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The People Behind Bicycle Friendly States: DOT Staffers
BICYCLE FRIENDLY STATES
THE PEOPLE BEHIND BICYCLE FRIENDLY STATES
BY KEN MCCLEOD
Since 2008, the League of American Bicyclists has been asking “which state is the most Bicycle Friendly State?” To help us answer that question, we rely on public data and surveys distributed to every state Department of Transportation. Those surveys are completed by state transportation agency staff and in the spirit of gratefulness, we’d like to recognize the employees who help us understand what state DOTs are doing to improve bicycling.
Staff at Caltrans HQ, a Silver-level Bicycle Friendly Business, grabbing breakfast at an energizer station on Bike to Work Day. Photo: Caltrans BFB application
Most of our questions to the state Department of Transportation (DOT) are about how the agency considers people who bike in their work and how they support improvements for people biking in the state. We focus on state DOTs for several reasons:
1
Roadways owned by state DOTs tend to account for a disproportionately high number of people killed while bicycling. In 19 states, more than 50% of people killed while biking since 2015 were killed on stateowned roadways.
Dive into our Bicycle Friendly State rankings:
bikeleague.org/states
2
State DOTs receive tens of millions of dollars in federal transportation funding each year. The largest federal source of funding for bicycling and walking—the Transportation Alternatives Program— requires each state DOT to administer a competitive grant process, making state DOTs essential to the successful use of federal funds to improve bicycling.
3
Even the smallest state DOT dwarfs most city transportation agencies and their size and capacity can greatly influence the culture of transportation planning, roadway design, research, and grant administration in each state. (A 2016 review of state DOTs identified small DOTs as those with 2,500 staff or less.)
Indoor bike rack on the main floor of Washington State Department of Transportation Eastern Region’s office. Photo courtesy of WSDOT’s BFB application.
Trike supplied for campus mobility by Washington State Department of Transportation Eastern Region, a Silver-level Bicycle Friendly Business. Photo shared through WSDOT’s BFB application. Since the passage of the federal transportation bill in 1991, each state has been required to have a bicycle and pedestrian coordinator. In many states, bicycle and pedestrian coordinators face significant obstacles to making bicycling better. It is relatively rare for state DOTs to have a large bicycle and pedestrian staff or to have bicycle and pedestrian staff within each of their regional offices. According to our 2021 survey data, state DOTs were nearly four times more likely to have no regional bicycle and pedestrian staff at all than to have a full-time bicycle and pedestrian staff in all regions. In some states, significant advances have been made to support their staff and bicycling as a mode of transportation. Eight state DOT offices have been recognized by our Bicycle Friendly Business program, with Minnesota leading the way with three recognized offices. By promoting biking to work, providing bike parking, and ensuring that offices are accessible by safe bike infrastructure these offices are helping their employees—whether assigned to work on bicycling or not—understand the needs of people who bike. Despite the challenges that some state DOT bicycle staff face, they do incredible work. Every time we do the Bicycle Friendly State ranking we’re impressed by their initiative and resolve to improve bicycling. While state DOTs and the roadways they design, build, and operate can be barriers to better biking, we are grateful for the staff at each who are dedicated to working with state and local advocates to change that and hope to see more state DOT offices recognize the value of investing in bicycling.
CHECK OUT THESE STATE DOTs WHO HAVE EARNED BICYCLE FRIENDLY BUSINESS AWARDS:
While state DOTs and the roadways they design, build, and operate can be barriers to better biking, they can also become allies. Many of our DOT Bicycle Friendly Businesses are helping their state climb the ranks in being better for those who bike.
