US Cities Obtained Greater For Biking: 2025 Report

Dive Transient:

• The ten largest cities and boroughs inside the U.S. all equipped sustained actions to reinforce bicycling since last yr, in accordance with PeopleForBike’s 2025 metropolis scores, launched instantly. 
• Amongst cities with populations over 300,000, Baltimore, Cleveland and Fresno, California, confirmed the perfect ranking will improve from 2024 to 2025 on a zero-to-100 scale. The best 10 largest cities scored above 50, which PeopleForBikes considers a essential tipping stage in developing momentum in the direction of larger bicycling in metropolitan areas, the group talked about in a info launch. 
• “The areas that are seeing in all probability essentially the most correlation between initiatives getting constructed and ranking will improve over time are these that are doing it in a deliberate, methodical means,” Martina Haggerty, vice chairman of infrastructure at PeopleForBikes, talked about in an interview. 

Dive Notion:

Bicyclist fatalities in guests collisions elevated yearly from 2017 to 2023, in accordance with Nationwide Freeway Web site guests Safety Administration info. In 2023, the latest yr for which full info is accessible, 1,166 bike riders misplaced their lives on streets and roads. 

Haggerty outlined that associated bicycle-friendly infrastructure — similar to protected bike lanes and devoted bikeways — improves safety for cyclists and totally different freeway clients. These routes are best when as well as they join with neighborhoods, retailers and totally different transit modes, she talked about.

“There are some cities that are developing various bike infrastructure, nevertheless they don’t seem to be doing it with that lens,” Haggerty talked about. She recognized Chicago, which obtained an 11 ranking inside the new rating, as such a metropolis.

Washington, D.C., represents the opposite end of the spectrum. Its ranking grew from 36 in 2018 to 52 this yr. “That’s ensuing from filling in key connectivity gaps that locations that bike group collectively,” talked about Grace Stonecipher, PeopleForBikes Infrastructure Analytics and Evaluation Supervisor. Usually, the Northeast U.S. “ranks pretty extraordinarily,” Stonecipher talked about. 

The first and solely metropolis with a 100 ranking was Mackinac Island in Michigan. The car-free island, with a inhabitants of 583, sits on the excessive of Lake Huron.

For its eighth yr of metropolis scores, PeopleForBikes evaluated over 2,900 world cities. Paris and Delft, Netherlands, ranked among the many many highest-ranged worldwide cities. “Usually, Europe averages pretty a bit better whole of their metropolis rankings,” Stonecipher talked about. These cities often have slower tempo limits, smaller autos and a longstanding custom of bike-riding, she added.

Although U.S. cities have been making progress to increase safety for bike riders, “we’re undoubtedly concerned about the best way ahead for funding for bike infrastructure on the federal stage,” Haggerty talked about. 

In March, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy rescinded Biden-era insurance coverage insurance policies to include environmental and social issues in federally funded infrastructure initiatives. Amongst these have been directives to promote and improve safety for all freeway clients and make streets and totally different transportation facilities compliant with the Individuals with Disabilities Act. 

PeopleForBikes is working with totally different organizations, the bicycle commerce and elected officers to proceed assist for bike-friendly funding, Haggerty talked about. She pointed to native and state assist for such initiatives. Voters accredited $2.2 billion in new funding by ballot measures in 2023, in accordance with the group. “Bettering safety on roads all all by means of America,” Haggerty talked about, “is de facto not a partisan topic.”