Somerville Earns Accolade as a Bicycle Friendly City

The League of American Bicyclists awarded Somerville with a silver designation for being a "bicycle friendly city," according to an announcement from the city and the League of American Bicyclists website.

The silver designation comes two years after Somerville received a bronze designation, the announcement says.

The League of American Bicyclists ranks communities, businesses and universities based on a number of criteria, including bicycle infrastructure, education about bicycling, enforcement of safe roads and bike-friendly planning efforts, according to the organization's website.

Communities, businesses and universities apply to the program in order to be ranked.

The city's announcement pointed to a number of reasons for receiving the silver designation: Somerville has added 25 miles of bike lanes and sharrows in the last three years; it's extending the Community Path; it participates in the Hubway bike sharing program; it added bike parking to a number of neighborhoods, and it initiated a bike-safety public service campaign, among other things.

Other communities that received the silver designation include Boston, Denver and Bend, Ore.

Cambridge received a gold designation. Portland, Ore. and Boulder, Colo., received platinum designations.