New Friendliness rankings

http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bicyclefriendlyamerica/bicyclefr...

I'm confused on how this ranking is calculated, other than averaging the grades maybe Illinois as a whole gets a C but Chicago, BNL, Peoria, Champaign all have extensive bike trails through out the cities, I mean rural areas with 2 lane roads gravel shoulders would not be as friendly but it's also farm land.

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Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on May 26, 2011 at 5:03am

And once again my home state gets dead last. :)

Being from there I can tell you why this is the case.

Roads there are narrow. They are usually cut from the side of a mountain. There is barely enough room for two cars, let alone anything else.
Road construction is very very expensive in the state. Repair is one of the largest governmental costs in WV. There are many mudslides and roads that sink and give way.
What road there are are very twisty and mountainous.
Combine the above with people who drive them very very fast (70+ mph on two lane).
The state in general is broke and full of unemployment.

Take all the above and people just don't bike there. Unless it's mountain biking. This is actually quite sad because many people there can't afford much of anything. Last time I went back home a year ago, there were many people walking to get from place to place out of necessity.

There is a glimmer of hope. There is a bicycle co-op in Morgantown. It's the WVU town, so that makes sense.