Two years ago this month, state and federal transportation officials endorsed a plan to create a 50,000-mile nationwide system of connected bicycles routes.
Today, 27 states and the District of Columbia are working toward implementing numbered bicycle routes that will connect to routes in other states.
The effort to create the U.S. Bicycle Route System is being spearheaded by a task force of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation with support from the Adventure Cycling Association.
Connected routes
Ideally, traveling cyclists will be able to ride from one city to another by following a uniformly posted route system that crosses state lines.
Although not all states appear to be on board with the project, enough are involved to create tangible results with some interstate bicycle routes, according to an update released by Adventure Cycling.
Pacific Coast
Of the 27 states working toward implementation, for instance, three are the Pacific Coast states of Washington, Oregon and California. They share three north-south corridors — routes 95, 87 and 85 — that run the length of the region. [See map of Bicycle Route System network.]
Regional transportation officials in California are meeting to plan specific routes within those bicycle corridors. They are concentrating on the USBRS 95 that follows the Pacific Coast and USBRS 87, that travels through the Central Valley.
Meanwhile, the route coordinator for Cycle Oregon is working with the Oregon Department of Transportation to create routes in that state.
Further north, the Bicycle Alliance of Washington is working toward implementation with the state transportation department. The state is seeking out cross-state routes and beginning discussions with neighbor states on choosing a corridor for implementation.
Bicycle Route 1
Another good example is on the East Coast, where a number of states are working together to implement USBRS 1. That corridor runs from Maine to Florida and passes through major population centers in those states.
The route through Maine was developed with the help of local cyclists. The state will follow up with a route application in coordination with New Hampshire, which is using the Sea Coast Route, part of the East Coast Greenway, for its section of USBRS 1. In Massachusetts, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Office and Department of Conservation and Recreation chose USBRS 1 as a priority and will begin route development in early 2011.
Delaware, Maryland, DC and Virginia are all working together to link up local bicycling routes to create a USBRS 1 through their areas. Further south, Georgia and Florida are updating local bicycle routes to be part of USBRS 1.
Other routes
States in the heartland are also implementing routes.
Indiana and Michigan are working together on the north-south USBRS 35; Kentucky and Ohio are implementing USBRS 25. Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri are all working on various levels of creating the east-west USBRS 76.
Louisiana, Iowa and Minnesota are updating the Mississippi River Trail as USBRS 45. Minnesota also is working with Wisconsin to create USBRS 30, while Pennsylvania and New York are working on their portions of that bicycle route.
Tennessee, North Dakota and New Mexico also are working on their segments of the bicycle route network.
Funding
It's unfortunate that highway officials in all of the lower 48 states aren't working together to create their part of the US Bicycle Route System. Lack of federal funding support might be one problem that would be resolved by provisions of a draft transportation bill submitted by Oregon Congressman James Oberstar.
Also more states might want to get on board when they see the flow of bicyclists, and tourism dollars, passing through states on the bicycle route network.
Watching progress
You can keep up with US Bicycle Route System progress on a Facebook fan page and at the Adventure Cycling's USBRS website.
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