For all its merits, London isn't one of United Kingdom's best cities for cycling. A recent poll ranked it 17th. But Mayor Boris Johnson is trying to change that. This morning he announced the opening of two new "cycle superhighways" in the city. Each is five feet wide, has two lanes so as to accommodate traffic in both directions, and is painted bright blue to "represent freedom." One stretches 8.5 miles from the southern suburb of Merton to the city center. The other runs into town from Barking, in eastern London. Eventually, 12 of these commuter routes will radiate out from the center of London like spokes.

London's cyclists are mostly happy with the new routes, though there are already reports that cars and trucks are encroaching on them, or simply driving in them. But Johnson hopes that his comprehensive plan to support cycling which, along with the superhighways, includes a hew bike-sharing program and a new bike police unit, will spur a city-wide "cycling revolution."

See a full-size map of London's "cycling superhighways"

If you didn’t already know it, biking and walking are really good for you. Thanks to a new study released by the Alliance for Biking and Walking (and funded by the CDC) we now have the data to prove it. There is a lot of great information in the study and I recommend you check it out. But for those of you on the fly, a few highlights:

-Less than 10% of all trips are made by bike or foot

-From 2000-2007 the number of commuters who bike to work increased by 42%

-States with the highest levels of cycling and walking have the lowest levels of adults with hypertension, obesity, and diabetes

-New Yorkers (not a big surprise) make more of their trips by foot or bike than any other state- almost 19% of their trips

-North Dakota, South Carolina, Delaware and Mississippi tied for last place– only about 5% of trips are made by foot or bike

One quandary (and a reason many people stay in their cars) is that study also shows cyclists and pedestrians are at a disproportionate risk of being killed. Not a big surprise when you consider that less than 2% of the federal transportation budget is allocated towards walking and biking. Savvy policy makers might consider the public health benefits (and corresponding impact on health care budgets) when divvying up the monies next time around.

Good morning. And the sun is rising on a wave of new bike-sharing programs in America as well. Minneapolis just launched Nice Ride, the nation's largest bike-sharing system to date:

Minneapolis is joining Denver in a new wave of cities in car-crazy America trying to cut down on obesity, traffic jams and air pollution with bike-sharing programs. It was debuting Nice Ride Minnesota on Thursday with 700 bicycles and 65 kiosks where riders can swipe a keycard, pick up a bike and go — making it one of the largest urban bike-sharing programs in the U.S.

Minnesota's 700-bike Nice Ride program was put together by Public Bike System Co., the same folks who are responsible for Montreal's high-tech Bixi bike-share system. (Denver's program is by a competitor, B-Cycle.) Blue Cross was the lead sponsor for the system, and used money from its tobacco settlements to make it happen.

About a dozen other cities, including New York, Chicago, and Boston are also exploring new bike-sharing programs.