Tell Your Senators To Reject Rand Paul's Plan To Defund Bicycling and Walking

Oliver is sick and tired of Congress
trying to defund bicycling and walking

We need you to speak up!

We just learned that Senator Rand Paul has introduced Amendment 1742 to the Transportation Appropriations bill to prohibit ANY MONEY from being used for Transportation Alternatives, and to redirect that money towards bridge repair.

Just last year Congress passed a new transportation bill, MAP-21, that dismantled dedicated funding for biking and walking by combining Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School and Recreational Trails into one program, then cutting that funding by 30%. The saving grace was that the bill included a local control provision to ensure that Mayors and communities could gain access to these dollars to support local transportation priorities.

Now Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky wants to wipe out what’s left.

Please contact your Senators today so that we can maintain the Transportation Alternatives program and the local control provisions that help build bikeable and walkable cities and towns.

We had been expecting the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) to announce the availability of T.A. funds this fall for both Pennsylvania and New Jersey communities. Communities could apply for this money to improve their streets, sidewalks, and bridges to make them safer for biking and walking. If Senator Rand's Amendment 1742 is successful, T.A. funds will no longer be available to the Greater Philadelphia region for bike lanes, sidewalks, trails or other biking/walking facilities.

While repairing bridges is important, both for safety and economic development reasons, so are our local economies and the safety of our children. Diverting the small amount of Transportation Alternatives funding to bridge repair couldn't fix our country's bridges in 50 years. But taking that small amount of funding away would dangerously undermine efforts of our cities, towns and counties to provide safe and efficient transportation options for everyone, including our children. With rates of bicycling and walking fatalities on the rise, that is a trade we can’t afford to make.

Please contact your Senators and ask them to save Transportation Alternatives by voting NO on amendment 1742.

Thank you so much for your help!