CAMPO recently released the first version of a regional bike map.  The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization covers five counties around Austin:  Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson.  Several thousand physical maps have been distributed and you can download a PDF copy from the bike/ped section of their web site.

A lot of people worked on this map but the major  impetus for its creation came from Austin city council member Chris Riley.  He introduced the concept and the idea behind it during the 2011 Austin Bike Summit (Old Guy post 4/20/2011).

This being the first version, there are no doubt some errors or issues.  The map says that you can submit errors/comments on the web site, but I don’t see a specific link.

Bicycle Compatibility Index

The map includes road ratings of cycling comfort.  BCI uses road width, presence/width of shoulder, traffic speed and traffic volume.  Some of the ratings were adjusted using cyclist comments and city bike maps (Austin, San Marcos).  While the ratings are somewhat data driven, be aware that comfort is an ambiguous term and very dependent on context and experience.

Good Start

This is a good start.  It will be interesting to correlate this map to the Adventure Cycling bike routes and state wide bike route efforts.  This could be the seed to building a local touring resource that will attract bicycle vacation tourism.