Washington #1 For Bikes, Texas #36

For two years in a row a group called the League of American Bicyclists has had the state I lived in previous to Texas, that being Washington, as the #1 Most Bike Friendly State.

Last year Texas was the 30th Most Bike Friendly State. But, unfortunately, this year Texas became less Bike Friendly, falling 6 spots to #36.

According to the LAB's website, "a Bicycle Friendly State promotes cycling through legislation, policies, programs, and by creating new places to ride, educating motorists and cyclists, and encouraging people to bike for transportation and recreation."

I guess I can see how it is that Washington is more bike friendly than Texas. Just comparing Seattle to Fort Worth for instance. Seattle has these things called sidewalks running along side virtually every street in the town. Fort Worth has some sidewalks, usually narrower than your average Texan, and a lot of dirt paths. Seattle and the county in which the town is located, that being King County, has quite a well-developed complex of biking trails.

Fort Worth and the county in which it is located, that being Tarrant County, has some paved biking trails, most of which run along the Trinity River.

Recently Fort Worth's city government announced a 30 year plan to expand Fort Worth's biking trails. When I read that I wondered why in the world it would take 30 years.

Currently, as far as I know, there is no 30 year plan, here in Fort Worth, to build sidewalks on the city's streets that currently lack them. I'm pretty sure if the League of American Sidewalk Walkers had a list ranking American City's Sidewalk Friendliness that Fort Worth would rank near, or at, the bottom.