Warsaw and Winona Lake Receive Silver Status Bicycle Friendly Community Award from the League of American Bicyclists

In 2013 Warsaw and Winona Lake, in a joint effort, applied for Bicycle Friendly Community status from the League of American Cyclists. The League is a national advocacy organization that encourages local advocacy by awarding various levels of Bicycle Friendly Community status based on an extensive application to recognize communities with a focus on bicycle safety, education, and infrastructure. In 2013 we were awarded Bronze status and have held that award level since, thru two additional application cycles (every four years).

This year based on some significant local improvements we received the Silver level status. This award puts us at an elite level compared to other Indiana communities (and nationally). There are 15 Bicycle Friendly Communities in Indiana presently, one gold level (Bloomington) and only three silver level (Warsaw/Winona Lake, South Bend, and Carmel).

The application process is very thorough, and we received a report card covering several areas including Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Evaluation & Planning, and Equity & Accessibility. We achieved particularly high scores in the areas of Education and Encouragement, which KCV had been instrumental in developing with such programs as Tracey’s Trailer and the various bike themed events that we hold thru the course of the year including the Fat & Skinny Tire Fest and the Winona Lake Trail Fest.

As part of the report card there are specific suggestions on things to do to improve our score on our next application. These include increased greenway connections, broader education, and improved bicycle infrastructure. KCV takes these challenges to heart and will be working diligently in partnership with the City of Warsaw, the Town of Winona Lake, and other organizations in the community to make improvements in our bike path network and various types of programming to push our status to the next level.