Fayetteville, WV Receives an Honorable Mention from The League of American Bicyclists

In the spring of 2018 the town of Fayetteville, WV received an Honorable Mention from the League of American Bicyclists. The Honorable Mention is given to communities who have worked to initiate projects that improves their cyclists’ safety, community awareness and cycling accessibility. The Honorable Mention also provided priorities Fayetteville to focus its efforts on to assure future designation as an official Bicycle Friendly Community.

Active Southern West Virginia’s Pedestrian, Bike and Trail Coordinator, Andy Davis, initiated this effort in Fayetteville to partner with relevant and interested parties to make the community more accommodating for bicyclists and pedestrians. The goals of this partnership are in line with the mission of Active Southern West Virginia, to create more opportunities to be physically active for the residents of Fayetteville. These projects will also align with the goals of the New River Gorge Trail alliance to grow the economy of Fayetteville by attracting visitors to the region and strengthening outdoor tourism.

Much of the work will focus on making the streets of Fayetteville safer for pedestrians and cyclists by using the guidelines of a bicycle friendly community as described by the League of American Bicyclists. These are summed up within the five E’s of a Bicycle Friendly Community: Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Evaluation and Planning.
 
Active SWV’s collaboration in Fayetteville will be modeled after its successful partnerships in Mount Hope and in Beckley, which combine City leadership, expert advice, and dedicated volunteers.  In Mount Hope improvements began to take shape in 2016 to support its vision for increased foot and bike traffic. New bike racks have been installed at some of the city’s frequented locations. A bicycle repair station has been installed downtown for people to use when they need to make repairs or conduct routine maintenance on the bike. It also includes an air pump to inflate tires. Three new “Share the Road” signs were installed along the entryways of Mount Hope to make vehicle traffic more aware of people on bikes and on foot. For its efforts, Mount Hope received an Honorable Mention from the League in Spring 2017. In Summer 2017, Beckley began holding monthly Bike & Pedestrian Action Committee meetings which led to the installation of two bicycle repair stations, improved pedestrian access to the YMCA, and the installation of bike racks on the New River Transit buses.Mount Hope, Beckley, and now Fayetteville can serve as examples of communities actively aspiring to become more Bicycle Friendly. Communities across southern West Virginia can use them as inspiration to make these type of improvements in their own home towns, and Active SWV is here to help make it happen! https://www.bikeleague.org/content/bicycle-friendly-community-program-reaches-450-communities