{"id":1881,"date":"2005-12-23T19:42:00","date_gmt":"2005-12-24T00:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wordpress\/2005\/12\/knoxville_an_honorable_mention\/"},"modified":"2005-12-23T19:42:00","modified_gmt":"2005-12-24T00:42:00","slug":"knoxville_an_honorable_mention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/2005\/12\/knoxville_an_honorable_mention\/","title":{"rendered":"Knoxville An Honorable Mention BFC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You might have missed it&#8211;I did&#8211;but Knoxville recently attained <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bicyclefriendlycommunity.org\/October2005awards.htm\">Honorable Mention status<\/a> on the League of American Bicyclists list of<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bicyclefriendlycommunity.org\/AllBicycleFriendlyCommunities.htm\"> Bicycle Friendly Communities<\/a>.<br \/>\nWhat merited this recognition?  Miles of bike lanes and wide-shouldered roads being constructed in West Knoxville?  Sadly, not.<br \/>\nAccording to a press statement:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The honorable mention recognition marks Knoxville&#8217;s growing commitment to improving conditions for bicycling. The Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization&#8217;s Regional Bicycle Program works with local governments and citizen groups to improve bicycling conditions and promote bicycling as a transportation option. The recent expansion of bike racks in the city, bicycle safety education in the elementary schools, and successful bike-to-work programs are significant factors in earning the distinction for Knoxville.<br \/>\n&#8220;The recent improvement for cyclists took Knoxville to the cusp of receiving an award,&#8221; said Andy Clarke, executive director of the League. &#8220;We applaud how far Knoxville has come in a short amount of time, and we encourage them to continue strengthening their bicycling program.&#8221;<br \/>\nLeague staff and reviewers consider several factors before granting a community Bicycle Friendly Community status, including:<br \/>\n* The physical environment for bicycling &#8212; on-street facilities, trails,<br \/>\nparking etc.<br \/>\n* Education programs to promote a &#8220;share the road&#8221; ethic among bicyclists and drivers<br \/>\n* Promotional initiatives to persuade people to ride or ride more often<br \/>\n* Enforcement of traffic laws for both motorists and bicyclists<br \/>\n* Future plans and evaluation techniques to improve conditions further<br \/>\nThe League&#8217;s Bicycle Friendly Community program has become a catalyst for positive change in communities across the country. &#8220;We encourage Knoxville to continue its steady work to improve conditions for bicycling-they were very close to bronze this time, and we feel confident they can achieve that designation, or better, with more work in the coming years,&#8221; Clarke said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Well, that&#8217;s something.  From what I&#8217;ve seen, the efforts have been more promotional in nature than any changes in physical infrastructure.  But I suppose  Rome wasn&#8217;t built in a day, either.  Perhaps someday K-Town may indeed attain that coveted Bronze award.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/2005\/12\/knoxville_an_honorable_mention\/\" rel=\"bookmark\" title=\"Permalink to Knoxville An Honorable Mention BFC\"><p>You might have missed it&#8211;I did&#8211;but Knoxville recently attained Honorable Mention status on the League of American Bicyclists list of Bicycle Friendly Communities. What merited this recognition? Miles of bike lanes and wide-shouldered roads being constructed in West Knoxville? Sadly, not. According to a press statement: The honorable mention recognition marks Knoxville&#8217;s growing commitment to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"h-entry","8":"hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}