[Update: Ocean City, New Jersey, has just been named a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community, too!]

Yesterday, the League of American Bicyclists named Hoboken a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community, just the third municipality in New Jersey to receive a BFC designation. The award, a recognition of the city’s active promotion of cycling, comes just one year after a unanimous City Council vote to add 10 miles of bike lanes to the municipality’s streets (the city also made plans to add almost 10 more miles of road markings on streets deemed too narrow for bike lanes). Prior to being named a bronze community, Hoboken received an honorable mention from the organization in 2010 and was named a Gold Walk Friendly Community.

“In just a few years, Hoboken has raised the bar for what it means to be bike-friendly in New Jersey,” Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer said in a statement. She’s right: a full quarter of Hoboken’s street mileage is outfitted with bike lanes that have been built in the past three years, bike parking capacity has almost doubled in that time, and there are plans for significantly more bike infrastructure in the future, including on Observer Highway. The city has also signed on to the “Twenty is Plenty” campaign, which encourages residents to drive at 20 miles per hour, making for a safer transportation network.

For other New Jersey municipalities that have taken steps towards complete streets—including those that have already passed complete streets policies—Hoboken has become an excellent model to emulate. Rapid, effective streetscape improvements and incentives to reduce automobile ownership have paved the way for a more sustainable city in a short period of time.

In addition to the designation from the League of American Bicyclists, Tri-State will be honoring Mayor Zimmer at our annual benefit in November. Not only has Mayor Zimmer supported safe cycling infrastructure, but she has also led the charge for Hoboken to become a more walkable city and spearheaded an innovative car share program, which has reduced the number of people with residential parking permits and dissuaded people from owning cars.

Join us at our annual benefit as we honor and thank Mayor Zimmer, along with other leaders that are promoting sustainable transportation policy across the tri-state region! For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.