21 HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2021
It was another year of constantly responding to shifting conditions, of working hard to ensure collective health and safety, and of embracing the challenges and joys large and small. In 2021, the Bicycle Coalition family — our staff, board, members, supporters and volunteers — learned a lot and accomplished even more. Thank you to all of you who were on our team as we pedaled toward a greener and more equitable future for everyone in Greater Philadelphia.
Read on for the things we’re most proud of in 2021.
There were over 1 MILLION TRAIL USERS on MLK Drive
By far our biggest advocacy work of 2020 and 2021 was toward keeping MLK Drive as a street for the people. You all know about the twists and turns of the effort (and if you don’t, here you go), but the most important thing to remember is that because of our petition and the 5,800+ of you who signed it, MLK Drive became the most-used trail in Pennsylvania at a time when access to outdoor space was absolutely necessary for people’s health and wellbeing.
We built LIL’ PHILLY SAFETY VILLAGE, the region’s first traffic park
Lil’ Philly Safety Village became a reality in August! Since then, the park has hosted a kids’ bike giveaway and a kids learn to ride class, both in partnership with Jaws Youth PlayBook. We’re currently working with folks at the Hunting Park Community Gardens and North 10 to envision programming for next year and add a permanent bike hub to the space.
We raised over $25,000 for BCYC COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS
We’ve raised $250K over the past 5 years for 19 BCYC athletes’ college scholarships. 2021’s additional $25K+ will meet the financial needs of another 10 of our seniors who will be graduating and heading to college in 2022!
We’re launching VELOLINGO
A new program to engage, mobilize and empower immigrant, refugee and historically excluded communities around safe biking and bike advocacy. We’ll be working with 10+ immigrant and refugee-serving organizations to provide resources in the region’s 5 critical languages and host bicycle education classes in Spanish.
Families for Safe Streets got the City to procure CRASH RECONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT
This technology will help reveal the reasons contributing to motor vehicle crashes and help the City to more strategically redesign roads to reduce those crashes. This is especially needed on the 12% of the streets in the Vision Zero PHL high injury network where 80% of the traffic fatalities occur.
WE GOT MORE TRAILS AND BIKE LANES
Making your ride better with more trails and protected bike infrastructure is at the heart of our mission. In 2021:
- American Street and the Central Delaware River Trail — the highest-quality bike lanes and trail segment in Philadelphia — both opened.
- The mileage of protected bike lanes in Philadelphia doubled this year to more than 16 miles with another 3 currently under construction. Once construction wraps up, Philly will have 19.4 centerline protected bike lane miles.
- The groundbreaking of the 4-mile Chester Valley Trail Extension means that 90 miles of Circuit Trails will become connected in 2022.
- It only took 18 years, but our 2003 campaign to make the Scudder Falls Bridge active transportation and recreation-friendly finally resulted in a $25 million shared-use path over the Delaware River that opened in November.
- The 4 mile, 50-year-old MLK Drive sidepath was rehabilitated after 10 years of advocacy, making it rideable once more!
- The Greater Philadelphia region added 6.3 miles of Circuit Trails, getting us to 358 miles of completed segments.
- and we got 16 miles of suburban bike lanes. This includes 12 miles of bike lanes in the PA suburbs as part of DVRPC’s Bike-Friendly Resurfacing Program.
Best of bike infrastructure 2021
AMERICAN STREET BIKE LANE, the first raised-protected bike lane in Philadelphia
CENTRAL DELAWARE RIVER TRAIL
Groundbreaking of the CHESTER VALLEY TRAIL EXTENSION
SCUDDER FALLS BRIDGE SHARED-USE PATH
DELAWARE RIVER HERITAGE TRAIL Rt. 130 bypass in Burlington County
CHESTNUT STREET BIKE LANE at 30th Street
The newly cleaned (thank you Policy team!) PARKSIDE AVE PROTECTED BIKE LANE
GRAYS FERRY BRIDGE PROTECTED BIKE LANE
Wanna see more? Check out Research Director John Boyle’s full album documenting 2021’s best and freshest bike lanes.
& WE GOT MORE BUTTS ON BIKES
- Bicycle Coalition Youth Cycling returned to in-person programming and 150 youth athletes rode with us during the Fall, Spring and Summer seasons.
- 154 folks participated in BBSP‘s free bicycle safety education rides, and/or learned to ride a bike for the first time.
- Indego bike share trips increased by 11% over 2021. E-bike trips Increased by 72%, with over 1000 Indego e-bike trips per day during the summer months.
Our Learn To Ride Resource Guide — a collaboration between the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, Indego, and the City of Philadelphia as part of the Better Bike Share Partnership — allowed us to connect folks with bicycle education when we couldn’t safely gather in person. The video features a cast from the Indego Champions program and was produced by Noise Soul Cinema.
& WE SPENT GOOD TIME TOGETHER
Our first virtual
VISION ZERO CONFERENCE
Our second remixed
bike to work & wherever week
RIDE OF SILENCE
PHILLY BIKE EXPO
WORLD DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
HOLIDAY LIGHTS RIDE
EVEN MORE GOOD STUFF
The Bicycle Coalition blog is your definitive source for bike infrastructure updates, community events and all the ways you can help make the Philadelphia region a better place to bike, walk and roll.
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