A bike parking rack map created by the city of Bosto

There's nothing more frustrating than planning a bike trip in a city for a day, finding some great locations to stop and then not finding a bike parking rack to secure your bike.

There's a solution for this - a bike map.

More and more American cities and towns are working hard to become more bicycle friendly. They are creating bike lanes, adding a bike parking rack to more locations and educating their citizens on everything from how to ride safely to how to lock their bikes correctly.

One very smart

High Trestle Trail covering 25 miles is very popular with bicyclists. Photo by Iowa Natural Heritage Foundatio

Which of these items create more long-term jobs, bike racks or bridges? The answer seems obvious, doesn't it? Or does it?

According to a recent study by the National Recreation and Parks Association, you might be surprised the economic impact that can result from improvements in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.

Cities across the country are finding this out. Why add more roads and bridges? When

How to correctly lock a bike to a bike rack - Source: Los Angeles Police Departmen

Providing an adequate number of bike parking racks in the right location is just one way that site managers can help prevent bike thefts and curb the growing trend in stolen bicycles across the country.

Bicycle theft is not a petty crime anymore. Today's bicycles can average from $300 to $400 in price and run as high as $5,000. That's a major temptation for crooks.

One major obstacle is that bicycle theft is generally not considered a top priority for most overworked police departments. For this and other reasons, many people don't even bother to report a theft when their bike is stolen.

But the numbers are adding up. According to FBI statistics, their data indicates that 250,000 bicycles are reported stolen every year.

Commercial bike rack with bicycle rider desig

It's not often a person stands up and questions the mega-corporation known as Walmart. But when it comes to a commercial bike rack, that's just what one Jupiter, Fla. person did at a recent town meeting.

Walmart is expanding their store in this southeastern Florida town from 128,000 square feet to 165,000 square feet and spending about $12 million to make the change.

Except, there was a perception somebody may have forgotten the bicycle parking racks. At least, that's what Polly Daugherty feared after she reportedly spoke to a few employees at the store who apparently told her they didn't think a bike rack would be added.

So Polly showed up at the town meeting and wanted to know

Lower Central Park Photo by David Shankbone

Picnic tables, park benches, Frisbees, jogging, dogs or anything else that gets you into a park will improve a person's mental well-being, according to an extensive study recently conducted by a British university.

The research team from the European Centre for Environment and Human Health and the University