BICYCLING ADVOCACY IN LINCOLN

The League of American Bicyclists (LAB) sponsors a program through which a city can be recognized as a "Bicycle-Friendly Community."  In 2003, at the suggestion of the Great Plains Bicycling Club (GPBC), Lincoln applied for recognition, but only received an "honorable mention."  Given Lincoln's excellent trail system, many Lincoln residents may find this surprising, but the League views off-street trails as only one element of good support for bicycling in a community.  While the GPBC may not necessarily have agreed with the League's final decision, it certainly agrees with the League that there is a lot more to supporting bicycling as a form of transportation than just having a nice trail system.

After the submission had been made, the League requested the GPBC to provide comments on Lincoln's application to be considered as a Bicycle-Friendly Community (BFC).  Shortly after receiving this request, however, the Club learned that the League had already decided to give the city an "honorable mention" in lieu of an award.  Given this situation -- that the League had already made its decision for 2003 2004 -- the Club decided that its most effective course of action was to respond, not only to the League's original set of questions, but also to the League's critique of Lincoln.  The main reason that the Club chose this course of action was to facilitate the distribution of an important document that combined the League's comments and the Club's comments for distribution to a couple of local government groups (see comments on the "Pedestrian-Bicycle Advisory Committee" and the "Multi-Modal Transportation Task Force" below).  The purpose of combining and distributing the League's comments and the Club's responses was to persuade these groups to take a broader and more active look at the needs of bicyclists in the Lincoln area.

The following documents and links help explain the importance of this to Lincoln bicyclists:

Bicycle-Friendly Community Program -- This is website administered by the League of American Bicyclists goes into detail on the BFC Program.

Lincoln BFC Application #1 (section 1 and section 2) -- This is the first application made by Lincoln in a two-step application process. It contains a lot of basic information about the city. After the League accepted this, a second, more detailed application was completed.

Lincoln BFC Application #2 -- This is the much more extensive document submitted by the city that the League used to evaluate Lincoln. It contains a significant amount of bicycling-specific information. Members and friends of the GPBC worked hard to help the city with the submission of these applications. In addition, several city employees put in quite a bit of work on them as well, especially application #2.

Comments and questions from the LAB combined with comments and responses of the GPBC -- This is the key document referenced on this long page. We believe that it is probably the most authoritative locally-generated statement to date regarding bicycling efforts in the Lincoln area and what needs to be done in the future.  The Club will work to bring this to the attention of several local government groups.

The Multi-Modal Transportation Task Force (MMTTF) is a group appointed by the Mayor to evaluate Lincoln's future support of transportation alternatives other than the private passenger automobiles.  Busses have received the most attention to date, but bicycling has been recognized.  The challenge to bicycling advocates is to see that the recognition of bicycling is translated into meaningful plans that broadly recognize cycling needs and that don't merely focus on Lincoln's trails system.  There is more to support of bicycling than the support of a trails system.

If you dig into the MMTTF link above, you will discover a number of background documents.  In total, the volume can be daunting.  In particular, however, we refer you to the Conceptual Alternatives Matrix and the Conceptual Alternatives Narrative, dated 1/6/2004.  The LAB/GPBC comments relate very directly to this material. Considering that they were developed independently, there is a lot of agreement between the MMTTF consultants (at least with regard to their more bicycle-friendly proposals) and the GPBC.

The Pedestrian-Bicycle Advisory Committee (PBAC) is a standing committee appointed by the Mayor to deal with pedestrian and bicycle issues (versus the MMTTF discussed above, which will dissolve after it completes work on a report later in 2004).  The problem we see with the PBAC is that the resolution creating it and its activities to date have been strongly trails-centric.  It has done commendable work in the trails area -- in line with its "charges" -- but the GPBC feels that the city needs more government attention given to other bicycling related issues.  (The PBAC does not have a specific web presence, but you can contact Terry Genrich at the Parks & Recreation Department should you have questions about its activities.)

Do you have general questions or questions about the activities of the Great Plains Bicycling Club in this area?  Feel free to contact us.