Anchorage got a pat on the back this year from The League of American Bicyclists, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group. The League lobbies in the beltway on behalf of cyclists. In the rest of the country, they promote cycling as basic transportation, partly by passing out bicycle-friendly community awards.

Anchorage earned bronze-level recognition for being bicycle friendly and several people assured Flashlight that’s not the same as third-place loser. (Sitka is also a bronze-level town, but no other Alaska towns were recognized.) The program recognizes towns for their progress in areas such as planning, street design, traffic enforcement and education. Those might be tall orders in Alaska, a state the League ranked 47th out of 50 for bicycle friendliness.

Local community organizers the Bicycle Commuters of Anchorage presented Mayor Dan Sullivan—a tennis enthusiast who succeeded bicyclist Matt Claman when he took office—with a sign that announces the bronze designation. Flashlight was only there in spirit, but sources in the room say the mayor let loose the question that was on everyone’s mind. “How do we get to gold?”

The D.C.-based League wants to point the way.

“A lot of people ask that,” says League spokeswoman Meghan Cahill. “What you have to do is listen to our suggestions and look at the bicycle friendly roadmap that we gave the city—it’s almost like we are free consultants.”

Cahill says the League offers a custom roadmap to each city that applies. It’s not a generic document, she says, it’s specific to each community. The bicycle friendly award is good for four years and communities are encouraged to reapply and move up a level. Platinum is the highest level, so Anchorage actually has three levels to go before reaching the seemingly exclusive bicycle-friendly, (perhaps even bicycle-loving?) tier currently occupied by only three towns, Davis, California; Portland, Oregon and Boulder, Colorado.

Anchorage has not received its roadmap yet, says Lori Schanche, the city’s non-motorized transportation coordinator—and no, she doesn’t feel dissed by the bronze-level designation (at least not enough to admit it.)

“New York, when they first applied, they were bronze too, and they did a lot of stuff and they got better,” Schanche says.

The roadmap will focus on categories the League calls “the five Es”—Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Evaluation and Planning. Communities must demonstrate achievement in each category to even be considered for an award.

Schanche was able to show recent improvements when she applied for the award on behalf of Anchorage. “Elmore Road got bike lanes, and the new Dowling that is going to be put in will have bike lanes—and we’ve put a bunch of bike racks in downtown,” she says, adding the improvements have been noticed by cyclists.

Schanche has more good news to report. The city’s new bicycle plan—the first to consider cycling as transportation not just recreation—is making progress. On Monday the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the plan. The next step for the plan is a stop at the Anchorage Assembly, the body responsible for approving long-range documents of this type. That could happen in December or January, Schanche says.

Flashlight figures that document—if it’s maintained and not ignored—might give bicycling a leg up when land-use and zoning codes are considered, or when large transportation projects are being designed.

“It’s about transportation for all. It’s about complete streets, so every street can be used by everybody,” Schanche says.

scott@anchoragepress.com