News
Tulsa Recognized as Bicycle Friendly Community
The League of American Bicyclists announced today that Tulsa
will be awarded the Bicycle Friendly Community Award. The award
makes Tulsa the first community in Oklahoma to be recognized as a
Bicycle Friendly Community.
Twice per year the League designates communities as bicycle
friendly. INCOG, the Tulsa area's Metropolitan Planning
Organization, was the agency responsible for applying for
recognition at the request of Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor.
"Tulsa is a great place for biking, with its gentle terrain
alternating with challenging hills," said Mayor Kathy Taylor. "Our
biking community has worked diligently to achieve this designation
and this recognition. The City's support for biking and walking or
running is seen in our achievements on the trails - from our
extensive citywide bike trail system that allows you to bike around
town safely, to our bike lanes and support of bicycling events like
Tulsa Tough, hosted in Tulsa. This designation is exciting and puts
Tulsa on the national biking map."
The designation is based on Tulsa's commitment to engineering,
education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation of bicycle
facilities in the city. The League specifically lauded Tulsa's
three bicycle sharing programs.
The River Parks bicycle sharing program, "Tulsa Townies," allows
users to check out a pink bicycle to use for up to 24 hours free of
charge. The bike may then be returned to any bicycle rack in the
system.
University of Tulsa has a bicycle sharing program for students
that provides free yellow bicycles and helmets for students. The
program is intended to encourage students to ride their bicycles
rather than drive when they only live a short distance from
campus.
Finally, Tulsa Transit has implemented a free bike-sharing
program at the Denver Avenue Station in Downtown Tulsa. The
program, "Rack-n-Roll," is intended to allow bus riders to increase
their mobility around downtown by using a bicycle checked out from
the bus station.
James Wagner, INCOG's transportation planner for bicycle and
pedestrian facilities, said, "This is a big honor for Tulsa. We now
need to take this momentum and continue to build facilities that
allow people to use the bicycles not only for recreation, but also
for commuting. Better facilities mean more people feel comfortable
riding a bicycle which can have a positive impact on our air
quality and on physical fitness."
"Tulsa has one of the best recreational trail systems in the
country," Taylor added. "I want to remind Tulsa bikers that they
can log their bicycling mileage daily on the Tulsa Million Miles
website and help us reach our million mile goal." The Tulsa Million
Miles initiative encourages Tulsa citizens to run, walk, bike, or
swim and log their activity on the Mayor's Million Miles website,
www.tulsamillionmiles.com.
The goal is for Tulsans to collectively cover one million
miles.
In addition to the highly used River Parks trails, trail
facilities have continued to be expanded parallel to the Creek
turnpike in south Tulsa. Cyclists can start at Northeastern State
University in Broken Arrow and ride to River City Park in Sand
Springs exclusively on trails, a distance of over 30 miles. Another
project funded with Tulsa County Vision 2025 funds is the recently
completed Osage Prairie Trail, which begins at OSU-Tulsa and
terminates near downtown Skiatook, a distance of 14 miles. Finally,
the River Parks Authority is undertaking a $15.3 million project to
separate pedestrian and bicycle trails along 14 miles of River
Parks trails. This project was made possible by a $12.4 million
donation from the George Kaiser Family Foundation. A guide to all
trails in the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, with maps and pictures, can
be found on INCOG's website at www.incog.org/transportation/trailguide.htm.
The award includes special signage that will recognize Tulsa as
a Bicycle Friendly Community. The designation will be recognized in
conjunction with the region's annual Bike to Work Day, a kick-off
event for the 2009 Bike to Work season, on May 15 from 6:30 a.m. to
8:30 a.m. on the Williams Green in Downtown Tulsa. You may
register for the event at www.green-traveler.org.
