There’s a new long-distance cycling route in the Mountain West.
Nearly 500 miles of existing Wyoming roads are now part of the U.S. Bicycle Route System, a web of over 20,000 miles of roads, including ones in Utah, Nevada and Arizona.
For many bikers, doing this kind of cross-country cycling trip is a bucket list adventure.
“It's another way to be able to take in the Mountain West and be able to not just see the wonder and the beauty that's there, but also smell it and probably taste it,” said Jenn Hamelman with the Adventure Cycling Association.
That association has been pushing state transportation agencies, like Wyoming’s, to designate long-distance bicycle routes and gain support from all jurisdictions along the way.
Those routes have to be approved by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The only requirement is the route has to connect to existing or proposed routes in neighboring states. They can be interstate highways or back roads.
Hamelman said the goal is to have 50,000 miles of connected roads nationwide, and that becoming part of this system is a win for small-town economies.
“Cyclists need a lot of food as fuel, places to stay every night, and they are traveling slower and going shorter distances than if somebody was driving across the state by car,” Hamelman said.
She added that designating new routes doesn’t mean updating any infrastructure yet, but with more cyclists on the road, that could happen down the line.
“By making more people aware of cycling as a legitimate way to travel, whether it's across town or across the country, that helps to elevate the need for improving and adding infrastructure,” she said.
For example, Hamelman said that states could decide to add shoulders to roads if a lot of cyclists are using them.
The new Wyoming segment goes all the way from the Idaho border to Colorado, swerving through Grand Teton National Park, Sinks Canyon State Park, Alcova Reservoir and Saratoga Hot Springs.
Hamelman said to keep an eye out for more designations in the Mountain West in the next year. Idaho, Colorado and New Mexico have yet to put official routes on the map.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
