By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
With a new trail network for mountain biking, a benefits program for bike riders at local businesses, and significant interest in bike commuting, Sitka will keep its status as a bicycle friendly community for another four years, the League of American Bicyclists announced today.
With a limited road network and mild climate, Sitka Cycling Club president Doug Osborne told the Sentinel that many locals have chosen to bike to work.
“We have so many built-in advantages of a mild climate, short commutes, beautiful forest to ride through, clean air,” he said.
He added that the short roads also mean that bike commutes are not very long.
“Our rate of bike commuters (is very high), because things are so compact and so close, you don’t have these twenty-mile rides to work. We’re close and so our rate of people biking to work is many times the national average. Our bike commuting is a strength, for sure,” Osborne said.
Doug Osborne and Charles Bingham pose with the Bike Friendly Community award in 2016. (Photo provided to the Sentinel)
He added that Sitka maintained its standing as a ‘Silver’ bicycle friendly community in part because of the new bike cooperative and new single-track trails, as well as the bicycle friendly business practices, in general.
“The three new things that helped us maintain Silver were the bicycle benefits program, new trails (spearheaded by Amy Volz), the bike co-op that Alyssa Russel does, the Salty Spoke, and then last year before the pandemic we did the first half-century,” he said.
The League of American Bicyclists agreed.
“It’s important for communities like Sitka to have laid the groundwork over several years to make biking a safe, accessible option for people when we all need as much health and happiness as possible,” League executive director Bill Nesper wrote in the press release. The League cited Sitkans’ work on adding single-track trails, establishing a bike co-op, and beginning a city bicycle parking plan as reasons the town is considered bike friendly.
Cycling Club treasurer Charles Bingham said his interest in biking around town began when his car died more than a decade ago.
“I haven’t owned a car in about 13 or 14 years… I like the fact that I can walk or bike to just about anything in town,” Bingham said.
Bingham, Osborne, and the League all praised SEARHC for its work in promoting bicycle commuting. Bingham said bike-friendly businesses like SEARHC took steps to make bike commuting convenient and safe.
“A bicycle friendly business… is working to encourage cycling over driving either for health or sustainability or environmental reasons. Basically, this is a business that might be doing stuff like providing shower space at the office so people who ride in aren’t sweaty all day. Or they have lockers or covered bike shelters,” Bingham said.
He and Osborne are part of a larger group of Sitkans who travel by bike. According to data collected by the Census Bureau between 2006 and 2010 as part of the American Community Survey, almost 5% of Sitkans commute via bike, compared to only half of one percent nationally. The previous Community Survey from 2005 to 2009 indicated that under 3% of Sitkans commuted on their bikes, meaning the number rose sharply in only one decade.
The award graded a community on five key attributes: Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Engineering, and Evaluation, though the League of American Bicyclists said that Equity will replace Enforcement in coming years.
Communities must reapply for the accolade every four years. At the first ever Sitka Health Summit in 2007, the goal of making Sitka more bikeable and walkable was proposed, Osborne recalled. He said Sitka first received a “Bronze” level nod in 2008, and has been graded as Silver since 2012.
Bingham remembered that back in 2008 Sitka was unique among bike-friendly towns.
“Sitka was the first one to get Bronze in Alaska back in 2008, and at that time we were also the smallest and farthest north community to get that designation,” Bingham said.
Since then, Anchorage, Juneau, Kenai and Soldotna have gained the designation, the League press release said. In total, 485 American communities are designated bicycle friendly.
Osborne agreed with the League that equity is a key aspect of cycling, especially when looked at through the lens of accessibility and affordability.
“It’s about access, so have an equity lens thinking about how to support different people and groups in the community to have access to biking, and maintaining your bike and being able to enjoy it,” he said.
Looking to the future, Osborne hopes for even more places to ride, as well as additional protections for non-motorized commuters sharing the roads.
He said one of his primary goals moving forward is simple: “more safe riders.”
“We need to continue building places to ride, keep the momentum going there, and have some trails that are longer and for different ability levels. We need some of the protections that bike friendly communities have, the three-foot safe passing law, and vulnerable roadway users policy,” he said.
Osborne also emphasized the need for safe practices from cyclists as well as drivers.
“Be predictable and follow some of the same general principles as a car,” he said. He discouraged biking on downtown sidewalks or traveling on the road at night without lights and reflective devices.
Osborne credited a number of Sitkans, from the Yellow Jersey bike shop to Amy Volz and her trail crews, for helping make Sitka a safe and practical community for cyclists. Volz spearheaded an all-volunteer effort on a shoestring budget to build single track bike trails connected to the Cross Trail earlier this year.
Biking also shows the potential to make Sitka more affordable, Osborne said. He hoped that in coming years, all Sitkans interested in cycling will have opportunities.
“The dream for Sitka is for every person who wants a bike to have one that fits them and is safe. That would be a lot of what equity would be like… A bike makes it doable in Sitka, economically. The more we can invest and promote biking the more we can address our affordability issues,” Osborne said.
