The City of Carmel’s dedication to making Carmel a safe and enjoyable place to bike for all ages and skill levels has been nationally recognized. This week, the League of American Bicyclists recognized the City of Carmel with a Silver level Bicycle Friendly Community award, becoming one of only 96 cities at the Silver level and 475 other bicycle friendly communities across the country in building better places for people to bike.
Carmel has been a Bronze level city since 2006. With this announcement of 39 new and renewing communities, Carmel joins a team of communities that are transforming the American landscape and leading on livability measurements important to community members. The City of Carmel has more than 200 miles of path and greenway in its bike infrastructure network which creates safe access to nearly all of Carmel’s destinations by bike.
“We applaud communities like the City of Carmel for making bicycling a safe, comfortable and convenient option for transportation and recreation,” said Bill Nesper, Executive Director of the League of American Bicyclists. “We are inspired by leaders who see bicycling as a way to build more vibrant, healthy, sustainable and connected communities and be a part of the solution to many complex public health and safety challenges faced at both the community and national levels.”
The League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle Friendly America program sets the standard for how communities evaluate their quality of life, sustainability and accessibility, while allowing them to benchmark progress toward making biking better. The Silver level award recognizes the City of Carmel’s commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through investments in bike infrastructure, education programs and encouraging bicycling with pro-bicycling policies.
Brainard
“We work very hard to plan a community that is safe for bicycling, which we see as a big component of raising the quality of life for our residents,” said Mayor Jim Brainard. “This honor will also help us in our economic development efforts of attracting new corporate headquarters with high-paying jobs and a talented workforce to help fill those jobs.”
More than 800 communities have applied for recognition by the Bicycle Friendly Community program, which provides a roadmap to making biking better for communities of all shapes and sizes. The rigorous application process is an educational tool in itself, and includes an opportunity for local bicyclists to provide input on their experiences and perceptions of bicycling in their community.
The five levels of this 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.
Visit bikeleague.org to learn more.