Wisconsin earns high marks for bicycling. Matt Wempe is state and local advocacy coordinator for the League of American Bicyclists, which has ranked Wisconsin as the fifth most Bicycle Friendly State in the nation. Wempe says the state does a number of things right. “A lot of the top things that ww look for in our Bicycle Friendly States, Wisconsin already has,” he says. That includes a “complete streets” policy an active advocacy group, the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.
A number of the top ten states – Washington, Minnesota and Massachusetts are the top three – have climates like Wisconsin’s that don’t necessarily seem ideal for biking. “I just attribute that to the resiliency and the love of cycling that a lot of cyclists have,” says Wempe. “They’ll find a way to do what they love, regardless of where they live.”
Wempe notes Wisconsin’s ranking comes despite Governor Scott Walker’s decision to cut more some three million dollars out of the state DOT’s funding for bicycles and pedestrians.