Census says: more bikes on the road in Milwaukee - JSOnline

I had a great time at the grand opening of the Milwaukee Bike Federation's new headquarters earlier this week. Brew City appears to be transforming itself -- slowly but surely -- into a bike-friendly city.

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The "share the road" group has increased its share on the road in Milwaukee, based on the latest figures compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau and released in the American Community Survey.

The number of Milwaukee workers who bicycled to their jobs more than doubled from 2006 to 2008, and now accounts for more than 1% of the total commuter traffic.

In the surveys conducted last year, 2,508 workers cited bicycling as their primary mode of commuting to work in the previous week. That's up from 1,154, in the 2006 census survey.

The volume of pedaling public is still dwarfed by the motoring public, but the growth has been encouraging, said Dave Schlabowske, the city bicycle and  pedestrian coordinator.

"It's been a steady, almost exponential increase in the number of people cycling, and anecdotally, you just see more people riding this year," Schlabowske said. "It confirms that we're doing the right things, if we agree, and perhaps not everyone does, that it's a good thing to get more people riding bikes to work."

Milwaukee has outpaced the nation in the increase of people turning to their bikes as a mode of transportation, but it still lags behind a number of leading cycling cities in the overall numbers and the ratio on the road.

In Portland, 5.9% of the workers bike to their jobs. In Madison, the percentage is 3.8%; in Minneapolis it's 4.2%. The national figure is .5%.

Schlabowske said the notable figure for Milwaukee has been the growth, increases of 17%, 29% and 43% in the past three American Community Surveys.

"More people are riding bikes for different reasons: gas prices going up, being environmentally conscious and looking to be in better health," Schlabowske said. "I think it's also fair to say it's because we've made very significant improvements in our infrastructure and combined that with the very active encouragement efforts by the Bicycle Federation of  Wisconsin."

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Comments

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I agree! More individuals are cycling for different reasons: gas costs going up, being environment friendly and looking to be in better health.

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