Bicycle Infrastructure
Basics
How the $8.7 Billion Transportation Contracting Gap is Hitting Your State
Earlier this month, Streetsblog Capitol Hill reported on the fallout from Congress' failure to prevent an $8.7 billion "rescission" -- fancy legislative talk for the cancellation of funds -- from taking effect on September 30. Though media coverage focused largely on the rescission's impact on road projects, the lost money has hit clean transportation hard.
October 20, 2009
Taking GOPer Bachmann a Bit Too Seriously
Back when the Senate kicked off its health care debate, Republicans tested out a new line of attack against health committee chairman Edward Kennedy's (D-MA) draft bill: Its investment in encouraging walking and biking amounts to inexcusable government waste.
July 10, 2009
NYC Stim Projects Help Fund Big Bike-Ped Improvements
Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg unveiled the list of city transportation projects set to receive an injection of federal stimulus cash. Budget-wise, the big ticket items are mostly bridge repair projects, but channeling those stim bucks toward necessary maintenance also frees up a lot of money for other things, including a sizable slate of pedestrian and bicycle improvements. In New York, at least, there are plenty of "shovel-ready" projects to get excited about.
March 31, 2009
Stim Bill About to Enter Final Negotiations
Negotiators from the House and Senate are set to begin talks finalizing the stimulus bill at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, Reuters reports. While a topline figure of $789 billion has apparently been agreed to in principle, the devil is in the details, and there's still time to speak up for investment in green transportation and livable streets.
February 11, 2009
Senate Approves Stimulus Bill — On to Conference Committee
The Senate approved its version of the stimulus bill this afternoon by a 61-37 vote. Attention now turns to conference committee negotiations, where differences between the House and Senate bills will get ironed out. Politico has the scoop on who will be negotiating on the Senate side, and they're not exactly an urban bunch:
February 10, 2009
Senator Jim DeMint Wants to Eliminate Bike Stim Funds: Take Action!
Senator Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican who said that directing stim funds toward bicycle and hiking infrastructure
will not help the economy or create jobs, has gone too far. He and
Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma have just proposed an
amendment that would kill all stimulus funds for bike and hiking
trails.
February 6, 2009
$2 Billion for Bicycling in Stimulus Package?
The most tantalizing tidbit in today's Times profile of Earl Blumenauer comes from fellow cycling Congressman James Oberstar:
January 13, 2009
Dispute Over Kent Avenue Bike Lanes Keeps Rolling
The controversy over the new bike lanes on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg (which recently resulted in the ouster of livable streets activist Teresa Toro as chair of the CB1 transportation committee) was chronicled in the New York Times over the weekend:
January 5, 2009
The Case for Active Transportation, by the Numbers
Thanks to commenter Stephen for prodding us to post on the new report from the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, "Active Transportation for America" (download the PDF here).
October 24, 2008
Jan Gehl Says San Francisco Must be Sweet to Pedestrians and Cyclists
It's a good day in a city's urbanist evolution when Jan Gehl comes to town, and now San Francisco can add itself to the growing list of cities around the world that have embraced his people-first approach to urban design and planning.
October 8, 2008