Bike 5 Cities
Central Florida's Premier Cycling Event. Hosted by Bike/Walk Central Florida
What is Bike 5 Cities?
A story of community engagement, safe cycling, and healthy lifestyle building through active transportation.
Bike 5 Cities is a 30-mile regional bike ride for bicyclists of any age, experience, or ability level. It’s for those who want to discover where to comfortably ride their bikes through these five urban cities — whether it’s through a neighborhood, down a local trail, or to a shop, restaurant, or park in one of the five cities.
The concept behind Bike 5 Cities and the route was born out of a need to help educate a community on new bike route signs installed in their neighborhood. The City of Maitland had recently adopted new bike routes, and signage was installed to identify the new places to ride your bike in the City. The City brought in Bike/Walk Central Florida, the Winter Park Health Foundation and the city of Casselberry to discuss the issue. During the meeting, a planner who worked for the City of Casselberry (you guessed it, Emily Bush) suggested an event to show people where these routes went. Lisa Portelli, representing both BWCF as a board member, the Winter Park Health Foundation, and avid cyclist, suggested a route between five different cities that connected through neighborhoods, trails and slow speed streets. She drew the route on a map, and with some minor tweaks over the years, the event and route were born.
Since its inaugural ride in 2017, the Bike 5 Cities Ride, the bike-friendly route map, and the push for awareness of the effort were all to further a greater goal of encouraging our decision-makers to build more bike-friendly roads with slow speeds and special infrastructures like cycle tracks and trails.
The route isn’t just a one-day ride anymore, it’s about showing people how to get around on bike-friendly roads and enabling them to feel safe to travel between cities on two wheels.
Help from our partner municipalities, sponsors and the cycling community make it happen!
In addition to sponsors, volunteers and the community, the cities of Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland and Casselberry and the town of Eatonville help us make the event a success. Each year, our partner municipalities assist with the event from five stops along the route --- Lake Druid Park, Mead Botanical Garden, Eatonville Town Hall, Maitland Community Park and Wirz Park.
The first map to the right shows municipal boundaries and the five route hubs alongside the Bike 5 Cities route. The second map shows activity centers located near and along the route.
Major activity centers adjacent to the route include Mills Avenue, Ivanhoe Village, Loch Haven Park, Mead Gardens, Winter Park Village, Maitland Community Park, downtown Maitland, Wirz Park, Kewannee Park, Ward Park, Baldwin Park and the Fashion Square Mall.
The Bike 5 Cities route has five hubs where rides begin.
Explore the Bike 5 Cities route!
Scroll around this map to view the Bike 5 Cities route and its five stops.
Parks and activity centers become visible as you zoom in.
Community Impact
Bike 5 Cities has an extensive community impact.
The Bike 5 route and event benefits everyone from the general public, aging communities, people with disabilities and families. The goals of Bike 5 is to encourage the community to get out on two wheels to improve their health, to support local businesses, and also to persuade decision makers to improve community connections and safe infrastructure as the public supports it. This event and route are also a tool to advance equity through increased transportation options, a critical part of Bike/Walk Central Florida’s mission
Bike 5 Cities is making an impact.
The first event in 2017 had well over 200 people, which was beyond what the Bike 5 Cities partners and cities ever imagined would be possible. From 2017 to 2022, the event doubled in size, from more than 450 people participating in the event. In 2022, the event expanded and added a 5 mile route, a 11 mile route and extended the original 28 mile route to include 2 additional miles in Seminole County and the City of Casselberry. In 2019, GAI Consultants worked with the BWCF to create a wayfinding plan for the route, identifying route markers, directions, colors, sign design and engineering documents so the participating cities could begin installing permanent signage. In 2021, the City of Casselberry and Seminole County Government created the first ever permanent route markings through the route, including adding for the new two-mile addition.
Tens of thousands of Central Florida residents can quickly access the Bike 5 Cities route without using an automobile.
The Bike 5 Cities route is highly accessible to residents of north central Orange and south central Seminole Counties. Approximately 49,600 people live within a quarter mile (5-minute walk) of the route, and more than 81,000 people live within a half mile of the route.
Over the coming years, Bike/Walk Central Florida aims to make sections of the route a permanent staple of the Central Florida bicycle and pedestrian network through wayfinding signage, safety enhancements and infrastructure improvements.
Population Access by Municipality
Population figures above do not include unincorporated areas.
The route passes by many local and regional destinations.
Improving access to and from various destinations via your bike is a critical component of building a successful active and equitable transportation system.
The interactive map to the right shows the Bike 5 Cities route alongside grocery, dining, cultural, entertainment and educational destinations.
Click on the map series below to enlarge the images.
38 grocery stores and markets are located within a quarter mile of the Bike 5 Cities route. This allows route riders to cool down and conveys the importance of locating facilities such as bike racks along the route. Click on the map to zoom in to view the map legend and features.
18 dining establishments are located adjacent to the route, with an additional 116 within a 5-minute walk. Bike/Walk Central Florida partners with some of these businesses via sponsorships and is always looking for more community partners! Click on the map to zoom in to view the map legend and features.
Numerous entertainment venues are within reach, including movie theaters, bars, museums and science centers. Click on the map to zoom in to view the map legend and features.
Numerous community centers, art and science centers, museums, libraries and other destinations are located in close proximity to the route. Major cultural attractions located adjacent to the route include the Orlando Museum of Art, the Orlando Science Center, and the Zora Neale Hurston National Museum. Click on the map to zoom in to view the map legend and features.
8 public schools are located adjacent to the route, including Lake Sybelia Elementary, English Estates Elementary, Maitland Middle, Dommerich Elementary, Lakemont Elementary, Brookshire Elementary, Fern Creek Elementary and Hungerford Elementary. Winter Park High School and the Winter Park 9th Grade Center are located within a 5-minute walk of the route. Click on the map to zoom in to view the map legend and features.
The route also connects to numerous parks.
A plethora of community and regional parks are located adjacent to the Bike 5 Cities route, allowing route riders to take a rest at some of the Orlando area's most relaxing public spaces.
The nine largest parks located adjacent to the route are depicted below. An additional 45 parks are located within a 10-minute cycling distance.
A total of 27 parks are located within 300 feet of the Bike 5 Cities route, and an additional 35 are located within a 4-to-5-minute cycling distance. The map and table below show the number of parks located within specified distances of the 5 route legs. The map to the right allows you to zoom in to see these parks in more detail.
Click on the map to zoom in to view the map legend and features.
The matrix above shows park proximities and features. Click on the image to enlarge the matrix.
What's next for Bike 5 Cities?
Work with partners to upgrade infrastructure along the route.
Bike/Walk Central Florida’s goal for the Bike 5 Cities program is that one day the entire 28-mile route which connects all five cities contains entirely protected, safe and comfortable paths for bicyclists of all ages and abilities to ride.
The map to the right shows the current context of the route. Green areas are trails, blue areas are 8-foot wide sidewalks, yellow areas are planned trails and purple areas are on-street or on sidewalks.
A large portion of the Bike 5 Cities route travels along the Cady Way Trail (pictured above)
Improve route safety with intersection improvements.
Bike/Walk Central Florida has identified 19 critical intersections along the Bike 5 Cities route that are targets for safety enhancements. Intersections have been prioritized based on speed, daily traffic and number of crossing lanes. Preliminary safety enhancements and MUTCD signage have also been identified for these intersections. The map to the right shows these intersections in red.
The map series below shows critical data associated with these intersections. Click on the images to enlarge the maps.
Left: Critical Intersections -- Right: Daily Traffic (AADT)
Left: Speed Limit -- Right: Crossing Lanes
Left: Crosswalk Painting -- Right: Signage Present
Improve comfort along the route with new shade trees.
Bike/Walk Central Florida recently completed a tree coverage study to identify areas that would benefit from enhanced shading. The map to the right shows current tree shading levels. Zooming in allows you to see draft tree placement locations.
The maps below show priority levels associated with the tree placement plan. Click on the maps to enlarge the images.
The tree placement plan also identified tree types that would reinforce native species while enhancing a sense of place along the route.
Improve navigation along the route with themed signage.
Bike/Walk Central Florida has been working on numerous signage strategies geared to enhance navigability and safety on the Bike 5 Cities route. The City of Casselberry and Seminole County already have permanent signage marking the expanded 30-mile route. Signage plans have been preliminarily developed across the following categories:
- Directional (Wayfinding) Signage
- Directional signage would provide turn-by-turn directions for Bike 5 Cities riders. This would enable advanced riders to use and navigate the route without a ride leader. Designs for signage along the route are depicted in the image to the right.
- Safety Signage at Key Intersections
- Safety signage informs motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians of the rules of the road in critical locations. Numerous MUTCD signage types focus on bicycle and pedestrian crossings, and advanced signage (such as RRFB's) allow bicyclists and pedestrian to cross by pushing a button.
- Destination & Distance Signage
- Destination signage would inform riders of key destinations along the route. Providing distance information enhances these signs greatly. On-and-off-route destinations can both be included in destination signage.
Get Involved
How can you get involved or sign up?
Bike/Walk Central Florida is looking forward to hosting the next Bike 5 Cities event on October 26, 2024 . Registration is open!
The link below includes all of the information you will need to register or volunteer for the event. For more information, contact bike5cities@bikewalkcf.org.
