AARP's Livable Communities initiative describes ten ways in which bicycle-friendly streets can be good even for persons who don't ride bicycles.
Bicycle-friendly friendly streets can…
- Lead to safer streets for all roadway users
- Help make the sidewalks safer
- Clarify roadway operations for all users, reducing anxiety and anger that results from uncertainty about who should be where
- Help reduce congestion
- Help make streets and cities more attractive and livable
- Contribute positively to economic development and vitality
- Increase the existence and quality of affordable transportation
- Help transportation agencies make efficient use of funding in modernizing the transportation systems they are responsible for
- Reduce health care costs that result from sedentary, unhealthy lifestyles
- Help improve air quality, reduce green-house gases, and reduce noise pollutionAARP article outlines benefits of bicycle-friendly streets for non-cyclists