TUCSON, Ariz. — While the rest of the country waits for results to pour in from the Pennsylvania Democratic primaries, many in Pima County will be anxiously awaiting results from the League of American Bicyclists.

The League will announce on April 24 whether or not the Tucson/Pima Eastern Region is the first platinum-rated bicycle-friendly region in the United States.

“I believe our community has made incredibly significant strides over the last years,” said Richard Corbett, who was the chair on the Platinum Challenge Task Force during the development process, “especially in the last two years since we (earned a gold rating). We have accomplished so much to help fulfill all of the application’s requirements.”

The Tucson/Pima Eastern Region is the first region to apply for the platinum ranking. The only other platinum rated location is the city of Davis, Calif.

Tucson has been at the forefront of bicycle-friendly communities since the league began rating cities in the early 1990s.

Back then, communities who applied for the title either were or were not bicycle-friendly as there was no ranking system. In 2002 the metal-ranking system was developed, said Corbett, who was a founding member of the Tucson-Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee in 1981.

Corbett served on the committee until 1993, and he recently rejoined the committee at the start of 2007.

Tucson earned a silver ranking in the inaugural metal year, which it held for four years until the city worked with the Pima Eastern Region to earn a prestigious gold ranking.

“When I saw criteria (for the gold standard) I said, ‘Wow it looks likes they’ve modeled it after what city of Tucson already does,’” Corbett recalled. “Many items on (the) checklist matched up with what Tucson was already doing.”

Corbett said the idea to merge the Tucson and the Pima Eastern Region was that of Pima County bicycle awareness advocate Bill Katzel.

The entire region covers 1,924 square miles as it includes almost all urbanized parts of Pima County, including Green valley, Marana, Oro Valley, the Pascua Yaqui Reservation, Sahuarita, the Tohono O'odham Reservation, and Tucson,Tucson.

The application process consists of the city or region submitting an application and the league distributing a questionnaire throughout the location’s residents. The application focuses on the "five E's" of a community: engineering, education, enforcement, encouragement and evaluation.

The league was least impressed with the Tucson region’s enforcement element in the 2006 application, Corbett said, which El Tour de Tucson founder and active bicycle advocate Richard DeBernardis aimed to change.

DeBernardis hosted a luncheon with representatives from every involved police district as well as members from the league. At the luncheon DeBernardis, along with several other bicycle advocates, stressed the importance of embracing the bicycle-friendly regulations to improve Tucson’s status as a bicycle-friendly community.

Corbett also noted that the Regional Transportation Association passed a bill in 2006, which included plans to fill in gaps in bicycle routes around Tucson and areas around the town as well.

Corbett himself is an extremely active rider who is a league-certified coach and instructor in addition to being bike patrol director for the El Tour de Tucson and the Tour of the Tucson Mountains. Corbett rode to work every day until he retired from his position as the Pima Association of Government manager of intermodal transportation systems in 2007.

He estimates he has bicycled over 180,000 miles since he began keeping track in 1971.

“I saved money on gasoline, parking spots and on my car insurance,” Corbett said. “I’ve been living green for a long, long time and I live even greener now than I ever did.”

To read about Tucson's bike swap click here.

To read about the Tuesday night bike ride click here.

For more information about Tucson's growing bike scene read Melissa Krueger and Catherine O'Connor's article.