Redmond Earns 'Silver' Recognition from National Cycling Advocacy Group

Redmond is now one of the nation's top 50 bicycle-friendly communities according to the League of American Bicyclists, which promoted the city to its "silver" level of designation last week.

Just nine cities in Washington state are included on the league's list of 190 American communities that are ranked either platinum, gold, silver or bronze; they are Seattle (gold), Bellingham (silver), Olympia (silver), Redmond (silver), Bainbridge Island (bronze), Liberty Lake (bronze), Port Townsend (bronze), Spokane (bronze) and Vancouver (bronze).

Joel Pfundt, a principal planner with the City of Redmond, said the League of American Bicyclists considers a variety of criteria when deciding what designation to award a city. Redmond had been at the bronze level since 2003, and that designation was renewed in 2007.

Pfundt said he believes the bike lanes and other bicycle-friendly features that were added on the new NE 36th Street Bridge, along with ongoing education and outreach programs, incentive programs like R-Trip, and a continuing commitment to bicycle-friendly road infrastructure, helped propel the city to the next level.

“It’s really a cross-the-board effort that they’re looking for,” Pfundt said.

The league also lists Redmond's extensive trail system, the and various bicycle improvement projects on its profile page for the city, although the web page appears to not have been updated yet to reflect the new designation.

The move up to silver does not bring any prize money, but Pfundt said the recognition is significant nonetheless.

“The silver, gold and platinum cities are a pretty short list of cities that are really trying to be bicycle friendly," he said. "It's...a recognition of the work that we’ve done and that we’ve continued to do, and it just motivates us to go for gold.”