Bicycle Friendly Community
Becoming a Bicycle Friendly Community
The Woodlands was the first suburban community in Texas to receive Bicycle Friendly Community status from the League of American Bicyclists in November 2011 and the highest rated community in Texas as of January 2025.
Bike The Woodlands Coalition members were instrumental in fostering The Woodlands’s initial application. In fact, the Coalition began as a conversation in 2009 among four cyclists, one of whom asked “why isn’t The Woodlands a Bicycle Friendly Community?”
The Woodlands renewed its Bronze-level designation in November 2015 and June 2020. In Summer 2024, The Woodlands Township worked with local community leaders (including Bike The Woodlands) to submit our latest application for Bike Friendly designation. In January 2025, The Woodlands Township was awarded a Silver-level designation.
Past Bike Friendly Community
Report Cards
The League of American Cyclists produces a report card each time a community receives a Bike Friendly designation. Explore the report cards for The Woodlands Township from our past applications.
2011
2025
2015
2020
How do we get to Gold?
Core Recommendations
Continue working with Howard Hughes Corporation (The Woodlands Land Development Company) and Montgomery and Harris Counties to improve and expand the low-stress bike network for all ages and abilities.
Encourage both Montgomery and Harris Counties to adopt a Complete Streets policy and create implementation guidance.
Work with both Counties and the Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC) to develop and adopt a region-wide design manual that meets current FHWA, AASHTO, and/or NACTO standards, or to each formally adopt one of these organizations’ newly updated guidebooks as official guidance for your community’s transportation planners and engineers.
Continue to work with the Counties and HGAC to lower speed limits -- and designed speeds -- on residential streets to 20 mph or less. Introduce road diets and traffic calming measures to ensure compliance.
Install a bicycle wayfinding system with distance and destination information at strategic locations around the community, integrating preferred on-street and off-street facilities.
Work with local employers and developers to continue to increase the amount of high quality bicycle parking throughout the community, and to upgrade the quality of existing bike parking to meet APBP standards.
Consider launching a bike share system or bicycle lending library that is open to the public.
Improve bicycle safety education for students of all ages by incorporating more on-bicycle education opportunities and by expanding the program to all K-12 schools.
Encourage more local businesses, agencies, and organizations to promote cycling to their employees and customers and to seek recognition through the Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB) program.
Begin the process of updating your 2016 Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan.
Key Concerns
In addition to seeking national recognition as a bike-friendly community, Bike The Woodlands has outlined our key concerns and highest priorities for making our hometown a safe and welcoming place for everyone to ride their bikes.
Create major commuting corridors.
Create and maintain major East-West (from I-45 to SH 2978) and North-South (SH 242 to Creekside) bicycle friendly corridors.
Connect bicycle-friendly with business-friendly.
Bikes are good for business. Savvy companies seeking to a young, engaged workforce locate in areas with bicycle friendly commuting options. Workers who bike to work are healthier, leading to reduced health care and insurance costs. Property values are increased by proximity to bike paths. Retailers and restaurants in bicycle friendly areas benefit from post-ride refreshment seekers. Bike-friendly spaces establish an “urban oasis” sense of community. Smaller retail purchases but more frequent return visits fosters merchant-customer loyalty. Fewer cars lead to reduced parking lot congestion.
Become even more
“bike friendly.”
We want to go further, with AASHTO-approved safe bike lanes, protected bike lanes, and safer road surfaces. Our existing pathways are NOT the answer: the mixture of strollers, skaters, runners and walkers creates a high risk of collisions and injuries.
Protect what we have left.
Stop widening roads at the expense of the shoulders. Major parts of Woodlands Parkway and Research Forest no longer have road shoulders. We fear the same treatment of Lake Woodlands Drive. Many areas with the highest employment/retail density are inaccessible by road shoulders.
Incorporate “Complete Streets” planning in all new transit and transportation projects.
Many employees reside within ten miles of the major medical, technology, retail, and office employment centers in The Woodlands. “Complete streets” planning incorporates access for cars, bikes, and pedestrians. We hope employers will encourage bike commuting to work, which enhances wellness and lessens traffic congestion.
