For the past several months, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and
PA Walks and Bikes have been participating in the
Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition's effort to gain support and momentum for a new state transportation funding bill.
Our asks have been straightforward:
- Pass a comprehensive transportation funding bill this year.
- Create a bicycle/pedestrian program or office within PennDOT.
- Make active transportation central to the proposed "multi-modal" fund and ensure that biking and walking projects can be funded.
- Eliminate the #1 policy hurdle (the Bicycle Occupancy Permit) that prevents the installation of bike lanes on state roads outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
In partnership with
Mission Readiness, the
American Heart Association,
Urban Engineers and many others, we have been visiting state senators and representatives from Southeast PA (at least eleven), developing
position papers, getting letters to the editors placed in various media outlets (Inquirer, Daily News, Pottstown Mercury News, Bucks County Courier Times, Doylestown Intelligencer, and Delco Times), and created an
action alert that has generated 250 letters to 76 elected state representatives and the Governor.
In late March, a sign-on letter (see below) we helped Mission Readiness with was delivered to the Assembly urging them to make biking and walking part of the proposed multi-modal fund and to establish a PennDOT office or full-time position to address bicycle/pedestrian issues.
All of this advocacy is beginning to pay off.
