When it comes to quick, efficient, inexpensive, and relatively enjoyable ways for cities to lower their carbon emissions, it’s hard to beat bike lanes and good public transit. Well-designed, safe cycling infrastructure encourages more people to ride bikes that emit no carbon and take up a lot less space to transport a person. 

Given that transportation emits the most carbon of any sector in the US, and the vast majority of people navigate their communities in gas-powered cars, the time is long overdue to reprioritize the ways we get around. And since cities in the US have been slow to do so, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) have put it upon themselves to help bring quality bike and transit infrastructure to five cities in the US: Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia. These five cities will be given something of a crash course in building out bike and transit infrastructure at scale, and incredibly quickly.

The idea is that NACTO will work in close concert with the cities’ transportation departments to design and implement high-quality bike and transit corridors by the end of 2020 in order to boost bike and transit ridership across the cities, get people out of their single-occupancy vehicles, and proactively work to meet climate goals. If you live in one of these five cities, get ready to tighten the chain of your old bike and cruise across the city.