Photo: city of minneapolis
Minneapolis ranked best large US city for cyclists
11 July 2023
by Christopher Carey
Minneapolis is the best large city in the US for cyclists, followed by San Francisco and Seattle, according to this year’s PeopleForBikes Best Places to Bike report.
The cycling advocacy group’s annual index rated 1,484 cities across the US on the quality of their bike networks, including bike infrastructure and motor vehicle speed limits.
In the large city category – municipalities with over 300,000 residents – Minneapolis saw a huge increase in its score over last year, improving 31 points between 2022 and 2023.
Speaking to Cities Today, Minneapolis Public Works Director Margaret Anderson Kelliher said the city has been “intentional” in making investments for safer, more accessible biking.
“The network of all ages and abilities protected bike lanes is always growing, making it easier [for people] to get where they want to go safely.”
The city has also launched a new mode-shift marketing campaign called As You Go MPLS to encourage people to try walking, biking or taking transit for more of their daily trips.
Over two-thirds of all trips in the city are currently taken by car.
“The campaign supports the City’s Transportation Action Plan, which includes a goal of having 60 percent of trips in Minneapolis taken by walking, biking or transit by 2030,” added Anderson Kelliher.
Bicycle network analysis
City Ratings scores are generated using PeopleForBikes’ Bicycle Network Analysis, with cities ranked on six factors – safe speeds, protected bike lanes, reallocated space for biking and walking, intersection treatments, network connections, and trusted data.
Provincetown, Massachusetts was the top scoring small city, while Davis, California ranked highest in the medium-city category.
“Speed limits play a large role in city ratings scores, and a growing number of cities across the US are lowering speeds to make their roads safer,” said Rebecca Davies, City Ratings Program Director.
“Slightly more than half of US cities have speed limits of 25 mph or less on residential roads, while the remaining cities with speed limits of 30 mph or greater on residential roads could improve the safety of their bike network by reducing travel speeds.”
Almost 1,000 cyclists died in motor vehicle crashes across the US in 2021 – an increase of 5 percent over the previous year – according to figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In the first six months of 2022, cyclist fatalities grew by 8 percent compared with the same period in the previous year.
Image: city of minneapolis
