Congress Takes A Sledge Hammer To Safe Streets

If you follow active transportation blogs, you probably have already heard the news. Congress has come up with a "compromise" transportation bill that the House passed earlier today and is being put up for a vote before the Senate this afternoon. Despite four years of advocacy and an outpouring from the public asking for a progressive re-authorization of the transporation bill, far less emerged from the Conference Committee headed by Senator Barbara Boxer and Representative John Mica. As Transportation For America puts it:

"The bill ultimately looks and feels like what it is: A stopgap that is the last gasp of a spent 20th century program. It doesn’t begin to address the needs of a changing America in the 21st century... The bill dedicates zero dollars to repairing our roads and bridges, cuts the amount of money that cities and local governments would have received, makes a drastic cut in the money available to prevent the deaths of people walking or biking, and ensures that you have less input and control over major projects that affect you and the quality of your community."

The part that we cared most about, funding for biking and walking, took a considerable hit. Congress will consolidate Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes To School, and Recreational Trails programs into a new category called Transportation Alternatives (sorry TA). For a good briefing on the damage done by Congress, read this post on the SaltCycle (Salt Lake City's Cycling Advocacy blog.)

Bring Biking and Walking Funding Back from the Brink

It appears that the House-Senate conference committee is making a last ditch effort to get the Transportation bill done by June 30th. If they emerge with a bill for a vote by Tuesday, it will be an up or down vote with no amendments. While this is good news for almost everyone who has been waiting for three years for this bill, it is not good news for those interested in biking and walking. We've been alerted this morning by our DC colleagues that biking and walking funding are at serious risk.

As part of a possible deal within the Conference Committee, the rumor is that the conferees may be compromising the amendment (the Cardin-Cochran amendment) that would allow communities to have access to funds that build biking and walking infrastructure and even allow state DOTs to opt of the program that is dedicated to biking and walking.

We are being asked to help send the message to conferees: Maintain the Cardin-Cochran agreement and ensure that Transportation Alternatives not allow states to opt-out of local control over local transportation projects, including biking and walking improvements.

Can you take a moment to call your Senators and Representative and let them know that you want them to tell the transportation conference committee to preserve the bipartisan Cardin-Cochran agreement? This agreement ensures that communities will have access to funds to build biking and walking infrastructure.

Use this phone script to call your two Senators and Representative. You can call the Capital Hill switchboard (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to their offices.

If you have any friends or family who live in California, forward this post to them.  Senator Boxer needs to hear from her constituents that she should NOT give up biking and walking funding.

Local projects that need federal transportation funding in our region include trails that are part of the Circuit, gaps in the Schuylkill River Trail and the East Coast Greenway, the new ramp on the Camden side of the Ben Franklin Bridge and many others.

On Capitol Hill the Attacks on Bicycling and Walking Continue

Photo: Thisisbossy on Flickr

Three months after the Senate passed the Cardin-Cochran amendment, House transportation bill negotiators continue to attack the Senate’s bipartisan plan to give local communities guaranteed access to money for making streets safer for walking and biking.

House  members want to give states sole power over whether local communities can fix dangerous conditions for kids on the way to school, for elderly pedestrians, or anyone who walks or uses a bicycle.

Join the League of American Bicyclists's call -
Tell your elected leaders in Congress to preserve and defend the Cardin-Cochran amendment.

National Bike Summit: Join Us in D.C. to Lobby Congress to Save Biking and Walking

The League of American Bicyclists' National Bike Summit is coming up in a couple weeks. This is a once-a-year gathering of bicycling advocates in Washington DC, and it comes at a critical time.

It's hard to predict how Congress will resolve its differences and pass a new transportation bill by March 31st, when the current extension of the federal transportation bill expires. We breathed a sigh of relief when, facing howls of opposition from both its right and left, the GOP House abandoned its terrible bill (H.R. 7) last week. It began working on a shorter bill which might be better for transit, but will still eliminate dedicated funding for biking and walking.

It's likely that this nasty fight will continue through March, and so the National Bike Summit on March 20-22nd is going to be most important ever. If you are interested in attending the conference portion of the Summit, you should sign up here.

If you would like to come down to Washington for the day on Thursday, March 22nd and join fellow PA and NJ constituents lobbying on the Hill, please send us an email at bike@bicyclecoalition.org so we can include you in the meeting schedule. We are organizing visits with the PA House delegation and Senators Casey and Toomey. It's your opportunity to bring your own voice to Washington and add it to our collective call to save cycling.

Bike/Ped Amendment Loses by a Hair (A Thank You To Those Who Pulled And Voted For It)

In this morning's markup of the Transportation bill, the amendment to restore the Safe Routes to School and Transportation Enhancements program proposed by Reps Petri (R-WI), Johnson (R-Ill) and Lipinski (D-Ill) lost by two votes (27-29) after a heated debate and trashing by Chairman John Mica.

Two Republican Congressmen who sit on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee surprised us by their votes. Congressman LoBiondo (NJ-02) voted in favor, something we were not expecting, and Congressman Meehan (PA-07) voted against. Mr. LoBiondo was the only Republican to vote in favor of the amendment who wasn't a co-sponsor.

We pulled out all the stops by encouraging constituents, small businesses, and local officials to call and write to Congressmen Meehan and LoBiondo. We're gratified that Mr. LoBiondo listened to his constituents, but supremely disappointed that Mr. Meehan did not.