Still Numero Uno

Last year the League of American Bicyclists ranked Washington as the #1 bike friendly state.

Here are the news release and rankings for this year:

The League of American Bicyclists is releasing the second annual ranking of Bicycle Friendly States, scoring the 50 states on a 75-item questionnaire that evaluates a state’s commitment to bicycling and covers six key areas: legislation, policies and programs, infrastructure, education and encouragement, evaluation and planning, and enforcement. League President Andy Clarke highlighted that "several states dramatically improved their ranking by updating their traffic codes, increasing the level of funding for bicycle improvements, implementing education programs aimed at cyclists and motorists, getting organized and hosting their first statewide bicycling conferences and events." For 2009, the top five highest scoring states ranked one through five are: Washington, 1; Wisconsin, 2; Maine, 3; Oregon, 4; and Minnesota, 5. The lowest scoring states ranked 46 through 50 are: New Mexico, 46; Alaska, 47; Oklahoma, 48; Montana, 49; and Alabama, 50.

I wonder if they used the same criteria as last year. I see Mississippi shot up from 47 to 24, Delaware rose from 31 to 9, and Georgia went from 49 to 31. Those seem to be pretty dramatic changes. Ohio dropped from 32 to 39. Small wonder considering Jacque's cycling adventures there. Alas, Josh's birth state of Alabama is now the cellar dweller.