Utah’s bicycle-friendly ranking is in the top ten in the nation for the first time ever. The League of American Bicyclists traditionally marks the beginning of National Bike Month by releasing its rankings. Utah moved to #8 compared to 2013’s #14 ranking. Each state gets a ranking based on a level of achievement in the 5 “E’s”; engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement and evaluation. Phil Sarnoff, of Bike Utah says improvements do not come from advocacy alone.
“There’s been a large collective of people who’ve been working on this and I think that’s what makes Utah so bike friendly is that it’s not just a bicycle advocacy organization working for this,” says Sarnoff. “It’s governments, it’s transportation organizations and advocates all working together.”
Sarnoff says bicycles are becoming less a separate culture and more simply deeply integrated into the lives of people who want to live in a healthier environment and community.
