Spokes on a Wheel

Remember the fun of riding bikes with friends? The University of Oregon and the city of Eugene do.

Community planning is crucial to creating bicycle-friendly towns and cities, but producing effective plans is easier when everyone contributes ideas and works toward the same goal. That's what makes the collaboration between the university, students, and the community so great in the Oregon case.

According to this news release from the university, a student group took the initiative to study ways of making a major street on campus safer for bikes. Based on its research, the group proposed an idea, and the university and the city are now working to help bring the plan to life. The proposal has even received a pledge of a $150,000 donation from the parents of a university student who was killed in a bicycle accident in 2008.

The Oregon plan proves yet again that riding bikes is better when friends are around.