Bicycle Infrastructure
Basics
State DOTs Make Deeper Bike-Ped Budget Cuts Than Expected
We reported recently that the federal government was demanding $2.2 billion back from state DOTs in rescissions -- money that was already allocated to states that they were then asked to give back. Bike and pedestrian advocates were worried that states would disproportionately target active transportation projects for cuts, instead of carving into car-centric programs. They were right.
October 1, 2010
Blumenauer to Celebrate Bike to Work Day Despite Delay in PA Ave. Lane
Several of the capital's most famous cyclists will be on hand tomorrow to help Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), founder of the Congressional Bike Caucus, celebrate the local Bike to Work Day -- an event that was originally set to mark the unveiling of the new Pennsylvania Avenue bike lane, which was delayed by city officials this afternoon.
May 20, 2010
Centers for Disease Control: Transportation Reform is Health Reform
The connection between transportation and public health has slowly edged into the mainstream since Streetsblog Capitol Hill began covering it last year, first through a billion-dollar grant program added to Congress' sprawling health care bill and now in a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) brief that connects existing U.S. infrastructure with chronic disease, obesity, and premature deaths.
May 6, 2010
Senate Health Bill Approved: What it Means for Transportation
After 14 months of drama, deal-making, and declarations of its demise, the health care legislation envisioned by President Obama and congressional Democrats finally cleared its biggest hurdle last night, with the House approving the Senate-passed measure on a 219-212 vote.
March 22, 2010
Is 2010 the Year for Federal Bike Aid? The Answer: A Big ‘Maybe’
This week's National Bike Summit culminated in an ambitious new campaign to recruit a million bike advocates and the unveiling of a new Google Maps bike feature. But in a Wednesday session dedicated to the outlook for federal bike investments, cycling advocates hesitated to declare that they could secure new commitments from Washington.
March 12, 2010
A Bike-Ped State of the Union: 9.6% of Trips, 1.2% of Federal Funding
With the nation still digesting the State of the Union address, the Alliance for Biking & Walking picked an auspicious day to release their biennial Benchmarking report on America's bike-ped behavior. The group's bottom-line conclusion: federal transportation funding continues to disproportionately shortchange travelers powered by their own two feet.
January 28, 2010
McCain & Coburn: Inadvertent Transportation Reformers?
Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) are no fans of dedicated federal spending on cleaner transportation. From bike and pedestrian safety to local transit funds, the duo has made a habit of attacking non-road projects as wasteful "pork."
December 9, 2009
Cities for Cycling Launches With Blumenauer, Sadik-Khan, Byrne
Addressing a packed house in Washington last night, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), founder of the Congressional Bike Caucus, posed a Zen-like 'universalist cyclist question'.
December 9, 2009
Senate Health Bill Holds Onto Grants For Healthier Transportation
Back in June, when the Senate was in the early stages of its marathon health care reform debate, several Republicans blasted the proposed legislation for including a grant program aimed at encouraging construction of local infrastructure to promote healthier movement.
November 20, 2009
Feds Propose to Expand Opportunities for Biking and Walking to Transit
When it comes to infrastructure improvements that encourage more people to walk or bicycle to transit stations, how long will commuters be willing to travel? The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has officially answered that question, proposing a significant expansion of the rules governing how close bike-ped projects should be to transit in order to receive government funding.
November 16, 2009