A group of Oklahomans is holding the state’s first-ever bike summit in the hopes of making the Sooner state more bike-friendly. It currently ranks 46th nationwide.
Coordinated by the Oklahoma Bike Coalition, the two-day conference is geared toward engineers, city planners and cycling advocates. Friday’s events costs $25 to $100, but all Saturday sessions are free.
“Friday is primarily for engineers and city planners to create the system in their communities to make them more bike-friendly,” said Kevin Musset, summit chairman.
John LaPlante, a chief transportation planning engineer for engineering firm T.Y. Lin, will host a bicycle facility design workshop that day, with a casual reception that evening.
Saturday’s speakers will address bike safety and how bike tourism could benefit the state. Lon Haldeman, owner of PAC Tour, will talk about how Oklahoma areas of Route 66 could draw in more ecotourists if the road was more bike-friendly. He said improving the signage along the historic route would make biking the thoroughfare easier.
“The economic impact is going to be if they’d have services along the way where people go to diners, get refreshments and even hotels and things at night,” Haldeman said.
The summit will be held at the Chesapeake Boathouse, 725 S. Lincoln. For more information, visit okbikesummit2011.eventbrite.com. —Carmen Forman
This article appears in Oct 26 – Nov 1, 2011.