City uses array of strategies to create bike-friendly vibe
June 1, 2021
This year, Fayetteville, AR (est. pop. 87,585), became the first U.S. locale to win the Bike City designation from the Union Cycliste Internationale, the sport’s Swiss-based world governing body. Thanks to years of effort, biking is big business in Fayetteville. The investment includes an expansive trail network, on-street cycling infrastructure, and ambitious biking initiatives. The…To read more — login/subscribe
Olympia, WA (est. pop. 51,534), has launched a downtown loyalty program inspired by traditional retail marketing techniques and updated with Pokemon Go technology. The program launched this summer as part of the Olympia Downtown Alliance’s Why I Go Downtown initiative to encourage patronage of local shopping, dining, and entertainment. The program brings classic punch card…
For years, Miami Beach, FL (est. pop. 88,885), routinely approved sidewalk dining permits for any Lincoln Road restaurant that asked for one. No longer. Even as the coronavirus pandemic has compelled many downtowns to ease rules around outdoor dining, Miami Beach has begun to crack down on sidewalk permits issued along the beachfront city’s popular…
The city of Trenton, NJ (est. pop. 83,211), and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy are launching what they call the first large-scale urban transit system in America to be based entirely on self-driving shuttles. The Trenton MOVES project calls for deploying 100 autonomous vehicles throughout the city. Each driverless car will carry four to eight…
Downtown leaders face a parking conundrum. On the one hand, urbanists have long preached that cities underprice parking at the expense of pedestrianism. Yet visitors and merchants often hate any hint of rising parking prices and more expensive parking tickets. Add to the mix, hourly downtown workers, grappling with inflation, and it’s more difficult than…
Every downtown worth its salt has commissioned a public mural. Those with ambitious arts programming might have asphalt art, sculpture walks, or even hire buskers to perform downtown. But poetry rarely takes center stage. However, Storrs, CT (est. pop. 16,784), builds a month of activities around the overlooked discipline. The Mansfield Downtown Partnership just wrapped…
The Chicago suburb of Evanston, IL (est. pop. 75,538), has managed to slow traffic, add bike lanes, and generally make its streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians. Thanks to a yearslong initiative aimed at forcing motorists to drive more slowly, traffic-related injuries plunged by half over the past decade. In one sign of success, Evanston…
After state lawmakers last year passed guidelines for municipalities to allow outdoor consumption of alcohol, a number of cities in Indiana enacted new rules and established Designated Outdoor Refreshment Areas or DORAs. The DORAs include a defined area where visitors over 21 can drink alcohol. As in other states, the drinks must be sold by…