The Alabama Mountain Lakes Scenic Bikeways Plan is intended to promote bicycle tourism in Jackson County by making it easy for cyclists to find the best road cycling routes in the area and highlighting points of interest along each route where bicycle tourists can spend money. Each bike route includes an interactive map created with Ride With GPS software (one of the most widely used bike route mapping platforms) which allows cyclists to view the maps on a phone app or download the maps onto their bike computers. They can also download cue sheets with turn-by-turn instructions. Each map also indicates where to find the points of interest in the area.

More than just simply showing the routes, each map is accompanied by scenic photographs of cyclists riding the routes and includes a narrative description of the routes that notes interesting highlights and reinforces spending opportunities along the way.

The plan is modeled after a similar program in Oregon which has been wildly successful in attracting bicycle tourism to the state. In 2015, a study credited the Oregon Scenic Bikeways program with bringing $12.4 million to the state’s economy, and a 2013 study showed that bicycle tourism accounted for $400 million in tourist revenue to Oregon. While a nationwide pandemic exposed the need to diversify outdoor travel options, The Outdoor Foundation’s Annual Outdoor Participation Report found that more than 91 million Americans participate in some form of bicycling.