Nola Reporter

NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans today announced that the League of American Bicyclists has honored the City’s efforts to build better places for people to bike with a renewal of its Silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) designation. The award recognizes the City 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.  

“Bicycling is not just a means of transportation, it's a powerful force for positive change, promoting health, sustainability and a connected community,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “The City of New Orleans continues to strive to maintain our designation as a Silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community through the expansion of our network of protected bikeways, continued partnership with Blue Bikes bike share and promotion of traffic safety. This Mardi Gras season, we especially remind motorists to share the road and for all road users to follow traffic laws to ensure everyone can celebrate safely. My administration will continue to work with our community partners to expand and support biking throughout the city as it also aligns with our climate goal of reducing carbon emissions." 

“The Silver designation recognizes that the City of New Orleans has been successful in helping create a transportation network that serves the over 27,000 households without access to a motor vehicle,” said Deputy Chief Resilience Officer Greg Nichols, “However, we still have work to do to reach Gold-level status. That’s why improving safety for people biking, walking and driving is a priority of our office and this administration. Doing so not only improves safety but makes it easier for us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by reducing car trips.” 

The League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle Friendly America program sets the standard for how communities build and benchmark progress toward making biking better. The League strives to provide continual updates to the application as part of our commitment to help communities raise their standards for safety, equity and accessibility. 

“Today, we celebrate 58 new and renewing Bicycle Friendly Communities that exemplify an ongoing commitment to make bicycling safe, comfortable and accessible to all,” said Executive Director of the League of American Bicyclists Bill Nesper. “This round of awards is a testament to the dedication of the growing network of changemakers who, with the League, are raising the standard of what it means to be a Bicycle Friendly Community.” 

This round of awards includes 58 new and renewing awardees, joining a total of 480 current Bicycle Friendly Communities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Silver BFC award recognizes New Orleans’ commitment to improving conditions for all people who bike through investments in bike education programs, regular bike events that promote and encourage people to choose biking, pro-bike policies and bike infrastructure.

The five levels of the BFC award – diamond, platinum, gold, silver and bronze, plus an honorable mention category – provide a clear incentive for communities to continuously improve. Awarded communities must renew their status every four years to ensure that they not only maintain existing efforts, but also keep up with changing technology, national safety standards, and community-driven best practices.   

To learn more about the BFC program, visit bikeleague.org/community

Original source can be found here.