Elizabeth Press

Last month Streetfilms took a look at how Vancouver is making big strides toward becoming a safe bicycling city. As we learned while in town for the Velo-City 2012 conference, the city government is not alone -- it has a great partner in the regional transportation agency, TransLink, which provides transit service for 22 regional municipalities, plus funding for a network of major roads and cycling infrastructure and programs. TransLink views cycling as a complement to the agency's trains, buses, and ferries.

In June, the city of Vancouver hosted the Velo-City Global 2012 Conference, where international cycling planners, professionals and advocates convened.

The first National Women’s Bicycling Summit took place last week in Long Beach, California. It was tacked on to the Pro Walk/Pro Bike conference and drew some of the same participants, a bunch of new faces and whole lot of positive energy.

For many who have heard of Medellín, Colombia, the name brings to mind the drug-related violence of the 1980s and 1990s, when it was often described as the most dangerous city in the world.

For more than 20 years, federal funding for bike and pedestrian safety has enabled American cities and towns to invest in transportation projects that state DOTs would otherwise have overlooked. Thanks to these programs, communities have helped main streets thrive, provided kids with safer routes to school, and made biking an attractive transportation option.