Updates to State Planning Resources in the Benchmarking Report

May 21, 2025/Ken Mcleod

In December 2024 the League of American Bicyclists released its 2024 Bicycle Friendly State ranking. Bicycle Friendly State rankings are based on self-reported survey data from state Departments of Transportation and publicly available data or information, which include state bicycle and pedestrian plans and complete streets policies. The League periodically reviews these sources to inform state rankings and update information on policies and plans that can improve physical activity levels across states. 

We’re now excited to update the state plans and policies page with data related to:

Summary of Latest State Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan Data

Bicycle and pedestrian plans offer states a framework to implement strategies and policies that can support efforts to increase physical activity and create thriving, healthy communities. The League’s latest review finds that there has been increased movement on state bicycle and/or pedestrian plans since 2021. Figure 2.5.1 – Most Recent Bicycle and/or Pedestrian Plan Adoption shows the period during which each state most recently adopted a bicycle and/or pedestrian plan. Exact years and plan names are available when you hover over a state.

Most states that have adopted a bicycle and/or pedestrian plan have chosen to do so through a plan that supports bicycling and walking in the same document. These combined bicycle and pedestrian plans may be called active transportation plans. Active transportation can also include modes of travel other than bicycling and walking, such as the use of wheelchairs, micro mobility devices like scooters, and other non-motorized or low-speed electrically-assisted travel. In Figure 2.5.2: Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Plans, we use the phrase Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan even if other modes are addressed in an active transportation plan. This figure provides the plan name, a hyperlink to the plan or the state’s bicycle and pedestrian program page if no plan is available, the year the first plan was adopted, and the year the most recent plan was adopted.

  • Nine states have adopted a new plan that addresses bicycling and/or walking since our last update in 2021.
    • Hawaii (Bike Plan Hawai’i Refresh)
    • Kansas (Active Transportation Plan)
    • Kentucky (Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan)
    • Maine (State Active Transportation Plan)
    • Maryland (2050 Statewide Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan)
    • New Hampshire (Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan)
    • Oklahoma (Active Transportation Plan)
    • South Carolina (Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Action Plan)
    • Utah (Statewide Active Transportation Plan)
  • Among the nine states who adopted a new plan since 2021, Maine, Oklahoma, and South Carolina adopted their first-ever plans to support walking and bicycling.
  • Five states have never adopted a bicycle and/or pedestrian plan, which may present an opportunity to improve the health of residents.
    • Among those five states, Texas has taken some significant steps to plan for bicycling and walking. The Texas Department of Transportation is currently “developing a comprehensive Statewide Active Transportation Plan (SATP) to establish a unified vision for the identification and implementation of strategic active transportation priorities and policies across Texas through 2050.”
    • The other states still to adopt a plan are Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota. 

Summary of Latest Complete Streets Policy Data

Complete Streets policies are an approach to support planning, designing, building, operating, and maintaining streets that allow for safe access for all people who need to use them. While new states have adopted their first-ever bicycle and pedestrian plans in recent years, according to the League’s analysis of the National Complete Streets Coalition policy atlas, no additional states have adopted their first-ever Complete Streets policy action since 2018. 

For our analysis, a state action was defined as any mechanism at the state-level to adopt or support Complete Streets efforts. These include policies, legislative actions, and executive actions. The Complete Streets policy atlas also includes non-binding resolutions. For our purposes, although such resolutions do not create legal obligations, they still require action to adopt and therefore were counted as actions in Figures 2.5.3 and 2.5.4. Figure 2.5.3. – State Complete Streets Actions by First Year Taken identifies when a state’s first complete streets action was taken. Figure 2.5.4 – Overview of State Complete Streets Actions offers information on the types of actions taken by states and when. 

As of January 2025, there are fourteen states who have not taken any action included in the Complete Streets policy atlas. The last state to take its first-ever Complete Streets action was Iowa in 2018. For the 36 states that have existing Complete Streets actions, eight have taken additional actions since 2018 to further advance Complete Streets in their states.

Efforts to advance Complete Streets policies often focus on local-level actions. For this reason, we include sub-state actions from the Complete Streets policy atlas for each state to show the number of city, county, region, town, and tribe actions in each state, regardless of whether a state-level action has been taken. These sub-state actions can show that there is local interest in advancing Complete Streets efforts and that there may be opportunities for communities to coordinate within a state to facilitate Complete Streets actions. Figure 2.5.4 shows the year of each state’s first action, the type of state action, the year of each state’s most recent action, and how many sub-state actions have been taken in each state to provide context on complete streets progress within states.

Summary of Latest Strategic Highway Safety Plan Data 

Finally, Strategic Highway Safety Plans (SHSPs) have been updated in several ways since 2018 based on changes from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). SHSPs are required by federal law for states that want to receive and spend federal funds from the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). HSIP is the third-largest federal-aid highway program and has existed under its current name since 1979. As we discuss in our resource on federal transportation funding, HSIP received an additional $500 million in the IIJA compared to the previous transportation bill and currently distributes about $3 billion to states each year.

Figure 2.5.5 – Overview of State Strategic Highway Safety Plan Goals and Efforts to Reduce Traffic Deaths provides an overview of states’ goals outlined in their SHSP and the time period covered by the SHSP. The League’s analysis of SHSPs found that 46 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico explicitly support the Toward Zero Deaths National Strategy.

The IIJA also created a new special rule for vulnerable road user (VRU) safety requiring states to spend at least 15 percent of their HSIP funds on VRU safety if VRU traffic deaths make up 15 percent or more of a state’s traffic deaths. Whether a state has met the 15 percent threshold is determined on an annual basis. Figure 2.5.6 – Vulnerable Road User Safety in Strategic Highway Safety Plans shows the most recent year’s VRU data and how many times the VRU threshold has been met in the past ten years for which data is available (2013 – 2022) to help users understand how likely the rule will apply to their state. Nineteen states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia have met that threshold every year during the last decade. In these states and territories, the VRU rule can provide a basis for longer-term planning and investments for healthier, more thriving communities.

Consider using these resources to support robust planning for safer bicycling and walking and improve health in your community.

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This publication was made possible by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Contract #47QRAA20D003W). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC. These efforts are part of the CDC’s Active People, Healthy NationSM Initiative that is working to help 27 million Americans become more physically active by 2027.