photo by: Journal-World File Photo

A group of cyclists rides along a Lawrence street in this file photo from August 2016.

Lawrence has been ranked sixth in the top U.S. cities for bicycling, according to the 2019 PlacesForBikes ratings.

“I was surprised we were sixth out of 510 cities,” said Jessica Mortinger, transportation planning manager with the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization.

This the first time the City of Lawrence has applied for the recognition with PlacesForBikes, a data-driven analysis that evaluates the safety, appeal and infrastructure for bicycling in cities around the country, Mortinger said.

Boulder, Colo., received the top ranking. Lawrence was in between Arlington, Va., which was ranked fifth, and Brooklyn, N.Y., which was ranked seventh.

One of the criteria for ranking the cities was the communities’ momentum for becoming more bicycle friendly.

“It’s not where you are at, but where is your momentum?” Mortinger said. “What are you currently doing right now to impact your community’s bicycle friendliness?”

Things that propelled Lawrence in that category, Mortinger said, included a countywide bikeway plan, a community health plan that focuses on bike transportation and the safe routes to school program, as well as continued work with expanding and connecting bike routes.

Mortinger said the high ranking was the result of a team effort by the city and organizations that are making the community more bike friendly.

The 2019 PlacesForBikes City Ratings ranked cities on five factors: ridership, safety, network, acceleration and reach.

Acceleration refers to how quickly the bicycle network is expanding, and reach refers to how well the network serves all the neighborhoods in the community.

Lawrence performed best in the safety and acceleration categories. The city also received high scores for growth in bike facilities and events, as well as for a low number of bicycle-related fatalities and injuries.

“We focused this year’s efforts on engaging more cities to improve the accuracy of ratings,” said Jennifer Boldry, PeopleForBikes director of research, in a news release sent by the City of Lawrence.

Lawrence will use additional insights from the report to continue improving the city’s bicycle infrastructure.

“This recognition tells a story about how we respond to people’s desires to have places where they can easily bike,” Mortinger said.

PlacesForBikes is supported by a grant from Trek Bicycle Corporation, as well as contributions from other bike businesses, foundations and individuals.

For complete results, go to https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/