Chairman Mica doesn't want the Feds to pay to include cycling or walking in Transportation projects
Last week the House Transportation Bill - H.R. 7 The American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act – made it’s way out of committee after only four days of discussion. The proposed legislation strips all dedicated funding for cycling and walking from the federal budget and eliminates two key infrastructure programs that support cycling – Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School. An amendment to the bill presented by two Republican members of the committee (Petri R-WI and Johnson R-IL) failed to restore funding during the mark-up period.
Now the bill passes to the full House of Representatives for debate before a final vote expected in late March / early April. The floor debate is scheduled to start next week and will certainly continue for the month of February.
Meanwhile over in the Senate the Committee on the Environment and Public Works continue to work on their version of a proposed Transportation Bill MAP-21. The America Bikes coalition expressed concern when the bill was proposed about the cuts to dedicated funding to biking and walking and concern about the ability of states to opt out of these programs and funnel all money to highway construction. One key part of MAP-21 is that Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School and the Recreational Trails programs are all combined into one funding source called “Additional Activities”.
This week Senators Cardin (D-MD) and Cochran (R-MS) introduced an amendment to the Senate Transportation Bill that increases local involvement in decisions and allows funding to go to local governments. The main benefit of the Cardin-Cochran Amendment is that it maintains state and local government access to the Additional Activities funding.
So what does this mean for cycling advocates and more important everyday cyclists who want safe streets and improved access to bikes? It means less money available for our local governments to work with to improve our local infrastructure. It means less Safe Routes to School funding to continue to improve the options for our kids to walk or bike to school. It means cutting dedicated Bike & Ped staff from state DOTs.
Today more then ever we need to voice our support for programs that maintain funding to cycling project and we need to voice our concern about programs that do not. To send a message to your Senators and your House Member please use this League of American Bicyclists Action Alert.
Neither of these bills are done deals yet and our elected representatives need to know that their constituents care about these issues. This isn’t a Democrat vs. Republican issue, it’s a public safety and transportation use issue. For perspective the National Household Travel Survey and the Federal Highway Administration data makes this issue clear. In 2011 cycling and walking represented 12% of all trips in the United States. Biking and Walking accidents represented 14% of all transportation fatalities. Yet Biking and Walking projects received only 1.6% of federal transportation funding.
This isn’t an issue of choosing highway funding over bike and walking funding. It’s an issue of proving support and safe transportation options for all users.
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