The Wisconsin Bike Summit will be held in Madison on Wednesday, April 21 followed by a day of bicycle lobbying on Thursday April 22, The Summit will provide inspiration and practical ideas for making Wisconsin an even better place to bike.
The keynote speaker at the Summit on April 21 will be Andreas Rohl, who has led the charge in making Copenhagen, Denmark, the world’s best bicycling city. An amazing 40% of people who work or study in Copenhagen make their commutes by bike, and among folks who also live in Copenhagen, the rate is even higher – about 55%. This is a huge change from the 1970s, when the percentage of Copenhagen residents who used the bicycle as everyday transportation was in the single digits – not unlike in Madison today, where about 4% of commuting trips are taken by bike.
Andreas will give an inspiring presentation on the exciting bike innovations happening in Copenhagen and share ideas about how municipalities can make it easier for residents to get around by bike.
Following Andreas will be a presentation by “20 by 2020”, a group of Wisconsin government and business leaders who are working together to help Madison reach a goal of 20% of residents using alternative modes of transportation by 2020. They will discuss what they learned on a recent tour of cities in Europe where bicycle mode share is 25% to 35%, and what ideas could work here.
The Summit will also include afternoon workshop sessions in two tracks—Transportation and Mountain Biking. Topics include:
Implementing Safe Routes to School programs that teach our children how to walk and bike to school safely.
Strategies and opportunities to build more bicycle-friendly communities in Wisconsin.
Creating community partnerships for effective bicycle trails advocacy
Building an economic case for your community to develop & maintain mountain bike trails
On April 22, Lobby Day, bicycle advocates will inform Wisconsin legislators on the importance of cycling, both directly and through the $1.5 billion that bicycling contributes annually to the state’s economy.
Registration for the Bike Summit on April 21 is $25 and includes refreshments. Registration for Lobby Day is free.
To register, go to www.bfw.org.
