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Utah's Bike Friendly Ranking is in the Nation's Top 10 for the First Time

File: League of American Bicyclists Screen Shot

Utah’s bicycle-friendly ranking is in the top ten in the nation for the first time ever. The League of American Bicyclists traditionally marks the beginning of National Bike Month by releasing its rankings. Utah moved to #8compared to 2013’s #14 ranking. Each state gets a ranking based on a level of achievement in the 5 “E’s”; engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement and evaluation. Phil Sarnoff, of Bike Utah says improvements do not come from advocacy alone.

Credit Bob Nelson
Phil Sarnoff, Executive Director of Bike Utah. pauses a moment with his bike by the fountain at Library Square in Salt Lake City.

“There’s been a large collective of people who’ve been working on this and I think that’s what makes Utah so bike friendly is that it’s not just a bicycle advocacy organization working for this,” says Sarnoff. “It’s governments, it’s transportation organizations and advocates all working together.”

Sarnoff says bicycles are becoming less a separate culture and more simply deeply integrated into the lives of people who want to live in a healthier environment and community.

Bob Nelson is a graduate of the University of Utah with a BA in mass communications. He began his radio career at KUER in 1978 when it was still in Kingsbury Hall. That’s also where he met his wife, Maria Shilaos, in 1981. Bob left KUER for commercial radio where he worked for 25 years, and he is thrilled to be back at KUER. Bob and his family are part of an explorer group, fondly known as The Hordes and Masses, which has been seeking out ghost towns and little-known places in Utah for more than twenty years.
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