On January 10, 2017, the Share the Road Cycling Coalition (Share the Road) awarded a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community award to the City of Greater Sudbury, making it Ontario’s 40th Bicycle Friendly Community. The City of Greater Sudbury joins Thunder Bay and Temiskaming Shores as Bronze level BFCs in the Ontario’s North, demonstrating the growing demand for cycling in all areas of the province.

“Greater Sudbury is an example of how the work and support of community groups can help to foster a culture of cycling,” noted Stuckless. “Local organizations like Rainbow Routes and the Sudbury Cyclists’ Union have been working for years to educate people about the benefits and opportunities for cycling in Greater Sudbury, laying the foundation for a more bicycle friendly community. Greater Sudbury has now invested in staff resources and made budgetary commitments to improve their cycling network. They are also receiving more than $1.1 Million from the Ontario Municipal Commuter Cycling Program, giving them the opportunity to develop a connected network of safe cycling infrastructure in the near future.”

Stuckless noted that 2017 was a great year for cycling in Ontario, with the announcement of $93 Million for municipal cycling infrastructure. “We anticipate that many of our BFC partners will be making substantial improvements in the ‘Engineering’ sections of their applications thanks to that funding,” she said. “Ajax, Greater Sudbury and the City of Ottawa have all set an example of the importance of the other 4 Es of the BFC Program – Education, Encouragement, Enforcement and Evaluation & Planning, and we encourage all municipalities to learn from their successes as they go about building new cycling infrastructure and programs to support cycling. As we see communities set their sights on Platinum and, eventually, Diamond BFC certifications, an integrated approach to building not just cycling infrastructure, but a cycling community is going to be required – so it’s best to lay those foundations now.”

About the Bicycle Friendly Community Awards and Share the Road

The Bicycle Friendly Communities (BFC) Program, an initiative of the Washington-based League of American Bicyclists, was launched in Ontario in 2010 by Share the Road with support from the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) South Central Ontario. The program provides incentives, hands-on assistance and award recognition for communities that actively support bicycling. Municipalities are judged in five categories often referred to as the Five “E’s” of being bicycle friendly: Engineering, Education, Enforcement, Encouragement and Evaluation & Planning. A community must demonstrate achievements in each of the five categories in order to be considered for an award. The Award categories are: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond.

Share the Road is a provincial non-profit organization working to build a bicycle friendly Ontario. They work in partnership with municipal, provincial and federal governments, the business community, road safety organizations and other non-profits to:
• Enhance access for bicyclists on roads and trails
• Improve safety for all bicyclists
• Educate citizens on the value and important of safe bicycling for healthy lifestyles and healthy communities.

For more information: Share the Road Coalition