Honorable Mention for Hamilton County/City/First Suburbs

An application for Bike Friendly Community status submitted jointly by Hamilton County, the City of Cincinnati, and the Hamilton County First Suburbs received an Honorable Mention from the League of American Bicyclists in this year's awards.

The Bike Friendly Community program recognizes communities for their efforts to promote all varieties of bicycling. An extensive application covers five different areas, known as the "Five E's": Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Evaluation and Planning.

The Steering Committee was convened by Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper and Cincinnati City Council Member Jeff Berding. The committee was made up of bike advocates and officials from local governments across the county and oversaw the application process, which was managed by Andy Dobson from the Hamilton County Planning Commission.

According to Council Member Berding, “Receiving an honorable mention does exactly what we had hoped – it highlights the resources we already have for bicycling and tells us where we need to improve. We’re a big step closer to making Cincinnati bicycle friendly – and momentum is on our side.”

County Commissioner David Pepper added, “The Honorable Mention is a great start for Hamilton County and is a tribute to the hard work of all our wonderful partners, including the First Suburb Consortium, and the incredible energy out there among the cycling community. Going forward, there is a lot more work to be done in making Hamilton County ever more bicycle friendly, and we are committed to improve our standing every year.”

The committee will be reviewing comments provided by the League of American Bicycles to help identify the action steps that the community needs to take to improve. Columbus is currently the only Bike Friendly Community in Ohio. Indianapolis, Carmel, and Bloomington have been recognized in Indiana, as have Louisville and Lexington, Ky.