I love riding the shoreline and many greenways and rail-trails of Connecticut, but a recent survey makes a good point when they observe that CT is not a good place to actually get places on a bicycle. While my home state has done a lot of work to encourage cycling as a passtime, there are few to no bike lanes and even official maps of cycling routes note that commuting in this way is "not recommended".
Connecticut ranks 40th in the League of American Bicyclists’ latest survey of how the 50 states rank in terms of being “bike friendly.” We’re behind every one of our New England neighbors, behind New York, behind New Jersey and Delaware. Hell, even icy-assed Alaska is rated a better cycling state than Connecticut.
For decades, our state Department of Transportation (which originated more than a century ago in response to cyclists’ demands for better roads) seems to have felt the best place for bicycles was anywhere but on the roads.
There isn’t a single inch of state roadway designated and signed as a Connecticut bicycle route. New York has 2,200 miles of state-approved cycling routes.
The good news is bicycle awareness is on the rise in the Constitution State, and we're seeing more and more people riding two wheels on the roads. There is hope yet that one day cyclists will be given an equal place on the road with our four-wheeled, carbon-monoxide-spewing bretheren.
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