CORNWALL, Ontario – The Share the Road Cycling Coalition announced today the latest Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) awards for Ontario. Cornwall is one of several Ontario cities to earn the Bicycle Friendly status, all at the Bronze level.
“Share the Road is thrilled to recognize this new group of Bicycle Friendly Communities,” said Jamie Stuckless, Executive Director of Share the Road.
With more Ontario residents attesting to the benefits of investing in cycling, Stuckless says its important to provide residents with the option to choose cycling.
“The continued expansion of the Bicycle Friendly Communities Program is indicative of the growing interest in cycling across the province,” said Stuckless, noting that this was the largest round of the Bicycle Friendly Communities Program since the program was launched in 2010.
The application process saw submissions from a wide variety of communities, representing Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Central Ontario.
“Demand for support through the BFC program continues to grow well into its sixth year of operation and participating communities represent a cross section of Ontario’s 444 municipalities,” says Stuckless. “There is no community too big or too small to benefit from strategic investment in the five E’s of bicycling – Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement and Evaluation & Planning.”
Many communities who were recognized this round succeeded through the continued work of residents working hand in hand with the municipality to build a strong cycling culture. “This type of partnership demonstrates how passionate residents can initiate real change in their communities” said Stuckless.
While there’s been undeniable progress made within Ontario communities, Stuckless says that we are still in the early stages towards Ontario’s big-picture community cycling goals.
“Twenty-seven of Ontario’s thirty-six BFCs are at the Bronze level and no community has yet achieved a Platinum or Diamond designation,” said Stuckless. “The conversation about building great places to cycle is underway and with the potentially transformative investment of $150-225 million in cycling through Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan, we hope to see many communities move up the rankings in the near future.”
