Massachusetts is poised on the brink of a biking renaissance. In Boston, new innovations to make the city friendlier to the biking community are underway, as are updated policy changes and overhauled security measures. But it’s a work in progress and the Bay State is vying to keep up with the rest of the country. It’s not enough for The League of American Bicyclists, though, as the organization dropped the Commonwealth four spots in its annual ranking of bike friendly states.

That’s not to say it’s all bad news, though. Massachusetts is sitting pretty as the 10th friendliest states for bikers, bested only by Delaware and Maryland on the East Coast. The only trouble is, Massachusetts was ranked the 6th friendliest state back in 2013.

The League’s ranking is based on data collected from each state’s Bicycle Coordinator who answered survey questions to generally convey how bikers fare within their borders. They then collaborated with the Alliance for Biking and Walking, who also posed their own survey questions, and combined the data into digestible categories.

Categories were outlined as follows: Policies and programs, legislation and enforcement, infrastructure and funding, evaluation and planing, and education and encouragement.

It’s important to consider, though, as noted by the League, “States that continue to promote bicycling and improve conditions can expect to improve their scores. The BFS annual ranking measures the states bikeability but does not include everything states can and should do for bicycling.”

That means projects currently being pushed down the pipeline to improve the overall quality of biking from each state are not taken into account.

Massachusetts’ report card, as rendered by the League, details where the Commonwealth stands in terms of imminent improvement. Each state was designated a 1 to 5 score for each of the five aforementioned categories. The Bay state received a 3 for legislation and enforcement, a 4 for policies and programs, a 2 for infrastructure and funding, a 3 for education and encouragement and a 3 for evaluation and planning.

By those stats, Massachusetts is rather middle-of-the-road, save for policies and programs where it scored pretty well and infrastructure and funding, where it came up a bit short.

But given that the ranking doesn’t consider prospective projects, we’re not too worried about the Commonwealth’s biking forecast.

According to the advocacy group MassBike, the Transportation Bond Bill recently signed by Governor Deval Patrick allows for a slew of advantageous initiatives.

Approximately $377 million will be designated towards the design, construction and repair of, or improvements to, pedestrian, bicycle and multi-use pathways. Another $50 million will go towards Complete Streets certification, grants and safety incentives. And roughly $230 million will be put to use on specific path, roadway, and bridge projects across the state that include infrastructure components specific to bikers and pedestrians.

MassBike even did much of the heavy lifting for us to see what and where exactly that money will be going towards. For example, $500,000 is to be used for beautification and streetscape improvements to Mattapan square including repainted bike lanes. A cool $75 million will be used to revamp bike and pedestrian paths along the Harbor Walk on the campus of UMass Boston, straddling South Boston and Dorchester. And $1.5 million will be used to design and build a rail trail following the Grand Junction railroad in Cambridge, Somerville and Boston.

A number of advocacy groups along with MassBike, such Livable Streets Alliance, have even kickstarted grassroots campaigns to lobby for more bike and pedestrian safety legislation from state reps on Beacon Hill.

Oh, and then there are the innumerable bike-centric events like the MassCommute Bike Festival, Bay State Bike Week and the Dorchester Bike Festival that have helped spread best biking practices and general knowledge to cyclists of any age.

The League of American Bicyclists’ ranking of Massachusetts bike friendliness is warranted. The Commonwealth still has plenty to do in order to catch up to the likes of reigning champ Washington but what it has in store for Bay State bikers and the national biking community at large is sure to impress them all.