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

Last year was another banner year for the creation of great places to ride a bike across the U.S. New bike infrastructure was fueled by funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which made billions in federal dollars available for bike projects, alongside billions of additional state and local funding measures supported by PeopleForBikes. 

As a result, Americans enjoyed hundreds of new places to ride in 2024. We collected some of the best bike projects built in the last year to celebrate how all kinds of communities are benefiting from safe, fun, and connected places to bike.

This project converted a one-way, high-speed arterial into a two-way street with protected bike lanes, including protected intersections. Reversing design decisions made in the 1960s urban renewal era, the project also eliminated highway-like slip lanes and improved pedestrian crossings. What was once a highway now feels like the neighborhood street that it is. It also closes key gaps in the city’s growing network of protected bikeways, linking to existing facilities on Negley Avenue, Centre Avenue, Broad Street, and East Liberty Boulevard. 

Clark Street Protected Bike Lane | Chicago IL

PHOTO CREDIT: John Greenfield/Streetsblog Chicago
Clark Street is the southbound twin to the northbound bikeway on adjacent Dearborn Street, connecting Oak Street to Grand Avenue in central Chicago just north of the Loop. It’s already one of the city’s most popular bikeways. Beyond Clark Street, Chicago installed a total of 47 miles of new bike facilities across the city, including 31 miles of low-stress, protected bike lanes and neighborhood greenways. 

PHOTO CREDIT: San Diego County Bicycle Coalition

San Diego’s new Pershing Bikeway connects the diverse North Park neighborhood to bike lanes near downtown through Balboa Park. The 2.3-mile project combines a two-way protected bike lane, a separate bike path, and one-way protected bike lanes to provide safe and comfortable bike routes for people of all ages and abilities. Key elements include a 75-foot bridge over Florida Canyon Creek, a new roundabout at a formerly dangerous intersection, and five new pedestrian intersections equipped with 70 path lights to improve visibility. 

Named in honor of boxing legend Joe Louis, the Joe Louis Greenway is a planned 28-mile loop around central Detroit. Hailed for the revitalization and economic development it will bring, the trail connects 23 neighborhoods within Detroit as well as the cities of Dearborn, Hamtramck, and Highland Park. In 2024, residents celebrated the opening of the section between W. Warren Avenue and Joy Road. Just a short mile, this segment includes the Warren Gateway Trailhead and several spurs into surrounding neighborhoods, carrying on the trail’s critical role in connecting the local community.

Napa Valley Vine Trail | Calistoga-St. Helena, CA

PHOTO CREDIT: Rails to Trails Conservancy

Officials cut the ribbon on a new 9-mile section of the Napa Valley Vine Trail in August. Residents and visitors can now travel between the small towns of Calistoga and St. Helena in the Napa Valley on a gorgeous new bike path alongside vineyards. Twenty nine of the 47 miles are now complete, and the other sections are in the final design stage. 

Many cities are seeing the value of integrating low-volume, low-speed neighborhood streets into their bikeway networks. In Bloomington, Indiana, city planners are emphasizing the community benefits of slow streets by converting streets into “neighborhood greenways.” Every year, the city funds the conversion of at least three streets into greenways and works with residents to determine design details. 

As more people see the success of Bloomington and other cities creating neighborhood greenways that serve as a bikeway network, they will want to copy that success in their own communities. In 2024, PeopleForBikes awarded two grants to develop a model for greenway advocacy and a guide to encourage and support city leaders and advocates to develop them. 

This dedicated bikeway uses a former railroad right-of-way to connect Philippine Sea Road in ‘Ewa to Waipahu Depot Street. After the construction of retaining walls, utility relocation, and the reconstruction of bridges at Waikele Stream and Kapakahi Stream, the Leeward Bikeway extends the Pearl Harbor Historic Trail, creating an 11-mile route from ʻAiea Bay State Recreation Area to the Hawaiian Railway Society in ‘Ewa Beach. After just a few more gap closures, people will be able to ride on a 24-mile car-free bikeway from the eastern suburbs of Honolulu all the way to Diamond Head, connecting with the airport, downtown, Waikiki, and more.

The Moosup Valley State Park Trail | Connecticut

The Moosup Valley State Park Trail opened six miles of trail from the town of Moosup to Rhode Island. The trail spans 62 acres of wetlands, rivers, ponds and natural beauty, hugging the Moosup River until it connects with the Trestle Trail in Rhode Island. Each segment is a part of the East Coast Greenway, a safe biking and walking route connecting 15 states and 450 cities and towns for 3,000 miles from Maine to Florida. 

Know of a great bike project planned for 2025 that should be on our radar for next year’s list? Make sure it’s included in our National Bike Project Tracker! To learn how to add planned projects to the list, check out our FAQ page.

In 2024, PeopleForBikes awarded a grant to the Active Transportation Alliance in Chicago to support the nonprofit advocacy organizations’ transformative Safe Streets for All campaign. The campaign focuses on two key policy priorities: renewing funding for the Chicago Works Capital Improvement Plan, which accelerated the construction of concrete-protected bike lanes across Chicago in recent years, and lowering Chicago’s default speed limit to 25 miles per hour. 


With speed being a leading factor in traffic fatalities across the U.S., reducing speed limits is a significant step toward making streets safer across the city of Chicago. The Active Transportation Alliance led a coalition of 16 community-based organizations to advocate for this change, garnering more than 1,000 comments from local community members and providing expert testimony at public hearings. In October 2024, the ordinance to lower speed limits passed out of the Chicago City Council's Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety and both the Active Transportation Alliance and PeopleForBikes continue advocating for its full approval by the City Council.

Alongside advocating for safer policies, the Active Transportation Alliance also works to advance critical bike infrastructure projects. On the Far South Side, the organization is advocating for side paths on 103rd Street and 130th Street to address long-standing connectivity challenges caused by industrial and highway infrastructure. On the Southwest Side, the group is supporting the implementation of neighborhood bike networks and safety improvements along the historically dangerous Pulaski Avenue. On the Northwest Side, the Active Transportation Alliance partnered with community leaders to improve the protected bike lane along Milwaukee Avenue, a vital corridor serving a local high school. 


The Active Transportation Alliance’s work in Chicago offers several valuable lessons for other communities looking to improve biking locally:

Build broad coalitions. The Active Transportation Alliance’s Safe Streets for All Coalition brings together diverse stakeholders, including groups focused on youth and disability rights. The collective outcomes achieved by the coalition demonstrate the value of developing broad-based support to drive systemic change.

Make engagement in advocacy accessible. By offering stipends, translation services, and accessible meeting locations, the Active Transportation Alliance ensures that the voices of community members who are sometimes excluded from public planning processes are heard and involved in decisions.

Cultivate relationships with decision-makers. Through one-on-one meetings, public comments, and grassroots advocacy, the Active Transportation Alliance cultivates meaningful relationships with city officials and other key decision-makers. This direct engagement is instrumental in securing wins for bike projects and policies. 

Fund bike infrastructure. Local programs like Chicago Works enable rapid deployment of life-saving infrastructure while freeing federal funds for other large-scale projects. This approach provides a model for other communities seeking to accelerate the development of their bike network.

Reduce speeds. Reducing vehicle speeds is one of the simplest yet most effective first steps to improve road safety — studies show that lower speeds make streets safer for all road users. By advocating for a citywide default speed limit of 25 mph, the Active Transportation Alliance sets an important precedent for other communities to follow. Integrating additional infrastructure investments to lower speeds via smart street design will further improve road safety in the future. Bonus: Lowering speed limits can boost your City Ratings score!


PeopleForBikes is proud to support the Active Transportation Alliance as they champion safer streets and connected bike networks across Chicago. Their work is a powerful example of how all communities can prioritize biking and safety, creating healthier, more accessible communities for all. 


To learn more, check out PeopleForBikes’ guidance on legislative initiatives that improve bike infrastructure, like funding bike infrastructure and reducing speeds, and effective local advocacy tactics like building broad coalitions, increasing community engagement, and fostering relationships with decision-makers.

Supporting Better Biking in Chicago With the Active Transportation Alliance

With bicycling participation increasing across the U.S., it is critical that we support and continue this growth by creating more great places to ride. Safe, connected, and accessible places to ride are essential to getting more people biking more often and improving road safety nationwide. Both the Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Urban Bikeway Design Guide from the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) offer communities clear paths to making better bike infrastructure a reality. 

In December, AASHTO released the fifth edition of the Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities, marking a significant step forward for the organization’s guidance for U.S. communities of all shapes and sizes to design safe, effective, and inclusive bike infrastructure. AASHTO represents transportation departments across the U.S. and in addition to its other activities supporting transportation work, offers guidance for engineers and designers on geometric design for highways and streets.

The latest edition of the long-awaited AASHTO guide reflects several advances in design thinking, safety research, and technological innovation since its last publication in 2012. The fifth edition includes nine new chapters and significant revisions to seven others, covering topics including:  

Choosing the right bikeway type for different contexts 

Designing shared-use paths, protected bike lanes, side paths, and bike boulevards/neighborhood greenways

Improving intersections, traffic signals, and roundabouts for people riding bikes

NACTO introduced the third edition of its Urban Bikeway Design Guide in January. NACTO is a collaborative network of 100 cities and transit agencies across North America. By fostering the exchange of innovative transportation ideas and practices, NACTO empowers communities to tackle shared challenges and develop solutions that address transportation issues.

The updated NACTO guide offers communities a comprehensive toolkit for designing safer, more accessible, connected bike networks. Endorsed by the U.S. Department of Transportation and used widely across North America, the guide goes beyond focusing on individual bike projects to emphasize the importance of cohesive networks that cater to diverse users. 

Implementing signal phasing strategies that improve safety for people walking and biking 

Improving accessibility for pedestrians walking along and crossing bikeways

Operating and maintaining bike facilities

Maintaining bike facilities during construction disruptions

Planning for newer mobility options like e-bikes, cargo bikes, and scooters

“Access to transportation means access to opportunity,” said NACTO Executive Director Ryan Russo in a press release. “The third edition of the Urban Bikeway Design Guide takes all that we’ve learned from hundreds of projects across North America. It provides more than just a kit of parts for designing a bike lane: it provides the how-to blueprint for creating a whole bike network for people of all ages, abilities, and identities.”


Both guides emphasize the importance of a flexible, context-sensitive approach and equip communities with the practical information needed to address unique challenges with design solutions that prioritize safety and usability. Advocates for better biking can leverage these updated guides to continue the momentum for better biking, break down barriers to riding for vulnerable or marginalized groups, and create a safer future for people of all ages and abilities.


With these guides now available, it’s time to put them into action and make our communities great places to ride a bike.

You can help by encouraging your state, city, or town to formally adopt the fifth edition of the AASHTO Bicycle Guide and the third edition of NACTO’s Urban Bikeway Design Guide. You can also ask your elected officials and decision-makers to bring in experts to conduct training sessions on both guides to ensure state and local engineers and designers are well equipped to build high quality bike projects in your community.  

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To further support the adoption and implementation of great places to ride, PeopleForBikes offers two powerful tools for communities looking to improve biking locally: City Ratings and the Great Bike Infrastructure Project. Our City Ratings program evaluates and scores communities on how good they are for biking based on the quality of their low-stress bike networks, identifying strengths and areas for improvement. The Great Bike Infrastructure Project complements City Ratings by tracking thousands of planned bike projects across the U.S. and offering guidance to accelerate the development of safe, fun, and connected bike networks.

New Resources Offer Guidance on Building Great Places to Ride

On December 11, the PeopleForBikes Coalition Board of Directors approved our 2024 Industry Community Grants, totaling $75,000 across 10 grants. The grants will help fund projects that support our focus on building infrastructure that makes communities across the U.S. great places to ride a bike. This year’s supported projects include urban and rural trail systems, a pump track and a skills trail, several projects that make it safer for children to bike to school, and infrastructure development in large metropolitan areas. 

2024 PeopleForBikes Industry Community Grants

Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia — $10,000

Philadelphia, PA | Support for the Schuylkill Crossing: Connecting Communities and Opportunities project that will activate a set of bikeways that constitute an entirely off road bike and pedestrian connection from Southwest Philadelphia and South Philadelphia to Center City and beyond.

Richmond, CA | A collaboration with community groups and county agencies to support the North Richmond Bike Bus program, leading to safe routes to school and critical improvements to this long-time disadvantaged community.

Pittsburgh, PA | Resources for the development of children’s bike buses throughout the region that may be used as a national guide and lead to advocacy for safe routes to school in hundreds of communities nationwide.   

California Bicycle Coalition — $10,000 

Sacramento, CA | A critical guide to the development of “slow streets” infrastructure on neighborhood streets that represent key links in urban bikeway networks in every American city. 


Berkeley, CA | Materials and advocacy for a demonstration project of a slow street in West Berkeley. 

Houston, TX | Infrastructure, including signage, for the improvement of dozens of dangerous intersections where the 4-mile Columbia Tap Trail crosses roadways.

Lake Placid, NY | A critical match for other donations that will close the funding gap for an 8-mile trail linking rural communities in the High Peaks region in New York’s Adirondack Park.


Native American Advancement Foundation — $10,000

Tohono O’odham Nation, AZ | The addition of a much-needed pump track in a brand new and popular “Free as a Bird Skatepark” in this native community. 

Austin, TX | Eva Carrillo de Garcia Park will get a new Skills Trail connected to a disadvantaged neighborhood in East Austin and a 4-mile bike loop around the perimeter of the park.

McClintock High School Bike Club — $5,500 

Tempe, AZ | Bike bus advocacy for improved school access, including an off-road path reaching the school, neighborhood bike route enhancements, and a new highway overpass.

PeopleForBikes' 2024 Industry Community Grants Recipients

Topics

Bike Networks

PeopleForBikes at Work on Bike Networks

News

How to Advocate for Better Biking in Your Community

PeopleForBikes’ New Tool to Expand Access to Recreational Bicycling

2024’s Best New U.S. Bikeways

Supporting Better Biking in Chicago With the Active Transportation Alliance

New Resources Offer Guidance on Building Great Places to Ride

PeopleForBikes' 2024 Industry Community Grants Recipients