Michigan Ranked 12th for Bicycle Friendliness

For the first time, states are now being ranked according to how well they accommodate bicycling:

The League of American Bicyclists has announced our first annual ranking of Bicycle Friendly States, scoring all 50 states on more than 70 factors. The states were scored on responses to a questionnaire evaluating their commitment to bicycling and covering 6 key areas: legislation; policies and programs; infrastructure; education and encouragement; evaluation and planning; and enforcement.

Andy Clarke, president of the League, said, “While every state has room to improve in making bicycling a preferred mode of transportation and accessible form of recreation, Washington is making the greatest strides to make this a reality.” Clarke points to Washington’s model bike laws, signed and mapped statewide bike route network, dedicated funding from the state for bicycle related programs and projects, and an active statewide bicycle advisory committee as a few examples of why Washington ranked the highest.

Michigan is near the top at number 12.  The reasoning cited was:

Michigan has a rumble strip policy with a minimum 4 feet of clearance and dedicated state funding for bicycle projects. However, there is no routine accomodation or complete streets policy.

There is a very cool interactive map on-line they lets you easily compare states by clicking on them.

2008 State Rankings

1 Washington
2 Wisconsin
3 Arizona
4 Oregon
5 Minnesota
6 Maine
7 California
8 Illinois
9 New Jersey
10 New Hampshire
11 Utah
12 Michigan
13 North Carolina
14 Hawaii
15 South Carolina
16 Massachusetts
17 Vermont
18 Wyoming
19 Nevada
20 Florida
21 Iowa
22 Colorado
23 Virginia
24 Indiana
25 Kansas
26 Louisiana
27 Rhode Island
28 Missouri
29 Kentucky
30 Texas
31 Delaware
32 Ohio
33 Nebraska
34 New York
35 Maryland
36 Tennessee
37 Idaho
38 Pennsylvania
39 Arkansas
40 Alaska
41 South Dakota
42 Connecticut
43 Oklahoma
44 Montana
45 New Mexico
46 North Dakota
47 Mississippi
48 Alabama
49 Georgia
50 West Virginia

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