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The Three Parks Trail West near the Lakeland YMCA includes a marked pedestrian crossing and sidewalk connections as the city works to expand its low-stress trail network. | Courtesy City of Lakeland
6-minute read
Lakeland has again been named a Bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists — a designation the city has held for more than a decade. Lakeland first earned Bronze in 2012 and has renewed the designation multiple times since.
But for residents who rely on bikes to get to work, school, or errands — or who would bike more if it felt safer — Lakeland’s network can still break down in ways that don’t show up on a map.
Riders described missing sidewalks, lanes that end abruptly, and fast roads that make everyday trips intimidating.
“We’re making a lot of progress on the engineering and the infrastructure part,” Lakeland Transportation Manager Chuck Barmby said. “It’s really the education aspect that we seem to be lacking.”
Moving to Silver will require improvements beyond additional trails and connections — education, community engagement, and better tools to track safety and usage.
An aerial view shows construction progress on the Fort Fraser Trail extension near Orlando Health, part of Lakeland’s expanding trail network aimed at improving bike and pedestrian connectivity. | City of Lakeland
What Bronze means and Lakeland’s scores
The League of American Bicyclists scores communities across five categories:
Engineering
Education
Encouragement
Evaluation and planning
Equity and accessibility
Lakeland’s report card shows its strongest area is engineering, with a score of nearly 65%, reflecting ongoing trail and corridor development. But the city scored significantly lower in categories that reflect how easy and supported biking feels for everyday residents, including education (33.99%), encouragement (27.80%), and evaluation and planning (29.51%).
The city earned zero points in the report card’s “evaluating the bicycle network” subcategory, which reflects whether a community has systems in place to track ridership, identify gaps, and measure whether safety improvements are working over time.
In other words, it’s less about building new trails — and more about collecting the data to prove what’s working and what’s not.
City officials said Lakeland is starting to address that by installing bike count stations along key corridors — one of the League’s recommendations.
A stretch of the Three Parks Trail West near the Lakeland YMCA shows a newly built multi-use path and crosswalk infrastructure designed to improve pedestrian and bike connectivity. | City of Lakeland
Traffic is a sticking point
Bikeability isn’t just about recreation. For some residents, biking is a primary way to get to work, school, and daily errands — and for others it’s a transportation option they would consider if it felt safer.
Adam Hargrove, who bikes instead of owning a car, said Lakeland can feel manageable downtown. But, “It’s not doable when there are no sidewalks, like east of Combee,” he said.
In the city’s 2023 Citizen Satisfaction Survey, 76.5% of respondents listed traffic as one of the city’s top areas for improvement.
On its League report card, the city earned 25.03%, one of its lowest scores, in the “Equity & Accessibility” category. In the League’s community survey, only 7.9% of respondents say they were “very satisfied” with how the community is designed for safe bike riding. Nearly half (47.3%) said they were dissatisfied.
Based on the survey, residents’ top requests were:
More bike paths (66.1%)
More bike lanes (40.1%)
Protected bike lanes (36.5%)
We asked; residents answered
Facebook users in “We Live in Lakeland & I have Questions” voiced the same concerns, describing a city that feels bike-friendly in pockets — but dangerous on major roads. Many said they feel safest on trails and avoid areas where traffic moves fast.
Pamela Smith said biking from just south of Dixieland toward Bartow became “pretty terrifying” on U.S. 98 near Combee because “the bike lane ends.”
“One of the biggest hazards to bike riders and pedestrians is that quite a few drivers treat four-way stops as roll through yields at best and sometimes as something to be ignored if they don’t see another vehicle coming,” Lakeland resident (and retired LkldNow founder) Barry Friedman wrote in the Facebook group.
“There’s no sidewalks anywhere, no bike lanes,” said Tenchi Bery, who lives off Combee. “I own a bike. I’d love to be able to ride it but it’s simply not safe enough.”
“We invested in great e-bikes, but we only ride on the old railroad trails,” Beth Wright commented. “It’s too dangerous otherwise.”
What it would take to reach Silver
The League’s report card offers a roadmap for Lakeland to move from Bronze to Silver, and much of it focuses on making biking feel safe, visible, and accessible.
Among the League’s recommendations:
Expanding a low-stress bike network
Increasing physical separation where vehicle speeds and traffic volumes are high
Lowering speeds on neighborhood streets to around 20 mph through traffic calming and design changes
Officials also said Lakeland needs a more formal bicycle education program, especially for young riders, and a more consistent way for residents to provide feedback. The League also recommended creating a Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee, separate from the city’s Vision Zero work, to create a consistent channel for public input.
“It may be a 20-foot gap in the network that you don’t see on a larger map,” said Lakeland Transportation Planner James Phillips. “But it becomes a huge problem when you’re actually riding.”
Phillips said a short missing segment or a confusing crossing can prevent residents from using the bike network for real transportation.
What the city says is coming
Barmby and Phillips pointed to a list of projects aimed at improving connectivity — including Fort Fraser Trail connections and new segments planned along Glendale Street and Hartsell Avenue.
Barmby said one of the city’s biggest long-term priorities is the Fort Fraser Connector — a planned link that would connect Lake Hollingsworth to Lake Parker through Ingraham Avenue, Parker Street, and Lakeshore Drive. The Ingraham segment from Frank Lloyd Wright Way to Bartow Road is funded for 2029, and a short Lakeshore Drive section across Memorial Boulevard is funded for 2031.
Officials also highlighted major safety improvements underway along Lakeland Hills Boulevard/SR 33, including wider paths, street lighting, and a speed reduction to 45 mph from 60 mph.
Some of the most dangerous areas for biking are major crossings on Memorial Boulevard and Florida Avenue, along with stretches on New Tampa Highway that lack lighting and separated facilities, Barmby explained.
The city is continuing to pursue funding to connect Lake Parker Park to the Tenoroc Trail to complete the larger regional SUNTrail route.
Lakeland recently adopted a Vision Zero Action Plan, a strategy aimed at reducing serious crashes and fatalities. Officials said the working group includes city departments, community planners, and residents who use biking as a primary mode of transportation.
Map: Lakeland’s proposed and funded trail corridors | City of Lakeland
Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life.
LkldNow’s Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. All editorial decisions are made by LkldNow.
Kayla Borg is a Lakeland native and graduate of Western Carolina University, where she earned her degree in English and film production. She began her media career in Atlanta at CNN, quickly rising from production assistant editor to technical director/editor, leading live broadcasts alongside field reporters. Since then, she’s worked in education, instructional design and independent filmmaking.
