After appearances in both 2014 and 2016, Cincinnati has fallen off a list of best cities for cyclists compiled by a top national magazine.
Bicycling compiles its list of “Best Bike Cities in America” every two years, culling the top 50 cities in the U.S. for cycling based on safety, accessibility for all riders, political climate and cycling culture.
“The ones that top our list have built systems and a riding culture that benefits everyone — from the kid who rides to school to the retiree who takes a weekend trip to the grocery store,” the magazine wrote introducing its list this year.
In 2014, Cincinnati popped up at number 35 on Bicycling’s list. We made the top 50 again two years later, dropping a spot to 36th.
In the past, the magazine wrote enthusiastically about Cincinnati’s bike share program Red Bike, the Central Parkway bike lane and purchase of right-of-way for the Wasson Way trail through uptown and Cincinnati’s East Side.
While the magazine doesn’t indicate why a city might not make its list after appearing in the past, it did sound a note of warning in its overview of the city in 2016.
“On one front, though, the full build-out of Cincinnati’s on-street bike network, the city has failed its rapidly growing urban cycling populace (ranked the third fastest growing bike community in the country),” the magazine observed. “Since 2014, little progress has been made on a progressive bike master plan approved in 2010.”
Much of that plan — which calls for on-street bike lanes — remains stalled, though new additions like the bike path between Central Parkway and Clifton Ave. along Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. do signal some progress. And the first phase of the Wasson Way off-street trail opened this year — thanks mostly to an emphasis by the Cranley administration on off-street bike paths over on-street lanes.
Nearby peer cities managed to hang in the top 50, and some even advanced.
Cleveland, for instance, made it to 29th place in the rankings, up from 41st in 2016. Bicycling cited more painted lanes around the city and the construction of protected lanes on the treacherous Detroit Superior Bridge as reason for the bump.
Other cities comparable to Cincinnati saw big drops in their rankings, even if they stayed on the list. Indianapolis ranked 30th, down from 13th in 2016. Bicycling is still big on the city’s Cultural Trail, an eight-mile loop around downtown, as well as its plans to triple on-street protected bike lanes in the next decade or so. But it is less impressed with the city’s fragmented overall bike infrastructure system, which has big gaps in places like the city’s south side.
Louisville also fell in the rankings, coming in at 37th, down from 31st in 2016. Columbus stayed steady, ranking 39th again this year.
Are the rankings accurate? You can read a detailed breakdown about how Bicycling arrived at its picks here and decide for yourself.
This article appears in Oct 10-17, 2018.