Madison Police Department is again stepping up bicycle enforcement and ticketing riders for offenses such as running red lights and stop signs. Residents discuss safety, ticketing and solutions.

http://http://vimeo.com/6513241

Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Coordinator Arthur Ross explains when you can and cannot bike on the sidewalk in Madison.

http://http://vimeo.com/6513439

Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Coordinator Arthur Ross explains when a bicycle can cross at a crosswalk in Madison.

http://http://vimeo.com/6513609

Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Coordinator Arthur Ross explains a law that allows motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles to cross against a red light after 45 seconds.

Recreational bicycling brings in $1.5 billion in revenue for Wisconsin every year, according to a study recently released by the University of Wisconsin Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

The study looked at the manufacturing, sales and tourism impact bicycling has on the state. The survey also looked at the potential value of health benefits bicycling provides for people.

The study found that recreational bicycling generates about $924 million in tourism and resident spending every year and nonresidents spend more than $535 million every year. Additionally, bicycling supports more than 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin.

According to one of the study’s authors, UW graduate student Melissa Whited, they broke people who cycle into different groups based on the type of cycling they were doing. They incorporated how many days a year each group went cycling and its average expenditures, as well as using an economic model to predict multiplier effects and indirect impacts.

“We’re faced with the complex issues of climate change and reducing green house gas emissions, the obesity epidemic, the economic crisis on our hands — cycling addresses all three of those. It’s a holistic way to approach economic and health issues,” Whited said.

Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, commissioned the report because he said few bicycling surveys in the past analyzed the economic impact that cycling has on tourism.

“We all know biking is healthy and good for the environment, but what this study shows is that biking is also very important for the economy,” Black said.

Black said Wisconsin has been recognized nationally as one of the best places for recreational cycling because of the state’s network of rural roads, generally low-traffic volume and rolling hills.

According to Amanda White, director of the Madison office of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, the state has been ranked second best in the country for cycling by the League of American Bicyclists.

White added she hopes the study will help Wisconsin residents to recognize the value and importance of cycling in the state.

“Momentum for bicycling is really growing in Wisconsin,” White said. “We’re blessed with amazing biking roads and hundreds of miles of biking trails across the state.”