Arlington is a Silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community as designated by the League of American Bicyclists. We're one of only two Silver (or higher) communities on the entire Eastern Seaboard. Arlington reached Silver status by building over 100 miles of trails and bike lanes over the years, placing over 500 bike racks, teaching child and adult bicycle safety classes, hosting Bike to Work Day and Bike DC, etc., and most importantly, YOU riding your bike. Silver is great and we're just one of 23 communities nationwide to have achieved this. But come on, we're Arlington - we can work to be Gold... and then Platinum.
The County has hosted a series of Building Arlington Bike Culture workshops over the past year to create connections both within the County amongst various departments to work more closely together and also with the private sector and community as bike culture must happen collectively to succeed. Bike culture happens when people ride their bikes. It becomes a bond of people from different walks of life who chose to ride their bike not just for recreation purposes, but for going to visit with friends and family, going shopping, going out. Bike culture is reaching for the bike lock key rather than the car key. A strong bike culture is reached when people of all ages and backgrounds are out on their bike.
At our third Building Arlington Bike Culture meeting yesterday, Dennis Leach, Director of Transportation for the County, spoke to a group interested in making Arlington even more bike-friendly. Leach highlighted that the County government working with the business community and residents will create a more bike-friendly community. Here he is.
by Paul DeMaio, MetroBike, LLC, a consultant to Arlington County Commuter Services.
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