The League of American Bicyclists today gave UofL a Silver bicycle-friendly ranking, the highest achieved so far by any Kentucky university, said Alison Dewey, who manages the program for the league.
Among UofL’s bicycling advancements are an Earn-A-Bike program that allows students and employees to trade in their parking permits for vouchers to buy bikes, a bike-share program and new bike racks and fix-it stations. New bike lanes on campus pathways and on Brook Street heading toward downtown are the most recent improvements.
“The way people perceive bikes is changing,” said Chris Sims, a UofL student who rides his bicycle to school. “They’re being seen more as a legitimate form of transportation than just recreational equipment.”
There’s even more help on the way for campus cyclists, said Justin Mog, assistant to the provost for sustainability initiatives.
Mog is working this year to create for-credit bike education classes, establish a bicycle advisory council, widen campus paths used for both pedestrians and cyclists and develop a transportation management plan to make it easier for people to get to and from campus without a car.
So far, 75 universities in 32 U.S. states have earned a bicycle-friendly designation at the bronze, silver, gold or platinum level. The national bicyclists’ league awards the ranking based on a variety of factors such as pro-bicycling policies, promotion and education.
