Like hundreds of thousands of people across the country, Dr. Wendy J. Bergman uses her bike to make a daily 10-12 mile commute to work - a growing trend that she credits for her physical and mental health while doing her part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“I’m not bad for my age,” the 58-year-old married mother of three said when asked about the physical benefits of biking from her home on the west side of Worcester to the Reliant Medical Group on Plantation Street. “It’s good for my physical health and it’s also good for my mental health. I can clear my head.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people who biked to work increased about 60 percent between 2000 and 2012 - from 488,000 to about 786,000. Steps taken by communities and states to support biking and walking – including investments in bike lanes and more pedestrian-friendly streets - were cited as the leading factor.

In Massachusetts, more than 71,500 people commuted to work on bicycles in a 2010-2011 Massachusetts Travel Survey. The state Department of Transportation said that number has continued to climb during the past five years.

To support this booming nationwide (actually worldwide) trend, MassDOT is updating a statewide bicycle transportation plan implemented in 2008. The agency currently has more than 50 paved bike trails covering more than 150 miles. The state Department of Conservation and Recreation has an additional 250 miles of paved shared-use paths in the state.

MassDOT has also allotted $60 million over the next four years to, among other things, address missing links in both pedestrian and bicycle networks.

Peter Sutton, MassDOT’s bicycle and pedestrian program coordinator, said in addition to the obvious benefits of biking, it "unlocks economic development." He said that in places such as the inner core of Boston where bicycling has really taken off in the last decade, new businesses are popping up around the routes.

“Bike paths, especially in inner cities where people do not want to be beholden to automobiles, have spawned new businesses and developments along the new bike routes,” he said. “We’re working on how we can spread that to other cities around the state like Worcester and Springfield.”

Worcester and many areas in Central Massachusetts are on board with expanding bike lanes and bike paths. Several existing area bike/walk paths now being expanded include the Assabet River Rail Trail in Marlboro, Hudson, Maynard and Acton; the North Central Pathway in Gardner and Winchendon; and the Massachusetts Central Rail Trail that runs through West Boylston, Holden, Rutland, Sterling, Oakaham and Barre.

Work is also continuing on the Blackstone Valley Greenway, a multi-million-dollar, 48-mile bike/pedestrian trail that runs from the Blackstone Valley to Providence. The first of seven segments in Massachusetts, completed about 10 years ago, runs parallel to the Blackstone River and Route 146, around Holy Cross and into Millbury. Another connecting segment runs by Walmart and McKeon Boulevard. It was completed in 2016. The next segment will run through downtown Worcester and is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2018.

Construction of the Blackstone Valley Corridor Visitors Center, part of that project, will begin this spring.

Several communities have recent bike lanes from participating in MassDOT’s Complete Streets program. The two-year-old program provides a municipality up to $400,000 for construction projects that improve accessibility and safety for all travel modes, including walking and cycling.

Worcester has some bike lanes in the Canal District along Green, Water and Millbury streets, and on Lake Avenue and Hamilton Street.

Later this year, an extensive project to revamp part of Main Street in downtown Worcester and include bike lanes is scheduled to begin. The more than $10 million project, largely funded with federal money, will stretch from the Chandler/Madison streets intersection to Highland Street. It will include upgrades to existing traffic lights, pavement milling and resurfacing, wheelchair ramp improvements, reconstructed sidewalks, and 5-foot bike lanes in each direction. Public art will also be incorporated into the project.

Four lanes on that portion of Main Street will be reduced to two, one in each direction, with turning cutouts at intersections, to make way for bike lanes. Most parking will remain.

City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. is excited about the two-year project that he says is a priority to transform downtown to a more “destination-type” location. He said people will be encouraged to walk and bike and experience entertainment, restaurants and other activities the city has to offer. He said that by the time the project is finished, there will be more restaurants and things for people to do downtown.

“Our vision of Main Street and downtown is the ability for someone after going to a club or bar in the Canal District then walking to Mechanics Hall or the Hanover,” he said. He pointed out that the hundreds of people who will live in the 365-apartment housing complex on Front Street, and patrons of local hotels, including two new ones on Front Street and Washington Square, will also be able to walk or bike in the downtown area.

He said the city will likely pitch in some money to expand Carroll Plaza in front of the Hanover and add tables and chairs for patrons of a planned restaurant at the Hanover site.

Gerald “Jerry” M. Powers and Karin Valentine Goins, co-chairs of Walk/Bike Worcester, a grass-roots organization that promotes improving accommodations and safety for walkers and bikers, are happy about the Main Street project. But, they say similar efforts are needed on many other streets.

“A lot of people criticize bike lanes because they’re not connected,” Ms. Goins said. “We would like to see a plan for a network and find funding to put these pieces together.”

Dr. Bergman, the internist at Reliant Medical Group, said her bike commute is spotty because bike lanes are not available for the entire trip. She said she's constantly nervous about motorists hitting her when she rides with the traffic on streets such as Lincoln Street where traffic moves quickly.

"People zip around the circle which makes it very dangerous," she said. "Often, I get off my bike and walk (with it). I'd rather live to tell the tale." She said there would be more bicyclists in the city if the bike lanes were connected.

Mr. Augustus said the city is working on that.

"That ultimately would be the goal," he said. "The challenge is when we get different funding (from the state or federal government), it doesn't always give us the opportunity to do this particular road or do that particular road to connect. We do the roads that we have funding to do."

He said the city is working on a Complete Streets program, similar to what the state has, that will result in more bike lanes.

"We're getting ready to come out with our own policy which would ensure that any street we do that's city-owned would also add the bike component and more walkability," the city manager said.