When volunteers and transportation agency staff pitch the idea of designating roads and trails as a U.S. Bicycle Route (USBR) to community leaders, the number one selling point is usually the potential economic impact the routes will have on the local economy.
More and more, small towns are interested in attracting bicycle tourism, providing a benefit to local businesses' bottom lines.
As the
U.S. Bicycle Route System Economic Impact and Benefits (pdf) handout states, "One way to look at the economic impact and benefits of investing in bicycle routes and systems, like the U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS), is to look at the economic impact of previously established bicycle routes and networks, both domestically and abroad."
No need to go any further, you can
download the handout (pdf) and see the compilation of state studies and reports for yourself. And, since last year when the handout was created, there's been big gains in the bicycle tourism sector.
On the European front, a recent study on the European cycle route network EuroVelo, entitled "
Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Tourism," concluded that cycle tourism has a major role to play in a more sustainable future for domestic and international tourism, and “that cycle tourists bring major benefits to localities which currently do not enjoy mainstream tourism development.” Yet, according to the study, "the barriers continue to be poor integration with public transport and lack of consistent infrastructure. Demand tends to occur where good networks of cycle routes exist; in a European context this tends to be Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands."
Here in the U.S., one study that wasn't included in our handout demonstrates that investment in bicycle facilities is cost effective and provides more local jobs than other roadway projects. (See The Political Economy Research Institute-compiled data provided by the city of Baltimore to write this case study, entitled
"Estimating the Employment Impacts of Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Road Infrastructure.") Another
study by Bikes Belong (pdf) tells the tale of road riding events, stating impact from tours and events adds up to $240 million in event revenue and $137 million in participant spending.
More and more, Adventure Cycling is being called upon by bicycle organizations to speak at state bicycle conferences about the economic benefits of bicycle tourism. With interest growing in cycling, it's critical we demonstrate to our political leaders and government agencies how important cycling is to local and state economies. Some have taken up the challenge: South Dakota and Oregon are both investing in bicycle tourism studies, similar to those already done by
Maine (pdf) and
Wisconsin (pdf).
And this year, at the
National Bike Summit, a panel from the tourism, transportation, and bicycling sectors pitched the idea of growing and harnessing the political power of cycling in the adventure tourism market. How to do that is still being explored, but the interest is there -- from bike tourism companies, bike retailers, bike and trail groups, and transportation providers like the National Bus Association. (Yes, we're working on Amtrak and the airline industry -- another reason why galvanizing this movement is so important.)
The key to gaining support for the USBRS in small communities might hinge on the idea of economics (rural towns continue to shrink, after all). That's why our template
Resolution of Support (Word doc) for establishing agreement between state department of transportation and city and county officials states as such.
For larger cities, the gain from designated interstate routes won't be felt by businesses as keenly, but there will be an impact nonetheless. Blending into the bigger economic engine of larger cities, the role the U.S. Bicycle Route System will play is that of providing connections for both tourists and local cyclists.
Cities are a tourism draw, since they are transportation hubs and destinations in and of themselves. As the League of American Bicyclist's
Bicycle Friendly Community program continues to add more cities to its roster, the opportunities for showing off great urban networks is flourishing. Cities and large towns should be proud of their achievements, and shouldn't they show them off? I like to think of it in terms of a full-service transportation system -- for bikes! Commuters and bicycle tourists can both enjoy a ride on a U.S. Bicycle Route through a town, with the length of time spent on it being the only variable.
Imagine riding down a street in your hometown and gazing up to see a U.S. Bicycle Route sign. Will the realization hit you that you could continue on that route for hundreds of miles, if you choose to do so? Or maybe you'll just head on home instead. The possibility is becoming a reality, one town, one county, one state, and one route at a time.
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BUILDING THE U.S. BICYCLE ROUTE SYSTEM (USBRS) is posted by Ginny Sullivan, USBRS coordinator at Adventure Cycling, and features news and updates related to the emerging
U.S. Bicycle Route System. The USBRS project is a collaborative effort, spearheaded by a task force under the auspices of the
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Members of the task force include officials and staff from state DOTs, the Federal Highway Administration, and nonprofits like the
East Coast Greenway Alliance, and
Mississippi River Trail, Inc.
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