Across the nation, many big-city mayors of both political parties are embracing the bicycle and livable streets. As you'll see, Indianapolis' Republican Mayor Greg Ballard believes in creating a city that attracts young people and families because it's good for business and good for the future. And part of that equation is making the city safer and more enjoyable to bike in through infrastructure investment.
Mayor Ballard has expanded the number of miles of bike lanes from one (in 2007) to over 75 and plans are for that to reach 200 by the year 2015. In addition, the city has seen the grand opening of the magnificent Indianapolis Cultural Trail (there's a great Streetfilm posting on that shortly) which features eight miles of protected biking and walking lanes thru the heart of Indianapolis.
Mayor Ballard also does it with his body and voice. He now personally leads four bike rides per year thru the city encouraging people to get healthy, have fun and see their city from a different perspective. And how do you know he's a true cyclist? He's got two bikes.
But this mayor is going beyond bicycling. Indianapolis has committed to moving their entire fleet of city vehicles to post-oil technologies by 2025 and is already making great progress in meeting that goal.
You should definitely put Indy on your list as a place to go bike this year.
