Cleveland Admires Pittsburgh's Growing Bike Culture

Given the childish rivalry, it might be bad to say Cleveland's new version of POP City has a story looking enviously at Pittsburgh's increasingly pro cycling culture.

"A critical mass of bicyclists -- activists or not -- is one ingredient that Pittsburgh needs to become the kind of hip place that attracts talented young workers now and in the future," the Post-Gazette posited almost prophetically in 2003, at a time when even many in the cycling community considered the city a dangerous place to ride.

Fast forward to present day and you'll find a vastly different bike culture has taken flight. Pittsburgh recently won the honor of being named a Bronze-level "Bicycle Friendly Community" by the League of American Bicyclists, putting them on par with regional leaders like Columbus and Indianapolis. With support of its mayor, Pittsburgh is aiming even higher, hoping to join cities like Denver, Austin and Minneapolis in the Silver class."

It's kind of funny in a way, because Pittsburgh actually has a pretty challenging geography that while attracting avid cyclists, doesn't make it easy to ride here.

Fight the good fight Cleveland, as the article shows, none of the progress made here has been easy.

Hat Tip to Rust Wire.

The Fight To Cross A Bridge In Cleveland

Photo from Rust Wire

I've seriously thought about expanding the blog's name and mission yet again to include the maligned city of Cleveland, and all the area in between. Like it or not, Cleveland is the nearest neighboring planet of size and improvements in both places will be good for all.

A fight is developing, for the simple right of pedestrians and bikes to cross a major highway bridge there. You know, it sucks when people who live in the city inconvenience those who are just passing through. Perhaps the whole city should be labled an obstruction to highway traffic, like the South Bronx was.

"Residents in Tremont, one of Cleveland’s fastest growing neighborhoods, were cut off from downtown when ODOT closed an onramp last year that connected the area to downtown with virtually a straight line.

The bridge is going to be replaced anyway, beginning in 2011. So why not include such a path? It seems rare nowadays that the common sense, the public interest, and federal agency’s directives are on the same page. The Federal Highway Administration’s officially adopted policy for new transportation infrastructure, you would think, makes it easy for ODOT to give the path a green light:"

Dennis Kucinich, today took the issue to the house floor and the story was picked up by the Streetsblog network, which is emerging as an important grapevine for pro urban activists.