Mayor Elizabeth Goreham leads the “Four Townships & a Borough” bike ride in 2009. Bike-To-Work-Week runs May 1 to May 8 this year. Photo by Travis Preeble

by Tunomukwathi Asino

The Centre Region Bicycle Coalition is working on making the Centre Region the second “Bike Friendly Community” in the state.

Philadelphia is the only certified bicycle city in Pennsylvania, said Brian A. Dempsey, professor of environmental engineering at Penn State and associate director of the Penn State Institutes of the Environment. It was awarded bronze status by the League of American Bicyclists, a national organization based in Washington, D. C. representing 57 million cyclists.

Dempsey, who is also the president of The Centre Region Bicycle Coalition, said The Centre Region Bicycle Coalition (CRBC) was formed in 2000 as an advocacy group for biking and alternative transportation.

He said CRBC is a member of the League of American Bicyclists (LAB). Chuck Anderson, outgoing president of CRBC, is a LAB-certified bicycle safety instructor and has been giving classes at Penn State and the community for many years. Many members of CRBC are also individual members of LAB.

CRBC worked with the Borough in submitting a Bicycle-friendly-community application about five years ago and is now working with the Centre Region Council of Governments (COG ), with representatives from the six municipalities—State College, College Twp, Patton Twp, Ferguson Twp, Harris Twp, and Halfmoon Twp—on a plan.

“Our main motivation was to maintain and enhance the quality of life in the State College area,” Dempsey said. “It’s been said that pedestrians and bicyclists are the indicator organisms for quality of life in a community; [that] if you see a lot of pedestrians and bicyclists, in addition to cars, trucks, buses, then that’s an indication that the community is vital and a good place to be.”

For a community to apply for the Bicycle Friendly Community designation, there are five standards, or “E’s,” determined by the League of American Bicyclists.

The first is engineering. A community needs to have a complete, connected and well-maintained bicycling network.

The second is education. There need to be community-wide safe routes to school programs that include bicycling education and courses for adults in the community. In addition the community needs to educate motorists and cyclists on their rights and responsibilities as road users.

Third is encouragement. The community needs to have an up-to-date bicycle map, and a celebration of national bike month with community rides, a Bike to Work Day and a media outreach campaign are preferred. Alternatively or in conjunction, the community must play host to major cycling events or rides and an active bicycle advocacy group.

Fourth is enforcement: Do law enforcement officers have training on the rights and responsibilities of all road users? Do they use bikes?

The fifth is evaluation. There need to be a specific plan or program to reduce cyclist or motor vehicle crashes. A community needs to have a current comprehensive bicycle plan.

“The Bicycle Friendly Community Program provides incentives, hands-on assistance, and award recognition for communities that actively support bicycling. A Bicycle Friendly Community welcomes cyclists by providing safe accommodation for cycling and encouraging people to bike for transportation and recreation,” says the League of American Bicyclists Web site.

The Bike-to-Work-Week will be May 1 to May 8. There will be a street fair in front of Schlow Library on May 1 including information about bicycling, displays of bikes, health and environment-related booths and information, and a bicycle rodeo for kids. The second annual ‘Four Townships and a Borough’ bicycle ride is on Sunday, May 2.

According to the League of American Bicyclists Web site, encouraging bicycling is a simple way towards improving public health. With more people bicycling, communities experience reduced traffic demands, improved air quality and greater physical fitness.

Bicycle Friendly Communities are viewed as places with a high quality of life, where people want to live, work, and visit. Building such a community can translate into a more connected, physically active, and environmentally sustainable community that enjoys increased property values, business growth, increased tourism, and more transportation choices for citizens, according to the League of American Bicyclists.

“I’d have to say that although access by car is also essential, there’s sometimes a danger that in the process of building roads and other infrastructure to accommodate cars only, there’s a tendency to make the community less attractive for walking and biking, and that’s a sign of degradation in the quality of life,” Dempsey said.

He said there were an increasing number of plans for construction of automobile-centered transit that will make it more difficult for bikers and pedestrians to get around.

“We have several areas that are examples of that now. For example, think about the intersection of University [Drive] and College [Avenue]. It’s a very dangerous place to get across for bikes or pedestrians,” Dempsey said.