BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — PeopleForBikes has announced a program designed to significantly increase cycling in areas of 10 American cities over the next three years.
The Big Jump program is now accepting applications from cities to participate in the program, whose goal is "a doubling or tripling of people on bikes accompanied by reductions in crashes—in a focused neighborhood or area of each city."
PeopleForBikes' Kyle Wagenschutz, said, "The Big Jump is based on the idea that many communities have established a solid foundation of safe places to bike and can quickly and simply increase local biking by connecting them. With this project, we will help them achieve their goals, quantify the benefits of their success, and develop a set of best practices, tools, and measurements to help accelerate progress elsewhere."
The group said the new project builds on its Green Lane Project.
"Protected bike lanes were an important first step," said PeopleForBikes VP of Local Innovation, Martha Roskowski. "The next step is connecting them with quiet neighborhood streets, separated pathways, and safe crossings to build complete networks that make biking safe, comfortable, and attractive for more people. Improving infrastructure is the top priority, but we also need to change culture and habits to help make biking an ordinary and accepted activity."
The Big Jump is looking for places that have a strong team of city and community leaders with a shared, compelling vision as well as a diverse portfolio of neighborhoods to provide best-practice lessons for a wide range of cities that will follow. Particular areas of interest are improving access to jobs and opportunity in disadvantaged neighborhoods; tackling the suburban challenge of connecting to transit hubs and town centers; connecting to paths and parks to encourage outdoor activity; and catalyzing the economic potential of tourism.
The Big Jump Project will provide a package of support to the 10 chosen places, including technical advice and leadership development. The project plans to share the stories of its efforts through reports, videos and social media.
Applications are now being accepted at www.bigjumpproject.com. The deadline to apply is October 28, 2016. Selected cities will be announced in January 2017 and the program will run through 2019.
