I N T E R AC T I O N S
THE IOWA CITY POLICE LOG A coffee table book
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If the preferred mode of active transportation is walking, a 15-minute circle one mile from Old Capitol would include Kinnick Stadium, Carver Arena, Hancher, City Park, Iowa River Crossing Park and housing past College Green Park on the east. Our downtown area is only about a mile in diameter. The League of American Bicyclists created the Bike Friendly Community (BFC) program about 20 years ago. For free, the League evaluates communities on five criteria as well as biking modal share and accident rates. The five evaluation areas include engineering, encouragement, equity, education and self-evaluation. Over 485 communities have received a designation from bronze-level to platinum, but fewer than 40 have attained the gold or platinum designation. It’s important to note that a bike-friendly community accommodates walkers too. Public transportation generally is enhanced by the BFC program. Iowa City first applied to be a BFC in 2007. Even though there were lots of bike commuters and few accidents, we didn’t receive recognition, primarily because there was no master bike plan. Two years later, with the master plan completed and bike education rodeos being offered at local schools, Iowa City received a bronze-level recognition. More progress was made, and in the
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curriculum that includes a component for secondary schools, another important characteristic at the gold-level. Why sweat being bike friendly? There are at least two good reasons. First, increasing active transport will reduce air pollution. More than a quarter of air pollution is attributed to auto ex-
“BIKE FRIENDLINESS ADDS TO THE QUALITY OF LIFE AND ENHANCES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.”—BOB OPPLINGER
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2013 evaluation, the recognition was bumped up to silver-level. Fewer than one-third of the BFCs have done that well, but in the 2017 evaluation, the progress was insufficient to merit gold-level. Over the past few years, Iowa City has gone a long way to accommodate active transportation. For example, a new master plan was rolled out in 2019, and many new miles of bike lanes, trails and side-paths made available about 115 miles in Iowa City and an equal number of miles in the remainder of the metro area. All the schools are doing bike rodeos and a range of biking opportunities are being offered to disadvantaged members of the community. Our bike modal share remains high and accident rates low—key factors in the evaluation. Will it be enough? We’ll see. We still do not have a bike/pedestrian coordinator in our community or an active transportation advisory committee. All the gold-level communities do. Their purpose is to evaluate progress and devise ways to motivate education and participation. While the bike rodeos offer bike education for kids who show up, there is no system-wide mandatory
haust, the single highest source. Iowa City has made a commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by half over the next 30 years. This will only occur with a commitment to active transportation. Bike friendliness adds to the quality of life and enhances economic development. A 2016 study by the American Institute for Economic Research identified the 40 hottest job markets during the early years of the last decade. They were stratified into four levels by size, i.e., very large to small. Thirty-two (80%) were BFCs, and the gold- and platinum-level BFCs were overrepresented. In other words, business development was enhanced by active transportation. With the summer of the bike upon us, dust off your bike, join some of the events and use active transportation a couple times a week to run errands. Bob Oppliger, Education & Advocacy Coordinator, Bicyclists of Iowa City, Board Member, League of American Bicyclists
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