Bicycle Friendly Community

Harrisonburg, VA | Bronze Level

Community Highlights: In June 2010, City Council added "bicycle and pedestrian matters" to the purview of the City's Transportation Safety & Advisory Commission. The Commission then established a Bicycle & Pedestrian Subcommittee to advise staff and City Council on matters related to bicycling. In July 2010, the City Council adopted an updated Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan which had been worked on by a citizen-staff advisory committee. Within 6 months of adopting the Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan, the City added 3 new miles of bike lanes and 1 mile of new sharrows. Harrisonburg has a Safe Routes to School program at almost all city schools, in addition to a free Mountain Bike class for kids hosted by Parks & Recreation and the Shenandoah Bicycle Coalition (SBVC). Safe Kids of the Central Shenandoah Valley received a grant and gave out 4,000 bicycle helmets to all children in city schools and the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organization and the City continues additional bike helmet giveaways. Safe Kids also hosts a Summer Safety Tour that travels to low-income housing neighborhoods to talk with families about safety. New Community Project and the SVBC started the One Mile Challenge, which is a pledge system that encourages people to get out of their cars, and onto their bikes, legs, bus or some other form of sustainable transportation for trips that are within 1 to 2 miles.