ST. GEORGE — St. George was recognized by the League of American Bicyclists last month with a Silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community Award for its continuing efforts to build a better biking community.
The award is a jump from the city’s previous status as it joins 500 other communities across the country making their streets more welcoming and safer for cyclists.
“The award recognizes St. George for its commitment to creating transportation and recreational resources that benefit its residents of all ages and abilities while encouraging healthier and more sustainable transportation choices,” a press release from the city of St. George states.
The city has a total of 67 miles of paved trails and 21 miles of on-street bike lanes. Cycling and pedestrian-focused infrastructure have been pushed by the city since it adopted its active transportation plan in 2017.
“We’ve made a lot of efforts to put on-street bicycling infrastructure, like bike lanes, some of the new pedestrian and bicycle pedestrian underpasses, to connect into downtown,” Lloyd Sutton, active transportation coordinator for the city of St. George, told St. George News.
“So now with our paved trail network, we can connect into the downtown bike lanes, and that makes more of a cohesive transportation network for bicycles and makes it even more of a viable option,” he said. “That was one of the things that I think helped us advance in being recognized as a silver community.”
According to its website, the League of American Bicyclists reviewed 501 cities nationwide that applied for its Bicycle Friendly Community Award. St. George is one of 32 new and renewing awardees.
The Bicycle Friendly Community Award has bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels, with the addition of honorable mentions. St. George is one of five silver-level communities in Utah. Prior to this, it was considered a bronze-level community. Other Utah cities in the silver category include Salt Lake City, Moab, Provo and Logan. There are an additional five bronze communities with Park City as the one gold-level community in the state.
“Building an America where bicycling is truly safer and easier for everyone means strengthening our nation economically, environmentally and socially,” Bill Nesper, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists, said in a press release. “That’s why we’re proud to celebrate both new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Communities joining our movement to build a Bicycle Friendly America for everyone.
“This round of awards is also a testament to the community leaders and local bike advocates who are joining the League in raising its standards of what it means to be a Bicycle Friendly Community.”
In addition to bicycle-friendly infrastructure, programs promoting cycling education and safety are also taken into consideration for the award.
“Programs are another thing that helped us in our evaluations this year,” Sutton said.
The city partners with its parks and recreation department and police department to create and coordinate programs like bicycle rodeos for elementary students and events that occur in the fall and spring, as well as around May, which is National Bike Month.
It also partners with the Southwest Utah Public Health Department and Southern Utah Bicycle Alliance for events emphasizing cycling awareness and cycling’s societal and healthy-living benefits. This applies to motorists as well when it comes to learning the rules of sharing the road.
“Roadways have historically, in the last 100 years, been viewed as a place for cars and cars only,” Sutton said. “And now we’re shifting toward the attitude that roads are a place to move people, whether that’s by cars, bike or pedestrians.
“And so there is a lot of sharing of a common space where that happens. And both for motorists and for bicyclists, we need to be considerate of each other, and show courtesy to each other when we’re using the same space.”
With the national recognition the award brings, Sutton said it also helps the city compare its active transportation efforts with other communities and validates the investment the city has put into pedestrian- and cycling-friendly infrastructure. It also helps continue the city’s status as bicycle-friendly in general.
“In Utah, it’s kind of accepted that St. George is up there when it comes to bicycle infrastructure,” Sutton said. “It’s really exciting for us as a city to get this award.”
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.