Cities of Cincinnati and Newport among winners of bike-friendly awards | Environment

CINCINNATI (FOX19) - The Bike Friendly Destinations Awards Program is honoring area businesses, organizations and institutions that have provided advocacy and infrastructure improvements to support bicycling for employees or visitors.

In its second year, the program will honor 60 organizations, including the Metro and TANK bus systems, the cities of Cincinnati and Newport, the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Macy’s, the E.W. Scripps Company, and Findlay Market.

“The Bike Friendly Destination program is growing stronger each year as we continue to make Greater Cincinnati a more bike-friendly community,” said Nern Ostendorf, executive director, Queen City Bike. “There are many benefits from using bicycle transportation and this program helps us to spread that message.”

This is not the only honor for the area's improving bicycle infrastructure. Two weeks ago Cincinnati was named a 2012 Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists. This is the first year the city has reached that status.

The Bike Friendly Destinations Program was developed by Queen City Bike to encourage more people to commute to work and other destinations by bicycle. Funded by a grant through The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, the program works with businesses and other destinations to show that bicycle commuting is beneficial for everyone: the employee, the visitor, the employer, and the city as a whole.

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