FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Our area is known for its beautiful nature and fantastic biking routes, now, we're getting noticed internationally.
CycleRAP is an international program that assesses road safety on bike routes in five cities across the globe. Fayetteville was selected to represent all of North America.
"We lucked out a little bit, I think it was a neat opportunity," says City Mobility Coordinator Dane Eifling.
The year-long trial assessed the Razorback Greenway using an E-bike and GoPro camera to record the route for iRAP's studies.
So why Fayetteville?
Eifling says Fayetteville was chosen because of its special designation as a bike city.
"It's one of the first bike cities in the U.S., so we are doing a lot in terms of recreational cycling, everyday cycling for commuting, but also hosting really high-level competitive races," Eifling says. And so we have a lot of things all in one place, as far as biking goes in Fayetteville."
The video data was broken down into 30-foot increments and evaluated things like potholes, traffic, and hazards. Then the map is color-coded in their system.
Eifling adds, "This was a first-of-its-kind pilot program, we learned a lot and we were able to gather a lot of information [to help] create safer bicycling networks across the world and save lives."
Out of 50 miles analyzed within the study, 70% of the trails were rated a safe environment for cyclists.
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