For Immediate Release:
Contact:  Patrick J. McCormick, League of American Bicyclists 202-822-1333, Lauren Hames 407-246-3106

LEAGUE NAMES ORLANDO
A BICYCLE-FRIENDLY COMMUNITY

ORLANDO, FL (November 15, 2004) – The League of American Bicyclists and the Florida Bicycle Association at the 2 p.m. City Council meeting today will recognize Orlando with the prestigious Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) designation.

The BFC award recognizes Orlando’s commitment to improving conditions for bicycling and the years of effective work of the Orlando Transportation Planning Bureau and the Bicycle Advisory Committee to make Orlando bicycle-friendly. Through long-term commitment and focused investment in bicycling programs and facilities, Orlando has made enormous progress since 1990, when Bicycling magazine ranked Orlando among the nation’s worst cities for cycling.

Orlando was granted the bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) award following a detailed audit of the city’s efforts to provide safe accommodation and facilities for bicyclists and to encourage residents to bike for transportation and recreation.

The League’s BFC reviewers were impressed that Orlando’s ongoing 1,000 + acre Baldwin Park project, one of the largest in-city redevelopment projects in the country, will be particularly bicycle friendly. It will also conveniently tie into Orlando’s bike network, outlined in its Bikeways Plan. The city reduced transportation impact fees on the Baldwin Park project because of its efficient connections to the Bikeway network. The Council for Sustainable Florida awarded Baldwin Park, on the site of the former Orlando Naval Training Center, a 2004 Sustainable Florida Award.

Orlando’s most recent Bike to Work Day included a ride to City Hall led by Mayor Buddy Dyer. In his State of the City address, the Mayor announced that the city had surpassed its 200-mile benchmark for bikeways in Orlando ahead of schedule.

The League also applauds Orlando’s bicycle education efforts, which have made bicycling safer and more enjoyable in the city. Last June, a League Cycling Instructor (LCI) offered a training program for local schoolteachers aimed at improving their bike safety education for kids in their schools. The LCI also taught a course in bicycle use and safety to Walt Disney World employees.

The League's Bicycle Friendly Community Campaign is a national grassroots effort to increase the number of trips made by bike, promote physical fitness and help make communities more livable. The Campaign works in the most effective way possible-town by town, city by city-to encourage bicycling and achieve a bicycle-friendly America. The Campaign is supported by generous grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (www.rwjf.org) and Bikes Belong Coalition www.bikesbelong.org). For more information or to support the League, please visit www.bikeleague.org and www.bicyclefriendlycommunity.org.
 

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