Tennessee is the Bronze Award winner in this year’s survey by the League of American Bicyclist’s for Bicycle Friendly States. In a conversation with Jessica Wilson, Bike and Pedestrian Coordinator for Tennessee Department of Transportation, Andy Clark, President of LAB said, “We were all really impressed and excited with what you’re getting done in Tennessee; reading the application was a real bright spot, and Jeff [Peel] is a fan!.”
In 2010 Tennessee jumped from 43’rd to 24’th in the League’s ranking of the States. Competition was a lot tougher this year. Andy said, “More states have done a better job of getting improved policies on the books.” However, last year’s jump for Tennessee was no fluke. Even with most states doing a better job in 2011, it held with a 27’th position.
The League was disappointed this year with performance of all States in Infrastructure. Andy commented, “On infrastructure, states generally do a poor job (in our view) of obligating funds, especially non TE and Safe Routes funds, for bike/ped projects. Last year, many states compounded this by sending huge amounts back to Washington as part of the rescissions process. So yes, the vast majority of states got an F. You will also note that no states got an A overall and there are no awards higher than Silver for individual states.”
Last year, 95% of Tennessee’s rescission came from Transportation Enhancement and Congestion Mitigation: Two areas where a large portion of funding goes to support Bike and Pedestrian improvement projects.
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