toward building a protected bike lane on Smith as part of a street improvement project. 

“Helping more people be able to live a walkable, [bikeable] lifestyle is the best thing we can do for health, happiness, climate, lower cost of living, and lower taxes, but the problem is that developers aren’t allowed to build them,” Johnson says. Local leadership came in the form of forward-looking elected officials who welcomed growth and, crucially, were willing to negotiate zoning regulations, like an agreement to forego any residential parking requirement. “In most of the U.S., outdated policies force developers to have parking minimums instead of allowing the spaces to be used for people, vibrant community gatherings, and green spaces,” Johnson says.  “Getting rid of parking minimums would make it possible for developers to build in people-centric ways.”  

There is some parking, but it’s a small lot to accommodate retail customers. The high cost of parking  — both financially and in the opportunity cost of crowding out space for other amenities — make them a priority for reconsideration. Each spot can add anywhere from $20,000 to near $100,000 to the cost of construction, depending on the local market and whether parking occupies a surface lot or a garage. 


Additional key zoning reforms needed include allowing mixed-use developments, higher density, lower setback requirements (setbacks are minimum distances structures can be built from property lines, streets, sidewalks, and similar features), and prioritizing these for proximity to transit stations. 

Tempe’s flexibility was undoubtedly a benefit for the project. But, negotiating each of those many exemptions ate up valuable time, and with it, money. Shortening the timeline for decision making and permitting and streamlining these processes to reduce uncertainty would meaningfully decrease the cost of housing, Johnson says. By extension, streamlining these processes could reduce costs for local governments.


Johnson emphasizes that new development must be driven by local context and is not meant to be replicated identically to the Tempe project. But he does intend Culdesac to be both inspiration and proof of concept that reduces risks for other developers by showing that walkable, bikeable neighborhoods can work in the U.S. today. "Now, it's a lot easier because we're now the model," Johnson says, and he expects more to come.  “When you create places where people actually want to be — where the streets are alive with life, not traffic — it works. This isn’t just a one-off. It’s a blueprint.”

Building Better Communities Spotlight: Ryan Johnson + Culdesac

Picture a community where kids can ride safely to school, employees have a stress-free commute, and families can explore their neighborhood by bike on sunny weekends. Across the U.S., communities are making this vision a reality by investing in great places to ride, and PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings program shows where it’s working. Each year, our City Ratings scores more than 2,000 U.S. cities and towns based on the quality and connectivity of their bike networks, helping community members and decision-makers understand how easy it is to get around by bike and where improvements can make the biggest difference.

But why does this matter? Why should communities prioritize bike infrastructure in the first place? Here are six reasons why investing in great places to ride transforms lives, neighborhoods, and local economies. 

When bike infrastructure is safe and connected, it works for everyone: daily commuters, kids riding to school, older adults staying active, and families enjoying weekend outings. Whether you're biking to work or to a nearby park, safer streets make every ride more enjoyable and accessible. Investing in quality bike infrastructure like protected bike lanes, side paths, and safe intersections, reduces conflicts between road users and helps prevent crashes.

Streets with protected bike lanes experience up to 90% fewer injuries per mile compared to those without bike infrastructure.

Cities with protected bike lanes see 44% fewer fatalities for all road users and 50% fewer serious injuries.

Adding bike lanes can reduce crashes by as much as 49%.


Cycling offers a fun, low-impact way to stay active, supporting both physical and mental health. When biking is safe and enjoyable, more people choose to do it, leading to healthier lifestyles. For example, West Jefferson, North Carolina, invested $300,000 in a Complete Streets project and saved more than $2.7 million in health care costs in the first year alone.

Every $1 invested in active transportation saves $24 in averted medical costs.

People living in bike-friendly neighborhoods engage in 35–45 more minutes of moderate physical activity each week.

Proximity to trails increases the likelihood of meeting physical activity guidelines by 50% and riding a bicycle by 80%.

Youth who ride regularly report higher levels of mental well-being and spend fewer hours in front of screens.

Bike-friendly areas — both rural to urban — often see growth in small businesses, real estate value, and tourism. People riding bikes are more likely to visit local shops and restaurants, and a well-maintained bike network can boost foot traffic in commercial districts.

Great places to ride benefit not only commuters and city dwellers, but also outdoor recreationists and weekend visitors. Whether it's a local trail system, a downtown greenway, or a bike park, communities that build for biking see increased tourism, recreation spending, and demand for nearby housing and businesses.

The U.S. outdoor recreation economy generates $124.5 billion in tax revenue and supports nearly 5 million jobs, according to a 2024 Trust for Public Land report — highlighting the sector’s major role in national economic health.

Mountain biking tourists spend an average of $416 per visit, showing that trail-based recreation directly benefits local businesses and economies.

In Lancaster, California, a Complete Streets project led to a 96% increase in retail sales, demonstrating the transformative local economic impact of safer, more walkable and bikeable streets.

Protected bike lanes on 9th Avenue in NYC resulted in a 49% increase in retail sales, compared to just a 3% increase on nearby streets without the upgrades—showing the clear benefit of safe bike infrastructure for businesses.

Tourism revenue in areas with active transportation options is eight to nine times greater than the cost of infrastructure investment, according to Smart Growth America, offering a compelling case for public spending on walking and biking improvements.

Additionally, communities with higher City Ratings scores — those with robust, low-stress bike networks — often see increased sales at local bike shops, reflecting the positive economic impact of bike infrastructure.

Having the freedom to ride a bike makes it easier for people to get where they need to go, especially for short trips. In many communities, biking offers a reliable alternative to sitting in traffic or waiting for a ride, and it often costs significantly less than driving.

Safe, connected bike infrastructure gives people real choices in how they travel. And it serves all types of riders — not just those commuting to work, but also families biking to the playground or teens heading to a local park, pump track, or restaurant. When biking becomes a viable transportation and recreation option, the entire community benefits.

Fifty two percent of daily trips in the U.S. are three miles or less, a distance easily covered by bike.

In New York City, adding bike lanes reduced travel time along a key corridor by 35%.

U.S. households spend an average of $10,961 on transportation annually, making it the second-largest household expense.

One in four U.S. adults experiences transportation insecurity, often impacting low-income families.

By increasing access to low-cost modes of transportation like biking, communities can reduce household expenses and improve affordability.

Great bike infrastructure connects people to jobs, schools, parks, and transit, making opportunities more accessible for everyone. When bike networks are designed with all neighborhoods and riders in mind, they open up new possibilities, whether you’re traveling for work, heading to class, or enjoying an afternoon ride with your family.

Bike infrastructure like trails, BMX parks, and pump tracks are just as essential. These spaces offer safe and welcoming places for youth, families, and new riders to ride, learn, and build confidence, helping foster a lifelong love of biking while supporting physical and social wellbeing. 

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) found that building greenways, sidewalks, and bicycle infrastructure contributes 17 jobs per $1 million spent compared to other road and highway projects that range from 9 to 12.5 jobs created per $1 million spent.

An analysis of Complete Streets projects conducted by the National Complete Streets Coalition found:

A project in Lancaster, California, saw employment grow along the targeted corridor by 64% over three years. Comparatively, employment only increased by 3% citywide and a similar corridor that did not receive upgrades saw a decrease in employment during the same time.

In Orlando, Florida, streets with infrastructure updates saw 77 new businesses open, creating 560 jobs over seven years. 

Bicycling is one of the most efficient and low-impact ways to get around. When more people choose to bike, especially for short trips (which make up a significant percentage of all trips in the U.S.) it helps reduce air pollution, leading to cleaner, healthier air for everyone.

From work commutes to recreational trail rides, every bike trip taken instead of a car trip reduces greenhouse gas emissions. And by making biking safe and convenient for all types of riders, communities encourage more people to choose it, creating healthier environments and a better quality of life for all.

The transportation sector emits 29% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., making it the most significant contributor to national emissions.

Fifty two percent of all car trips made in the U.S. are three miles or less, and 28% are one mile or less. Three miles is equivalent to a 20-minute bike ride for an average person, indicating that shifting close-to-home trips from cars to bicycles is possible and can significantly reduce the number of miles driven in cars.

Shifting short car trips to walking or biking trips and using walking and biking to access public transit saves 13 million tons of CO2  emissions annually. Building additional active transportation infrastructure holds the potential to save more than 54 million tons.

Want to know how your community stacks up? PeopleForBikes’ City Ratings gives you the data. Use City Ratings to:

Explore your community’s score and see how it compares to other cities nationally and globally.

Identify where bike networks are strong and where there’s room to grow.

Support informed decisions about transportation and community planning.

Investing in great places to ride isn’t just about bikes — it’s about building communities that work for everyone. Whether you’re a weekday commuter, weekend mountain biker, small business owner, or parent teaching your child to ride, safe and connected bike infrastructure opens up countless opportunities.

From protected lanes and urban trails to pump tracks and natural surface paths, bike infrastructure creates healthier, more active, and more connected communities. No matter why you ride, great places to bike benefit us all.


Explore PeopleForBikes' City Ratings and discover how better biking can benefit your community.

Cities that are great for biking have something in common — safe and connected bike infrastructure and a commitment by city leaders to build even more. Each year, PeopleForBikes releases our City Ratings to help cities understand where they currently rank and provide inspiration to improve. Our 2025 City Ratings, coming June 24, includes some new key features that help strengthen the critical connection between high quality places to ride and great biking cities.

Our annual City Ratings is a data-driven approach to evaluate, compare, and celebrate the best cities for biking in the U.S. and around the world. Each year, we score thousands of cities on how good they are for biking based on the safety and connectivity of their local bike networks. Since 2017, we’ve benchmarked progress on improving bicycling in cities nationwide to help cities understand how they stack up globally in creating safe, accessible places to ride and how they can improve.


New for this year, the 2025 City Ratings will incorporate thousands of bike projects from PeopleForBikes' Great Bike Infrastructure Project (GBIP), a first-of-its-kind initiative tracking the progress of bike infrastructure projects in communities across the country. From protected bike lanes to neighborhood greenways to singletrack trail connections, City Ratings will now track important bike projects from announcement through planning, construction, and completion, showing everyday riders what’s being built in their backyards and how they can support getting those projects across the finish line.


By including planned, proposed, and completed bike projects in City Ratings, we’re highlighting the critical link between the construction of safe, connected bike infrastructure and improved City Ratings scores. Cities that are putting in the work to create more high-quality places to ride are seeing that work pay off with increased scores year after year.


Stay tuned for the full 2025 City Ratings launch on June 24 and get ready to explore how your city ranks, what projects are in the works in your backyard, and how you can get involved to make biking better in your community. Can’t wait for this year’s ratings? Check out how your city scored last year and see if you improved this year!

PeopleForBikes City Ratings: What’s New for 2025

Making your community better for biking starts with you! Whether you have five minutes or an entire afternoon, PeopleForBikes developed some simple steps you can take to improve biking in your backyard. 

Sign up for PeopleForBikes' newsletter to be the first to know when you can take action for better biking in your community, like sending an email to your state representative when pro-bike legislation or funding is up for a vote.

Become a PeopleForBikes Foundation member to support our work.

Reach out to your local elected officials via email.

Find your mayor or city councilor’s email. If you aren’t sure who your local elected officials are or how to email them, click here. 

Send an email introducing yourself and explaining why better biking matters to you. Here is an example to help you get started:


Hello, my name is [name], and I live in [neighborhood]. I’d love to talk to you about opportunities to make our community safer and more accessible for people who ride bikes. 

[Insert a personal anecdote here. You can mention your favorite local place to ride, a particular street that could be better for biking, or how you want safer routes for your kids to bike to school or the park. You can also explain why you are passionate about this work — public or personal health, sustainability, road safety, active transportation options, etc.]


According to PeopleForBikes, our City Ratings score, which measures the quality of our low-stress bike network, is [#]. I think we can do better, and I would like to share PeopleForBikes’ Effective Legislative Strategies for Better Biking, which explains how communities like ours can become better places to ride a bike for people of all ages and abilities. 


After you make a connection, keep the conversation going by inviting your elected official on a bike ride or walk around your community to show them where you ride, where you wish you could ride, and where improvements can be made. 

Check out PeopleForBikes’ Own Your Backyard campaign for more ideas and tips, including how to connect with and support local groups already working to improve biking in your community. 

Thanks for helping make our world a better place through bikes!

How to Advocate for Better Biking in Your Community

PeopleForBikes is proud to announce the launch of our Recreational Bicycling Access Tool, a first-of-its-kind resource developed with generous support from REI. In development for the last three years, the new tool is designed to evaluate the accessibility, quality, and connectivity of recreational biking facilities across the United States.

Not meant as a resource for people to find places to ride like Trailforks or MTB Project, the Recreational Bicycling Access Tool is specifically designed to help a broad spectrum of stakeholders, from land managers and government officials to bike advocates and academic researchers, make data-driven investments in infrastructure that ensure everyone has access to high-quality recreational bicycling opportunities close to home. The tool complements our Bicycle Network Analysis tool, which measures the quality of low-stress, on-road bicycle networks in more than 2,500 global communities.


“This tool significantly enhances our ability to drive progress on expanding recreational biking infrastructure,” says Jenn Dice, president and CEO of PeopleForBikes. “By integrating the Recreational Bicycling Access Tool with our Bicycle Network Analysis, we now have the data to identify gaps, prioritize investments, and improve connectivity at scale. This is about turning data into action — making sure every community has the tools to build better, more connected networks of bike facilities that meet the needs of today’s riders.”

To learn more about the tool’s functionality and future plans to expand its capabilities, join PeopleForBikes’ webinar on March 4 at 12 p.m. MT.

PeopleForBikes leverages data to help advocates, policymakers, and bike industry leaders drive progress for better biking nationwide. The Recreational Bicycling Access Tool is a key part of our commitment to helping more people ride bikes more often. Alongside our existing programs like City Ratings, which ranks cities worldwide on the quality of their bike networks, and the Great Bike Infrastructure Project, which tracks thousands of planned bike projects across the U.S., the Recreational Bicycling Access tool is helping communities make better data-driven decisions about where to invest in bike infrastructure.


Types of Recreational Bicycling Facilities

The Recreational Bicycling Access Tool maps various types and classes of recreational facilities:

While recreational bicycling can also occur on paved roads that allow motor vehicle access, this type of infrastructure is not included in the tool. For further exploration of access to paved roads for bicycling across the U.S., please check out our Bicycle Network Analysis (BNA) tool and City Ratings program.

Like the BNA, the Recreational Bicycling Access Tool uses OpenStreetMap to identify the location of bike facilities. To add or update the facilities in your area, please see our guide on how to edit OpenStreetMap data.

People are more likely to ride bikes when facilities like trails, paths, and bike parks are easily accessible. The Recreational Bicycling Access Tool provides the insights and data necessary to ensure that recreational bike infrastructure is available to riders of all ages and skill levels, regardless of where they live.  

To analyze accessibility, the tool measures riding opportunities across eight geographic levels: census tract, county, state, metropolitan/micropolitan statistical area, congressional district, unified school district, state legislative upper house, and state legislative lower house.

The tool then quantifies access using five different metrics:

Facilities: The number of unique recreational facility classes the average resident can access.

Miles of Trails: The total miles of trails the average resident can access (excludes bike parks).

Miles per Person: The total miles of trails the average resident can access per 1,000 people living in the area (excludes bike parks).

Amenities: The number of unique amenities out of 39 amenity types located within 0.25 miles of a bike facility that a resident can access (excludes bike parks).

Bike Parks: The number of bike parks the average resident can access (excludes trails).


Access to facilities is viewable through two lenses: bike and motor vehicle access. A bicycling facility is considered accessible by bike within 1.67 miles of where people live, about a 10-minute bike ride at a 10 mph pace. A bicycling facility is considered accessible by motor vehicle when located within a 20-minute drive of where people live. Bicycling facilities located within a given census tract are considered accessible to everyone in that tract.


Users can further refine their view of the data through a series of filters based on demographic factors, including race, income, affordability, age, and more. 

For more detailed information regarding access calculations, facilities, and amenity types, please see our detailed methodology and OSM tag spreadsheet.

At the county level, the tool reveals that in large, rural counties, unpaved roads provide the majority of recreational bicycling opportunities. For example, Lincoln County, NV, with a population of only 4,600 people, has more than 2,200 miles of trails.

However, looking at the “Amenities” access metric reveals a lack of any bike or transport-specific amenities (represented by purple and orange dots, respectively), indicating that despite having high trail mile access, Lincoln County may not specifically invest in bike infrastructure.

This stands in stark contrast to places like Bentonville, AR, the self-proclaimed Mountain Bike Capital of the World. Bike amenities are aplenty around Bentonville, as are both paved and unpaved trails, showing a clear investment in high quality recreational biking opportunities for residents and visitors.

The tool can also be used to compare neighboring geographies while advocating for increased access. In Oregon, Deschutes County is home to a large network of unpaved trails for mountain biking just outside of Bend, where the majority of the county’s population resides. The proximity of these trails to town means that the average resident can easily access more than 23 miles of trails.

This stands in contrast to Lane County to the west. While the two counties have a comparable mileage of trails (1,100 in Lane, 1,300 in Deschutes), the tool reveals that the average resident of Deschutes county has direct access to almost twice as many trails. Despite the presence of unpaved roads for recreational riding in the southeastern part of Lane county, most residents live in Eugene, and thus can only easily access the paved trails close to town.

The examples above illustrate how a single metric might not tell the whole story of recreational bicycling access and how different geographies have different strengths and weaknesses with respect to existing infrastructure. By leveraging this unique dataset and considering access from multiple angles, PeopleForBikes hopes our new tool will support investment in high quality recreational bicycling infrastructure and connect new places to ride with where people live, allowing more people in communities across the U.S. to access the countless joys and benefits of biking.

PeopleForBikes’ New Tool to Expand Access to Recreational Bicycling

Topics

Bike Networks

PeopleForBikes at Work on Bike Networks

News

Bike East Bay’s Ninth Street Pop-Up Is Reimagining Safer Streets in Berkeley

Building Better Communities Spotlight: Ryan Johnson + Culdesac

The Benefits of Great Places to Ride

PeopleForBikes City Ratings: What’s New for 2025

How to Advocate for Better Biking in Your Community

PeopleForBikes’ New Tool to Expand Access to Recreational Bicycling