The Bicycle Master Plan was presented to the Public Safety Committee at the September 16th, 2010 meeting. Its goal is to encourage safe riding, increase ridership, and to make bicycling safe for beginning riders.

Milwaukee’s first bicycle plan came out in 1993. Since that time the city has realized most of the plan’s major recommendations and has added over 115 miles of bicycle lanes and routes to the city. The new plan lays out a Vision for Milwaukee 2020. That would include adding over 170 miles of new on-street bike infrastructure and almost 7 miles of new paved trails.

There’s certainly a belief in the U.S. that biking to work is difficult, that there won’t be any place to lock your bike up, or that you’ll be smelly, but the truth is that it can be fun, easy, affordable, and healthy. Even if it just once this week, give it a try as biking to work might just be the most fun you have all summer.

Jeff Mapes, author of “Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities,” provides an in-depth history of cycling, and looks at how cycling is changing U.S. cities for the better. Although in the U.S. cycling has long been viewed as a recreational activity, he appropriately ties together the rise of urban biking with urban planning in a story that needed to be told.

Tom Held of the Journal Sentinel reports in his article, Census says: more bikes on the road in Milwaukee, that “The number of Milwaukee workers who bicycled to their jobs more than doubled from 2006 to 2008, and now accounts for more than 1% of the total commuter traffic.”

Ride the Drive? Just seventy miles to the west, a successful car-free day, often referred to as a Ciclovía or in the U.S. Sunday Streets, brought thousands of people out of their homes, and into the street to enjoy their city. At its simplest one of these events, closes off a few miles of city streets to automobile traffic for the day, much like a street festival does, but larger and it doesn’t focus on food, beer, and music.

Recently, the American Automobile Association, began offering their Roadside Assistance program to bicyclists in Oregon, and parts of Idaho. Yes, that’s right the American Automobile Association is offering roadside assistant service to bike riders. This is the same organization that in past years had opposing funding for bike infrastructure and mass transit, and of course had pushed for more and wider highways.

An important part of building a more bicycle friendly city, and for that matter state, is to update Wisconsin’s biking laws so that they in encourage more ridership instead of discouraging it. For example, in June 2009 Governor Doyle signed a new “anti-dooring” law that corrected existing regulation which required bicyclist to ride three feet away from parked cars. This law actually protected drivers who opened their doors into bike lanes or streets without looking which often resulted in injured bicyclists.

Over the past forty years Copenhagen has implemented bicycle infrastructure components that have helped make it one of the most bike friendly cities in the world. This transformation wasn’t quick, but it offers many lessons and ideas that can be utilized in making Milwaukee not just more of a bicycle friendly city, but a better city.

This past weekend I took part in the United Performing Arts Fund’s 29th annual Miller Lite Ride for the Arts, it was great to see thousands of people show up bright and early to take part in the ride. This event brought together two goals, supporting the arts and promoting more bike riding, that fit perfectly with the creation of a vibrant city. The day of the ride was cold, and it rained part of the way through, but the experience of seeing so much of Milwaukee at a pace where you can actually take it in got me thinking.