Austin bike paths ranked some of best in country

Two Austin bike paths made prominent bicycle advocacy group PeopleForBikes’ “America’s 10 Best New Bikeways of 2107” list, local NBC affiliate KXAN reported Tuesday.

The new MoPac Mobility Bridge, which runs over Barton Creek and near the highway, is No. 2 on the list. Third Street’s protected Downtown bike lane ranked No. 4. PlacesForBikes staff writer Michael Andersen noted that the mile-long MoPac bridge in particular was evidence of the city’s commitment to bicycle commuting and quoted Austin bikeway planner Nathan Wilkes’ statement that the bridge, along with other works in progress, “will be opening up probably hundreds of thousands of possible commutes into downtown.”

Anderson expressed a similar sentiment about the protected lane on Third Street, which is now part of a five-mile chain of paths across the city. He also pointed to the passage of a $720 million mobility bond measure by Austin voters last year, a large percentage of which was earmarked for bicycle trails and bikeways, as further evidence of the city’s commitment.

PeopleForBikes, which Curbed Atlanta called “the largest bicycling advocacy group in the country,” put bike lanes near Atlanta’s Georgia Tech at No. 1 on this year’s list. Unless you count Minneapolis-St.Paul, Minn., as one metropolis, New York City and Austin were the only cities that nabbed more than one spot on the list.

• Two Austin bike groups are the best in the nation [KXAN]