Archive for the 'Funding' Category

New research has sparked a debate about the merits of lobbying for dedicated funding for bicycling and walking in the current political climate (see Bikeleague, BikePortland).

One thing everyone can agree on, however, is that bicycling and walking projects are broadly eligible for the majority of federal funding programs in the new federal transportation law, MAP-21. These large and often flexible programs represent a huge opportunity for bike/ped projects to compete with others for a larger share of transportation funding.

Advocates in Delaware and Washington State, for example, have already had great success tapping into some of these larger funding programs for their states’ bicycling investments. They have done this by understanding two things:

1. How the programs work, and
2. The political dynamics. Through the Advocacy Advance Program, a partnership between the League and the Alliance for Biking & Walking, we urge advocates to learn the Who, What, Where, When, and How of the funding process and political landscape.

To demystify a fairly complex process, we’ve created a series of flow charts to illustrate the technical process from planning to construction — and the advocacy steps advocates can take to influence the process. Click on the links below to learn about the program, and check the back for more detailed recommendations.

• The Surface Transportation Program (STP)
•  The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ)
• The Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP)
• The Transportation Improvement Program (TA or TAP)

Please contact me if you have any questions at darren@bikeleague.org.

Darren Flusche
League Policy Director

Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.

Keep your eye on Atlanta.

When your community draws 100 people to a community bike forum (pictured below) to listen to presentations about transportation policy – on a Saturday night – you have some real bike culture developing.

When the staff and board of your city’s bicycling advocacy organization lock themselves in a room for two days to develop an ambition campaign to access public funding for bicycling investment, you have savvy grassroots leadership.

When your city’s assistant director for transportation planning announces a goal of becoming a top ten bicycle commuter city in the next few years – and hopes to skip Bronze and go right to Silver Bicycle Friendly Community status – you have political buy-in. And it doesn’t hurt when Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is giving your mayor a shout out for improving urban livability.

When your city council is about to vote on allocating $2.5 million from a bond to fund 15 miles of bike facilities and Complete Streets, your community may be about to put its money where its mouth is.

All of these things are true of Atlanta, Ga., where the Advocacy Advance team supported a customized Winning Campaigns Training, based on the Alliance for Biking and Walking’s signature training, and the afore-mentioned community forum.

“Last year marked a turning point for bike advocacy in Atlanta,” said Rebecca Serna, Executive Director of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. “Our mayor hopped on a bike and said he wanted Atlanta to be a beacon of bike-friendliness, not for the Southeast, not for the South, but for the nation. That’s a lofty goal but he’s done nothing but meet goals in his first term, so we anticipate great things to come in our city.”

The Winning Campaign Training brought together a large portion of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition’s board and the staff to walk step by step through a campaign to respond to a recent unsuccessful transportation sales tax measure, T-SPLOST. ”The Winning Campaigns Training really helped our leadership team focus, providing the structure we needed to accelerate group genius,” ABC Board Member Jenn Graham said.

Advocacy Advance has given the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition a Model Grant to ensure that the city increases its investment in bicycling and walking infrastructure and it is paying off. Over the past several years, the city’s leaders have started to recognize the need to make Atlanta a biking- and walking-friendly community. We’ll keep you posted on their progress.

“Georgia Bikes is thrilled with the leadership and commitment to better bicycling on display in Atlanta,” said Brent Bruice, executive director of Georgia’s statewide advocacy organization. “Our state capital is leading by example and showing the way to being bike friendly for cities throughout Georgia.”

And if you are ever bicycling in Atlanta, you can use this app to track your route and send data directly to the city’s transportation planners.

Darren Flusche
League Policy Director

Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.

How is my state spending its share of federal transportation funds? How much is my community investing in bicycling and walking?

These common questions can be difficult to answer.

Data on federal funding is vital to understanding the range of programs that fund bicycle projects — and let you know if your state is effectively tapping into federal dollars to make biking better in your community.

To help you navigate this complex landscape and find information for your area, Advocacy Advance has created a helpful new report — “Key Data Sources: Federal Investments in Bicycling and Walking in Your Community” — that provides a list, summary and links to 11 sources of funding data.

Adding to the report, Advocacy Advance is also hosting a webinar next week on “Tracking Data on Bicycling and Walking Investments.” Join us on Tuesday, January 29th, at 2 p.m. Eastern as we explore sources of funding outside of new Transportation Alternatives programs and explain what’s being done to track bicycle funding. Panelists will include:

• Ken McLeod, Legal Specialist, Advocacy Advance
• Andrea Milne, Benchmarking Project Manager, Alliance for Biking & Walking
• Renata Silberblatt, staff analyst, Tri-State Transportation Campaign

Click here to register for the webinar.

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

As of Friday afternoon, 350,899 Alameda County voters had voted in favor of ballot measure B1, which would increase the county’s transportation tax from a half cent to 1 cent for road repair, bicycle infrastructure and transit investments. One the other side of the coin, 176,504 county residents had voted against.

Under normal circumstances, a 66.53% to 33.47% vote would have been a decisive victory for the measure and we would not be reporting the vote to the second decimal place. However, in California, when the funds from a local sales tax measure are dedicated for a specific purpose, a two-thirds “supermajority” of 66.67% is required. The vote is so close that election officials are still counting absentee and other ballots. They are not expected to have a final tally until Wednesday, November 21. The best current guess is that the measure will fall short by fewer than 700 votes. A recount is possible.

The fact that at least 66% of the voters opted to voluntarily tax themselves for better transportation infrastructure, including bicycling facilities, signals the direction many communities are headed in an era of uncertain federal funding.

“Whatever the final outcome of Measure B1 here in Alameda County, it’s clear that most residents not only want more transit options, a great network of bicycle lane and trails, pedestrian safety improvements, but they are willing to pay for them by increasing our local sales tax,” says Renee Rivera, Executive Director of East Bay Bicycle Coalition. “That is a huge testament to the appetite for active transportation here in the East Bay. If we don’t gain the couple thousand votes needed to put B1 over the top in the coming days, it will be coming back to the ballot very soon, with the same or stronger investment in bike/ped improvements.” Looking forward, the East Bay Bicycle Coalition and other transportation advocates are going to work on strengthening their campaign efforts in the less dense suburban parts of the county, Rivera says.

According to Rivera, the new revenue would be divided up in approximately the following way.

• 48% public and specialized transit
• 27% local streets and roads improvements
• 11% bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure
• 9% highway efficiency and freight development
• 5% sustainable land use and transportation projects

Anything jump out at you? The share for bicycling and walking is right there next to highways! One of the things that is so exciting about this measure, Rivera points out, is that it does not add any highway capacity.  The Alameda County Transportation Commission recognizes that the freeway network in Alameda County is fully built.  It can be improved but the County will not invest beyond making the existing system work better with HOV conversions and interchange improvements.  The investments need to be made in transit, maintenance and active transport improvements.

The League, with our partners the Alliance for Biking & Walking, is supporting campaigns like the East Bay Bicycle Coalition’s to pass Measure B1. In April, we gave the bicycle coalition a Rapid Response grant through the Advocacy Advance program to fight for the measure’s passage. We hope that when the votes are all counted the measure will be successful. One eighth of a percent is excruciatingly close.

The tight vote on measure B1 comes at a time when many transportation initiatives are being passed across the country. On November 6, two thirds of the proposed ballot measures that supported transit projects passed. Campaigns like this are great candidates for Rapid Response Grants.

Darren Flusche
League Policy Director

Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.

Thanks to an Advocacy Advance Rapid Response Grant, advocates at Bike Delaware are going to find out.

As you may have read in our Election Guide released last month, Bike Delaware conducted a survey of state legislative candidates in 2010 that launched its successful Walkable, Bikeable Delaware campaign. With election day less than a month away, advocates want to ensure that voters know where candidates stand on continuing that model progress when they go to the polls.

According to the Advocacy Advance blog:

Delaware is known for its bike-friendly governor, Jack Markell, and we’ve shared their success story of winning unprecedented state dollars for bike/ped. However, one big win is not enough. Because of the turnover in the Delaware legislature, it is critical to identify and elect champions that will maintain previous – and unprecedented – funding levels for bicycle and pedestrian programs and projects.

Bike Delaware will use the $3,000 Rapid Response Grant to conduct a survey of every candidate running for general assembly and governor and get as may state legislators as possible on record on the specific issue of authorized state capital funding for bike/ped for FY2014.

Click here to read the full story.

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

It’s a common frustration among cyclists: Elected officials and agency staff often give short shrift to cyclists and more priority to motorists when making decisions about transportation.

In many communities, funding choices are made without public input or scrutiny; streets are repaved without a thought of adding bicycle lanes; and school properties are purchased miles and miles away from the neighborhood children they serve.

What can we do to make cyclists and pedestrians an integral, normal part of the transportation conversation? A new report from Advocacy Advance — a partnership of the League and Alliance for Biking & Walking — highlights the benefits of establishing a Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) to make sure active transportation has a dedicated seat at the decision-making table.

Click here to download Making Bicycling and Walking a Norm in Transportation Agencies: Best Practices in Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committees.

Written by Matt Wempe, the League’s State and Local Advocacy Coordinator, the report includes:

• The definition and structure of a BPAC
• Benefits and challenges of a BPAC
• Making the case for a BPAC
• Establishing a BPAC
• Recommendations for an effective BPAC
• And more…

Just one example showcased in the report comes from Nashville, Tenn. In 2008, the city invited 23 individuals — including bike/ped advocates, public works staff, police, and private citizens — to assist the Metropolitan Planning Organization with a regional bike/ped study. That “working group” quickly evolved into a strong, standing BPAC and has gone on to boost bicycling across the region.

For instance, the BPAC helped develop scoring criteria that boosted the number of funded road projects that include bicycle and pedestrian elements by an impressive 70 percent. The BPAC also advocated for policies to establish a 15 percent set aside for bicycle and pedestrian projects in the MPO’s transportation improvement program. Talk about changing the conversation!

Learn more about establishing and improving your local BPAC; read the entire report at www.advocacyadvance.org/resources.

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

The new federal transportation law (MAP-21) presents plenty of challenges, but here’s some good news: The Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) could turn out to be one of the brighter spots for bicycling.

The program is used to address a wide variety of safety concerns, like seat belt use, drunk driving, and high-collision locations (often fixing bad roadway design). Safety was such a central theme in the federal transportation debate that Congress allocated $2.4 billion annually to HSIP — an increase from $1 billion under the previous law. And that’s not all: There will be improvements in data collection and cost-effectiveness analysis of safety projects that will benefit bicycles, too.

We’ve already blogged and written reports about the importance of including bicycle safety in the state Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP). Based on the 2012 Bicycle Friendly States survey, 29 states currently include bicycle safety in their SHSP. Now that’s more important than ever, what can advocates do if your state isn’t on this list?

Under MAP-21 states have to consult with a “non-motorized” representative when writing the SHSP. The language isn’t clear whether this means a state employee (bicycle and pedestrian coordinators would be a good fit) or an advocate. Senator Udall from New Mexico, who offered the amendment, intends for the representative to be an advocate. The MAP-21 guidance from the U.S. Department of Transportation is expected to provide an answer.

Fortunately, there is plenty of precedent for bicycle advocates helping to craft the state SHSP and increase HSIP bike safety spending. These examples are especially important if your state Department of Transportation is hesitant or resistant to adding a bicycle safety advocate. The League reviewed the 29 SHSPs that currently include bicycle safety as an emphasis area. The majority consult with state and local advocates. Several states to highlight include:

Click here for the full listing of bicycle safety stakeholders in SHSPs

Having advocates actively involved in the program will help improve the abysmal track record of HSIP spending on bicycle safety. In California, bicycle advocates made sure to have representatives on each of the topic area committees drafting the state SHSP. This directly resulted in the state beginning to prioritize and spend HSIP funds on bicycle safety.

Check out the Advocacy Advance Highway Safety Improvement Program report to learn how to get involved and create safer streets for bicycles.

Matt Wempe
League State and Local Advocacy Coordinator

Mr. Wempe joined the League in September 2011. For the three years prior, he worked as a transportation planner and Safe Routes to School Coordinator in Fort Collins, Colo. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The new federal transportation law, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), poses plenty of challenges for bicycling and walking. For the past four years, Advocacy Advance has been working to demystify the federal funding process and help advocates and agency staff maximize funding opportunities. So it only made sense that, with the launch of the Navigating MAP-21 campaign, we expanded our popular Action 2020 workshops to help agency staff and advocates understand and utilize MAP-21.

The Advocacy Advance team with officials from Warsaw, MO (Photo by Brent Hugh)

Last week, we held the first of the MAP-21 Action 2020 workshops in Concordia and Jefferson City, Missouri. More than 100 advocates, agency staff, and elected officials met to learn more about the opportunities and challenges of MAP-21, funding sources and best practices, how to make bicycles and pedestrians a priority, and network with other professionals. The workshops were hosted by the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation and the Missouri Association of Councils of Government (MACOG). Here are some highlights from the week:

• First MAP-21 Action 2020 workshops: The new information about MAP-21 stirred some excellent discussions at both workshops. Advocates spoke highly of the progress the Missouri Department of Transportation has made towards accommodating bicycles and pedestrians. Luckily, Missouri is already a model for sub-allocating its STP and CMAQ funds — which will make it easier to direct dollars to bicycling and walking projects through the new Transportation Alternatives state grant process. We look forward to great things coming out of MAP-21 in Missouri.

• Rural communities walk and bike, too: The workshops were also unique because the Advocacy Advance team spent a week in the state. This allowed us the time to host two workshops, as well as visit some of the smaller rural communities in central Missouri. We visited Warsaw (population 2,100) to ride the mountain, road and water trails. Mac Vorce and Randy Pogue, both with the city of Warsaw, were gracious hosts and very proud of their community’s efforts to increase walking and bicycling. Check out the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation blog for a picture tour of the day. The League is looking forward to a Bicycle Friendly Community application any day now!

Riding in Warsaw (Photo by Brent Hugh)

• Train the trainers: We also used the extra time to “train the trainers” during the workshops. Approximately half of Missouri’s population lives outside the major cities (Kansas City and St. Louis, both bronze-level BFCs) in small communities and rural areas. It’s often challenging for these communities to apply for federal funds, due to a lack of resources or knowledge about the opportunities. Our host organizations had the great idea to train agency staff and advocates on the MAP-21 Action 2020 curriculum so they can share it with rural and small communities. Regional planning commission staff and advocates learned how to run a successful workshop and had time to practice speaking about funding in front of the group. If you’re interested in a future workshop in Missouri, contact Brent Hugh with the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation.

The Advocacy Advance team was really impressed with the progress Missouri is making already. After a whirlwind week of traveling throughout the state, we left energized and positive that we’ll be shortly sharing best practices from Missouri.

MAP-21 Action 2020 Workshops are part of the Advocacy Advance program – a partnership of the League of American Bicyclists and Alliance for Biking and Walking. The workshops are designed to ensure advocates, agency staff, and elected officials have the knowledge, skills, and resources to maximize the new Transportation Alternatives program and access untapped and under-utilized federal funding sources for bicycles and pedestrians. To learn more, visit www.advocacyadvance.org.

Matt Wempe
League State and Local Advocacy Coordinator

Mr. Wempe joined the League in September 2011. For the three years prior, he worked as a transportation planner and Safe Routes to School Coordinator in Fort Collins, Colo. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Bicycles are here to stay as part of our transportation system. While MAP-21 reorganizes and reduces funding opportunities, advocates and agency staff will need to look beyond Transportation Alternatives. This may be the Highway Safety Improvement Program, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, Surface Transportation Program, or a number of other federal and state sources.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced the FY2012 grant recipients for their Bus Livability grant program. Highlighting the importance of connecting bicycles and transit, many of the approved projects include a bicycle component. Some key examples include:

• Witchita, KS received $1 million for the Douglas Avenue Transit Oriented Development Corridor, including bicycle parking throughout the corridor.
• Durham, NH received $94,500 for bus pullouts and connecting a bicycle lane with a recreation path to facilitate better access to the public transit system.
• San Bernardino, CA received $5.3 million for a new transit center, including a bicycle station with secure parking and short-term rental and repair services.

FTA has already set up a website for information on MAP-21, so be sure to check if your upcoming project is eligible (or can be improved by including a bicycle element). A map of the awarded grants in the Bus Livability (red pins), State of Good Repair (blue pins), and Transit Asset Management (green pins) programs is below.  Click here for the interactive version.

At the same time, states are recognizing and funding important bicycle programs and projects. Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley recently announced 28 Bikeways Program Grants, part of his Cycle Maryland initiative. The grant winning projects include on and off-road bicycle route connections, bike route signage, bike racks and safety improvements. Salisbury, a recent host of a Bicycle Friendly Communities workshop, received funding to complete their downtown bicycle lanes project (way to go bike-SBY!). Baltimore will be using the grant to install a downtown cycletrack. Click here for a complete list of projects.

As these two programs show, there are funds available for bicycles, but not always in the first place you look. Advocates and agency staff will need to be creative and tenacious in finding sources and getting projects funded. The Advocacy Advance team is always here to answer questions, brainstorm ideas, and help get your projects funded.

Matt Wempe
League State and Local Advocacy Coordinator

Mr. Wempe joined the League in September 2011. For the three years prior, he worked as a transportation planner and Safe Routes to School Coordinator in Fort Collins, Colo. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Last week, Congress did what many thought impossible – they passed a new transportation authorization bill. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law on Friday. Unfortunately, that achievement came at the cost of a balanced bill that keeps strong dedicated funding for biking and walking projects. The new bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century (MAP-21), weakens and cuts dedicated bicycle and walking programs. This is certainly going to slow progress towards a bicycle friendly America.

Many people are asking “What do we do now?” The answer is in the language of the bill itself and, perhaps, in an advocacy model we’ve been developing over the past several years.

Despite the best efforts of some extreme members of Congress – and thanks to the efforts of our congressional champions – bicycling and walking projects are still eligible for federal transportation funds. This means bicycling and walking projects can be built with some of the largest pots of money, like the Surface Transportation Program (STP) and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ), as well as the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). This critical point is the key to making the most of the new bill.

But this is not new. Bike/ped projects have been eligible project types in those programs for 20 years. We have long known that creating a transportation network that includes active transportation infrastructure will require more than the 1.5 percent that was set-aside for Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School (now combined into “Transportation Alternatives”). That’s why the League and the Alliance for Biking & Walking, with funding from SRAM, created Advocacy Advance.

The Advocacy Advance program holds Action 2020 workshops for advocates and transportation agency staff to share best practices for maximizing funding under the eligible funding programs. We’ve been to Texas, Connecticut, Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania and we have upcoming workshops in Missouri, Virginia, and New York. Learn more about the workshops and consider applying to bring an Action 2020 workshop to your community.

We’ve already seen the tactic of fighting for eligible funds paying off.

BikeDelaware recently scored a major win and set an excellent example for advocates in other states. They teamed up with Nemours Health and Prevention Services (a health group), several bike-friendly members of the General Assembly, and Delaware’s bike-friendly Governor, Jack Markel, to pass and fund Walkable Bikeable Delaware an initiative to dedicate state funding to vastly expand the state’s trail network. After securing $5 million in the state budget last year, the Assembly recently passed next year’s budget which included a whopping $13.25 million for walking and bicycling.

Advocates from Bike Delaware won an Advocacy Award from the Alliance for Biking & Walking in 2012 for their model, winning campaign

This is in and of itself a major win. But the leadership in Delaware has the vision and ambition to use the state dollars as a match for federal funds. They have already used Walkable Bikeable Delaware funds from last year’s budget to secure the first ever Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funds for a bike project in state history. Delaware is pointing the way forward for bicycling both in its state-level commitment to funding infrastructure and in its use of federal funds that have bicycling eligibility, like CMAQ.

See our reports on CMAQ, HSIP and 402 safety grants for more information.

Darren Flusche
League Policy Director

Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.

UPDATE:  I’ve taken out the SRTS and Recreational Trails data since these programs should be 100% bicycle and pedestrian spending.  Sorry for any confusion.

Now that requirements to dedicate federal funds to bicycling and walking projects have been weakened, we all need to make sure our state leaders  prioritize active transportation rather than revert to road-only thinking.

So, which states are the best at using these funds now?

The League compiled federal bike/ped funding data reported by the states from 2007-11 (the data doesn’t separate out bicycles and pedestrians). We used this data to get a better picture of which states prioritize bike/ped projects that create transportation choices, make sure kids get to school safely, reduce congestion, improve air quality, and make our streets safer for everyone.

Below are the top states by program. Click here to download the entire spreadsheet.

The percentage of STP and HSIP funds spent on bicycle and pedestrian spending are generally fairly low.  However, both of these sources offer a considerable amount of transportation funding.  Even though a state may spend only a few percentages of these sources on bicycles and pedestrians, this can still constitute tens of millions of dollars and shouldn’t be overlooked.  The states also deserve credit for having project funding criteria and processes that support spending these funds on bicycles and pedestrians.

All eyes are now on the states. If your state is on this list, now is the time to ensure it continues to dedicate resources to bicycling and walking. If your state does not appear on this list, it is more important than ever to make the case for bicycling and walking to your governor and department of transportation. We are here to help with that.

Elsewhere in cycling advocacy…

• Thanks to hundreds of vocal supporters and the leadership of the California Bicycle Coalition and CA State Sen. Alan Lowenthal, the California Assembly passed SB 1464 creating a three-foot safe passing law. The legislation was crafted to address the issues Governor Brown raised in his veto of a similar bill passed last year.

Matt Wempe
League State and Local Advocacy Coordinator

Mr. Wempe joined the League in September 2011. For the three years prior, he worked as a transportation planner and Safe Routes to School Coordinator in Fort Collins, Colo. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

We’re all waiting with bated breath as the members of a Congressional conference committee race to beat the clock on the June 30th expiration of the current extension of the federal transportation bill. Unfortunately, the fate of critical funding for bicycle and pedestrian programs hangs in the balance — despite an overwhelming show of support over the past several months.

First, a survey from Princeton Survey Research Associates showed a staggering 83 percent of the American public wants Congress to maintain or increase federal funding for sidewalks and bikeways.

Then, more than 70 national organizations — from the AARP to the Sierra Club — urged the conferees to preserve local control and access to funding for biking and walking.

Next, the U.S. Conference of Mayors — representing more than 1,300 of the nation’s largest cities — passed a resolution asking Congress to “protect and increase funding for bicycle and pedestrian programs in the next transportation reauthorization law.”

But that’s not all…

Now, 13 Governors from the states of

• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Massachusetts
• Maryland
• Minnesota
• North Carolina
• Oregon
• Vermont and
• Washington…

have sent a letter to the two main players in the negotiations — Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Representative John Mica (R-FL) — urging “the reinstatement of funding for transportation enhancements, providing opportunities for bicyclists and pedestrians to have safe and accessible facilities. We support the inclusion of all provisions that encourage a multi-modal approach to our nation’s transportation system.”

C’mon, Congress — Democrats, Republicans, mayors, governors and major organizations representing the interests of millions of Americans all agree: Save local control! Preserve funding for biking and walking!

Click here to read the governors’ full letter.

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

California Senator Barbara Boxer has been in the spotlight to save funding for bicycling and walking in the next transportation bill – but not because she ever wanted it to go away.

America Bikes ran this ad urging Sen. Boxer to stand strong in the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday

Senator Boxer has been fighting for a lot of core programs and policies in the current transportation program – not just bicycling and walking funds – that are in the cross-hairs of some pretty extreme Senate colleagues and House leadership going into the transportation bill conference committee. As the process reaches a[nother] conclusion this week, we certainly need her and other key Senators such as Baucus, Hutchison, Durbin, Murray, Schumer and Menendez to hang tough and stick up for the bipartisan Cardin-Cochran agreement to reserve bike/ped funding.  If your Senator is listed above, click here.

But we should not forget that we really want the likes of Representatives Cantor, Mica and Boehner to end their mindless attacks on the few small programs that genuinely offer choice and local control when it comes to transportation and transportation investment.

We saw their true colors when the House transportation bill crashed and burned under the weight of opposition to a bill that would have turned back the clock 50 years or more. We shouldn’t be happy that they now just want to turn the clock back 20 years and eliminate any opportunities to invest in safer bicycling and walking, real congestion relief projects, and more livable communities where getting stuck in traffic isn’t the only option.

There are a few key members of the conference committee who can stand by Senator Boxer and stand up to the extreme policies of the House leadership – find out who they are here. Hopefully they know that 83% of the American people, across party lines, across geographic and demographic lines, agree with the simple idea that there is a place for funding bicycling and walking projects in the Federal transportation bill at current levels or even higher.

It’s our job to make sure they know!

Andy Clarke
League President

Andy Clarke was appointed to the position of Executive Director in April of 2004 after successfully leading efforts to create, interpret and implement the various transportation programs that are available to improve conditions for bicycling and walking as the League’s State and Local Advocacy Director. Before joining the League in February 2003, Clarke was on contract to provide technical assistance to the highly regarded Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center on site at the Federal Highway Administration. He is on the Board of Directors for America Bikes, and a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals.

As the transportation conference committee in Congress is debating the future of funding for bicycling and walking projects, the Federal Highway Administration is busy funding the country’s best and most innovation multi-modal transportation projects. Not surprisingly, many of those projects either focus on or include bicycling and walking infrastructure.

Construction is underway on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, recipient of a previous TIGER grant.

The fourth round of the grant awards, known as TIGER, was announced today. Several of the successful applicants focused on bicycling and walking connections.

Among other things, TIGER IV projects will:

• Connect hundreds of miles of the existing trail network in Washington, D.C., and Maryland
• Put downtown Concord, N.H., on a bicycle-friendly road diet
• Eliminate major gaps in Houston’s bike grid
• Connect downtown Tampa by completing the Tampa Riverwalk and building Selmon Greenway
• Include bike lanes on a new bridge located on the Maine bicycle system

These projects, and others that include smaller bicycling and walking pieces, will provide a host of benefits to their communities. ”The TIGER grant to the City of Houston will mean three lower-economic neighborhoods in Houston will have safe biking and walking connections to key employment areas of Downtown, Midtown and the Texas Medical Center,” said Paul SoRelle of BikeHouston. “We thank Houston Members of Congress Al Green, Gene Green and Sheila Jackson Lee for their work in securing this grant.”

Since the very first round of TIGER grants, many highway, transit and rail projects have included bicycling and walking elements. “And all of those projects were submitted by public agencies, and had to have widespread community support, in order to receive a USDOT grant,” wrote Transportation Issues Daily blogger Larry Ehl after the first grant announcement. “It’s an indication that public agencies – and communities – in urban and rural areas increasingly want a complete streets approach to transportation projects.”

That’s exactly right. Local agencies know that bicycling and walking projects are good for their communities. We need to make sure Congress helps them build them by supporting the Cardin-Cochran agreement in congressional negotiations. See if you are in one of the districts we’re targeting.

Darren Flusche
League Policy Director

Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.

For the past 20 years, local elected officials have been given rare access to state transportation funds through a handful of programs administered by state Departments of Transportation as grant programs. These also happen to be the primary sources of funding for bicycling and walking initiatives: Safe Routes to School, Transportation Enhancements and Recreational Trails. They account for just 1.5 percent of the overall federal transportation bill and have all been heavily over-subscribed since their creation.

Despite the overwhelming success and popularity of these programs, House Republican leadership and a handful of influential Senators have waged an unexplained and inexplicable vendetta against these programs — not to save the government any money, just to prevent state or local governments spending their money on these specific programs and activities, removing any vestige of local control over transportation investments into the bargain.

The threat of elimination provoked a rare display of bipartisanship in both the House and Senate — a bi-partisan effort to preserve these programs was narrowly defeated in a heavily-whipped House committee vote by just two votes (29-27) and the equally bi-partisan Cardin-Cochran amendment to the Senate transportation bill was successfully adopted.

Remarkably, the single-minded attacks on even the bi-partisan Cardin-Cochran compromise continue. House leadership entered the conference committee process to hammer out a transportation bill (something they couldn’t even get passed in the House itself) with the elimination of funding for bicycling and walking as a top priority. Senate conferees are struggling to hold the line against these attacks, desperate as they are to get a transportation bill — a jobs bill — completed before the summer.

Here are our top ten reasons why Senator Boxer must hang tough, keep her word, and lead the transportation committee conferees to reject these small-minded and vindictive attacks:

• There is overwhelming bi-partisan support among the American public for continued or increased federal funding for bicycling and walking programs. At least, we think 83 percent is overwhelming, across party lines, and all geographic, demographic, and ethnic divides.

• This is so much more than just a bicycling and walking issue. Transportation stakeholders in support of Cardin-Cochran include mayors, AARP, the American Heart Association, Transportation for America, Sierra Club, The National Council of La Raza, NAACP are just a handful of the dozens of groups from the health, environmental, equity, local government and transportation sectors that signed a letter of support to conferees.

• If this is about jobs, we’ve made the jobs case. Transportation investment in bicycling, pedestrian and trail projects are more effective in creating jobs, per million dollars spent, than traditional road projects.

• We’ve proven these programs are in the national interest. Just yesterday, Transportation for America provided even more compelling and detailed data showing the terrible safety record of national highway system roads for the most vulnerable users: pedestrians. Congress can’t simply turn their backs on this problem and expect local governments to literally pick up the pieces.

• Reducing congestion and easing the morning commute: We’re doing it. Even small reductions in vehicle miles of travel in recent years have resulted in 30%-plus reductions in congestion in our major metro areas. We can do  even more with a very small investment.

• Replacing short car trips with bike or walk trips improves air quality and saves energy: It’s self evident. A 77% increase in bicycle commuting since 2000 in cities that have invested in bicycling programs shows that these voluntary behavior changes are actually happening.

• Worried about efficient project delivery? Small-scale projects to improve the safety, functionality and operation of highway system for all users — those projects funded by the TE, SRTS and RT programs — are popular, successful, and get done quickly. Unpopular, 1950′s-era mega-highway projects with dubious actual benefits will still take years to get built even through a streamlined process… because they are still unpopular, ineffective, and unnecessary.

• There are so many benefits beyond transportation to investing in more walkable, bike-friendly communities. Highway agencies may not care about health or livability but the American public does.

• Military readiness? Yes, we can even play that card. The U.S. military is so concerned about the general lack of physical fitness among kids that they are big supporters of the Safe Routes to School program as one way to get our children moving again. Really, who wouldn’t be in favor of Safe Routes to School?

• Last but not least, there is still an underlying fairness and equity argument underpinning this whole issue. Bicycling and walking make up 12% of all the trips that are made by Americans; 14% of traffic fatalities are bicyclists or pedestrians; but only 1.5% of federal transportation funds address these issues.

Now even that tiny investment is under serious threat. I really don’t get it: What else do we have to do or say to make the case for continued investment in bicycling and walking; for preserving some minimal level of local involvement and control in major investment decisions? Senator Boxer, Chairman Mica…what do we have to do?

(Photo by Allan Crawford)

Andy Clarke
League President

Andy Clarke was appointed to the position of Executive Director in April of 2004 after successfully leading efforts to create, interpret and implement the various transportation programs that are available to improve conditions for bicycling and walking as the League’s State and Local Advocacy Director. Before joining the League in February 2003, Clarke was on contract to provide technical assistance to the highly regarded Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center on site at the Federal Highway Administration. He is on the Board of Directors for America Bikes, and a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals.

News out of the conference committee working on the federal transportation bill isn’t good. While Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Rep. John Mica (R-FL) yesterday announced that “the conferees have moved forward toward a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on a highway reauthorization bill,” we’re hearing that important programs that fund biking and walking are in urgent peril.

To shine the spotlight on the critical importance of federal dollars in making our street safe for all users, Transportation for America has released new data showing the tremendous death toll of streets designed for cars alone: 50,000 preventable pedestrian deaths between 2001 and 2010. Those tragedies touched all Congressional district across the country, making the preservation of bike/ped funding a local issue for every single member of Congress.

“Our analysis has found that many of the most dangerous roads in the country were built either with federal dollars or under federal guidelines,” said James Corless, director of Transportation for America. “Having saddled communities with unsafe streets, it would be the height of cruelty for Congress now to take away resources and latitude from local communities trying to improve those conditions and save lives.”

Among the most dangerous districts:

• Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30): 289 deaths
• Corrine Brown (FL-03): 274
• Jerrold Nadler (NY-08): 195
• Steve Southerland (FL-02): 164
• Ralph Hall (TX-04): 127
• Rob Bishop (UT-01): 109
• James Lankford (OK-05): 118
• Fred Upton (MI-06): 83

“We implore House members of the conference committee to remember their constituents who have died as a result of dangerous conditions on their roadways that could be fixed with the very modest investment proposed in the Senate bill,” Corless urged. Read more from T4 or analysis from Streetsblog.

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

Despite all the tumult with the federal transportation bill, one modest source of safety funding is likely to continue: the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). The program is used to address a wide variety of safety concerns such as seatbelt use, drunk driving, and high-collision locations (often fixing bad roadway design). Each state is required to adopt a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) identifying safety emphasis areas and detailed action strategies. States can then use HSIP funds to address these emphasis areas.

Advocacy Advance, a partnership of the League of American Bicyclists and the Alliance for Biking and Walking, published a report several years ago to guide advocates looking to access HSIP funds for bicycle and pedestrian safety projects. One aspect of the report was a matrix of state SHSPs, and if they include bicycle and pedestrian safety emphasis areas. Based on data from the 2012 Bicycle Friendly State survey, we’re providing an updated SHSP emphasis areas matrix. This information is great for advocates looking to increase the amount of safety funding spent on bicycles and pedestrians in their state.

Click here to download the new SHSP matrix.

The good news? A majority of states have bicycle and pedestrian safety in their SHSPs. Bicycles can be found in 29 plans, while pedestrians are found in 33 plans. All of the states that include bicycles also include pedestrians, often under a vulnerable road users or similar category.

The bad news? Very few states are actually spending HSIP funds on bicycle and pedestrian safety, especially the least safe states for bicycling (identified in the Alliance’s 2012 Benchmarking Report). Florida spends approximately four percent of their HSIP funds on bicycle and pedestrian safety, far and away the highest of any state. However, biking and walking account for 14 percent of fatalities in the U.S.

There’s definitely room for improvement in how our states spend safety funds. The first step is simple enough – recognize bicycle and pedestrian safety as a concern and a SHSP emphasis area. Check out the Advocacy Advance Highway Safety Improvement Program report to learn what advocates can do to access these funds and create safer streets for bicycles and pedestrians.

Matt Wempe
League State and Local Advocacy Coordinator

Mr. Wempe joined the League in September 2011. For the three years prior, he worked as a transportation planner and Safe Routes to School Coordinator in Fort Collins, Colo. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Depending on who you listen to the effort to get a new long term transportation bill is either stalling out or discussions are on-going and deals are being made on some issues — including local control over bicycle and pedestrian spending.

In fact, both of these things could be true.  Even if the negotiations stall for now, whatever deals are made will most likely carry over to when Congress picks up negotiations again. That’s why it’s critical that we make sure that the bipartisan Cardin-Cochran agreement, which ensures local control over bicycling and walking funds, remains in the bill.

Both our supporters and our critics need to hear from us that bicycling funding and the Cardin-Cochran must be preserved. But here’s where it gets tricky — the key players have been narrowed. The fate of bicycling funds and Cardin-Cochran comes down to just a handful of well-positioned legislators. They need to hear from their constituents today.

We need you in California!

Biking and walking programs will be on the line in today’s meeting between Senator Barbara Boxer and Representative John Mica (R-FL). California residents, please call — yes, CALL — Senator Barbara Boxer today to urge her to preserve the Cardin-Cochran agreement. We are targeting home offices today (not DC offices). You can follow this link to enter your zip code and find the number for the district office. Please share the link with your friends.

If you are a Twitter user, you can also Tweet her at @SenatorBoxer. Here is a sample tweet you can use: “.@SenatorBoxer, please don’t let states opt out of local control over biking & walking funds #keepbikefunding!” Please note that that period at the beginning is not a typo. That keeps the message from being a direct message, so that everyone on Twitter can see it.

We need you in these Congressional Districts!

Rep. Don Young (R-AK-AL)
Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL-2)
Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN-8)
Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY-24)
Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH-12)
Rep. James Lankford (R-OK-5)
Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA-9)
Rep. John Duncan (R-TN-2)
Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX-4)
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA-3)
Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI-8)
Rep. Shelley Capito (R-WV-2)

If you vote in one of these Congressional Districts, please call your representative’s home office today. If you are not sure if that’s your district, you can enter your zip code to check.

The representatives listed above are the ones in a position to attack or preserve the careful Cardin-Cochran compromise. They might think no one cares about bicycling in their district. Let’s prove them wrong! Please call today.

Thank you all for your continued support. We have only made it this far because of the sustained chorus of support from people like you who care about bicycling. This is a key moment to keep it going.

Darren Flusche
League Policy Director

Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.

If you’ve ridden on a bicycle trail or a major stand-alone bicycling project, the chances are good that you have taken advantage of a product of the federal funding program known as Transportation Enhancements (TE).

As a new report from the National Transportation Enhancement Clearinghouse (NTEC) shows, every state, every congressional district, seemingly every community, has benefited from Enhancements projects, most of which relate to bicycling and walking:

• Bicycling and walking infrastructure: 50.4%
• Rail-Trails: 6.9%
• Pedestrian facilities: 6.3%
• Or bicycling and walking safety programs: 0.3%

The report shows the scope of the TE program at a time that a broad coalition is fighting for the Cardin-Cochran agreement (new link), a measure in the next transportation authorization bill that would increase local control and ensure bicycling and walking funds get spent. Meanwhile, a handful of members of Congress on the transportation bill conference committee are doing their best to eliminate bicycling and walking funds altogether.

This attack comes despite the fact that the program has been popular and over-subscribed. “Transportation Enhancement funding continues to be in high demand,” the report says. “Most states report that they cannot fund all of the qualified projects and many sponsors are providing larger than the required non-federal share of project costs.”

“With the current interest in re-evaluating funding for the TE activities on Capitol Hill, it’s more important than ever to understand what these funds are and are not,” says Tracy Hadden Loh, NTEC’s director. “This report is a tool for decision-makers and their constituents to understand the role of the TE activities in building a complete and high-quality transportation system, and to explore variations in TE implementation from state to state.”

To learn more about how your state has used (or not used) TE funds, visit www.enhancements.org/Stateprofile.asp or contact NTEC at ntec@enhancements.org.

Darren Flusche
League Policy Director

Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.

More than 70 national organizations united today to urge members of Congress to preserve control over biking and walking projects in the federal transportation bill.

In a new sign-on letter to transportation bill conferees, the League and dozens of other groups asked members of Congress to support the Cardin-Cochran agreement, a bipartisan compromise that would give local governments and school systems access to a small amount of federal transportation funds for projects like sidewalks and bikeways.

While members of Congress may be debating the issue, most Americans overwhelming support these popular projects. A Princeton survey recently found that 83 percent of Americans want Congress to increase or maintain federal funding for sidewalks, crosswalks, and bikeways, including 80 percent of surveyed Republicans and 88 percent of Democrats.

Here’s what the League, AARP, National Council of La Raza, American Heart Association, and others urged the transportation conferees today:

Dear Members of the Conference Committee on Surface Transportation Reauthorization:

As you move forward conferring on the transportation bill, the 70 undersigned national organizations respectfully urge you to maintain the Cardin-Cochran agreement from MAP-21 in the conference report.

Our organizations care about a diverse range of issues—transportation, safety, accessibility, economic competitiveness, historic preservation, health and obesity. And we are united in asking you to ensure that local governments have flexibility and funding certainty to address these issues by making available to them a small portion of federal transportation dollars.

MAP-21 directs a percentage of funds under the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program for “Additional Activities.” This program includes Transportation Enhancements with expanded eligibility for environmental mitigation, Safe Routes to School, and some road and other uses. These programs have traditionally been invested in a variety of smaller-scale, local transportation projects such as building sidewalks, bikeways and other improvements that make downtowns economically competitive and safe for families and pedestrians of all ages.

The Cardin-Cochran agreement is a bipartisan compromise that gives local governments a voice in transportation planning through sub-allocation and grant competitions. It gives local governments—those closest to the needs of their constituents and communities—an opportunity to weigh in on how states spend their Additional Activities federal transportation dollars. The compromise does not change the underlying Additional Activities program or the new eligibilities.

Americans want more biking and walking projects in their communities—rural, suburban, and urban—to provide healthy and safe transportation choices, improve air quality, create jobs and stimulate economic competitiveness in their downtowns. A national poll conducted in March 2012 by the Princeton Survey Research Associates showed that 83 percent of all Americans, including 88 percent of Democrats and 80 percent of Republicans, support maintaining or increasing federal investments in biking and walking.

Maintaining local access to this small portion of the transportation bill by retaining the Cardin-Cochran agreement is critical to ensuring that cities and counties of all sizes have a voice in addressing the needs of their constituents. We appreciate your consideration and urge your support for the Cardin-Cochran agreement.

Click here to download a PDF of the letter.

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

By Mary Lauran Hall, Communications Coordinator, America Bikes

Just two months ago, the Senate passed a transportation bill that included the Cardin-Cochran agreement. This bipartisan compromise would ensure that local governments and school systems are able to access much-needed funds to make bicycling and walking safer and more accessible.

Now, poll results show that an overwhelming majority of Americans support federal funding for biking and walking. In a Princeton survey, 83 percent of Americans said that they support maintaining or increasing funding for sidewalks, bike lanes, and bike paths.

If most Americans support federal biking and walking funding, Congress should, too.

As selected Senators and Representatives conference to create a transportation bill, we must protect the hard-fought Cardin Cochran agreement.

The Cardin-Cochran agreement ensures local control over a small portion of funds for biking and walking. The provision devolves decision-making on a small portion of funds from the states to local governments, whose leaders know the transportation needs of their communities best.

We’ve heard again and again from local elected officials across the country that local governments want and need federal funding to build sidewalks, bike lanes, and bike paths.

Without the Cardin-Cochran agreement, states could choose to direct these limited funds towards building more roads and highway lanes.

Will you help us get the message to Congress that the transportation bill conferees should preserve the Cardin-Cochran agreement?

Earlier today, America Bikes unveiled a new survey that shows overwhelming support to increase or maintain federal funding for biking and walking. Are you part of that 83 percent? Share this infographic with your friends — and elected officials!

Credit: America Bikes

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

One good thing to come out of the federal transportation bill is the incredible impact grassroots advocacy has had on our federal legislators. The National Bike Summit was the culmination of months of hard work, and it paid off big time (notice how the House didn’t even try to eliminate bike programs in their recent extension vote).

State advocates are now holding similar events in capitols across the country (Georgia and Colorado are two recent examples). Each of these events has been tailored to the needs of each state as they keep bicycling on the forefront of legislator’s thoughts.

Bike Delaware recently hosted the Walkable, Bikeable Delaware event focusing on the Governor’s proposal to spend $13 million on bicycle and pedestrian projects in 2013 (here are some of his ideas). Governor Markell has proposed this funding as part of his 2013 budget to make Delaware the “most walkable and bikeable state in the nation.” But Bike Delaware and Gov. Markell are quick to note that democracy requires participation.

After becoming governor in 2009, the Governor found out that he doesn’t automatically get everything that he wants in the budget. The Governor appealed to attendees, if $13 million in state walking and biking funding is important , go speak to your state legislator. It sounds simple, but as James Wilson, executive director of Bike Delaware notes, “it’s very powerful to have the chief executive make the pitch.”

Over 120 attendees, including several cabinet members and state senators and representatives, learned about the state’s efforts to support walking and biking and spoke with constituents. Representative Michael Mulrooney even took to the House floor and urged colleagues to attend. Meetings between legislators and advocates were done informally throughout the day in between sessions.

The main lesson learned for Bike Delaware: these events take plenty of time to plan, but they are definitely worth the effort. “It was very beneficial to have an event focused on advocacy, to give people time to make the case with their elected officials for more funding for walking and biking,” notes Wilson. To all the Delaware readers, there’s still time to give your input before the end of the 2012 legislative session.

Elsewhere in cycling advocacy…

• The West Virginia Department of Transportation is currently preparing a statewide bicycle connectivity plan. This would update the current bike plan last adopted in 1997! WVDOT is hosting a series of meetings across the state in May to gather input from cyclist. For anyone who wants to see cycling improve in West Virginia, now’s the time.
• Georgia Bikes! and the GA Governor’s Office of Highway Safety are providing seed grants for 10 local advocacy groups across the state.  The funding comes from sales of the “share the road” license plates.  A whole host of programs and activities will be funded to get more Georgians riding safely.
• The inaugural Tennessee Bike Summit starts today in Chattanooga. I’ll be speaking on Friday morning at 9am about the Bicycle Friendly States program and the national bike sharing scene. Get ready for a summer full of Tennessee-related blog posts!

Matt Wempe
League State and Local Advocacy Coordinator

Mr. Wempe joined the League in September 2011. For the three years prior, he worked as a transportation planner and Safe Routes to School Coordinator in Fort Collins, Colo. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

This May, millions of Americans will participate in National Bike Month, showcasing the widespread desire to use bicycles as a healthy, affordable and efficient form of transportation. Sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists and supported by the Sierra Club, the month will feature more than 450 events nationwide, highlighting the popularity of bicycling and the need for bike-friendly transportation policies.

But, while Americans want to ride their bikes, Congress is threatening to hit the brakes.

Already, Americans who ride bikes aren’t getting their fair share. Biking and walking account for 12 percent of all trips in the U.S. but receive just 1.6 percent of federal transportation spending. Still, some members of Congress want to eliminate those crucial dollars for biking and walking in the next federal transportation bill.

“It’s time for Congress to recognize the many benefits and rising popularity of cycling and stop shortchanging Americans who choose to travel by bike because it’s good for their health, saves them money and improves their community,” said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists.

Even the current miniscule federal investment has produced massive results, and benefits. Currently, less than 2 cents of every federal transportation dollar go to biking and walking, but the number of bicycle commuters grew 40 percent between 2000 and 2010. That growth was even more dramatic in Bicycle Friendly Communities that leveraged federal dollars to improve conditions for bicyclists, skyrocketing by 77 percent between 2000 and 2010.

“Bike month is about smart investments in transportation options,” said Michael Brune, Sierra Club Executive Director. “More and more Americans are getting on their bike to get where they are going. They are saving money, getting exercise and making what might be the most radical act in America today-passing on the pump.”

By continuing to shortchange people who ride bikes, Congress is out of touch with the overwhelming majority of the U.S. population.

• Americans are driving less: The average resident drove 6% less in 2011 than 2004.

• The next generation wants to bike more: The number of bike trips for 16- to 34-year olds grew 24% between 2001 and 2009.

• New polling data from America Bikes, to be released next week, shows that the vast majority of Americans support maintaining or increasing federal funding for sidewalks, bike lanes and trails.

National Bike Month events will showcase how Americans continue to embrace cycling and why Congress needs to invest in smart, healthy, safe transportation choices — like bicycling. Find data, events and information about National Bike Month at bikeleague.org/bikemonth.

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

Thanks to the visionary leadership of Congress members like Jim Oberstar, the last federal transportation bill included an innovative idea: the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program (NTPP).

In a nutshell, the NTPP provided $25 million per year to four communities — Columbia, Missouri; Marin County, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Sheboygan County, Wisconsin — to construct “a network of nonmotorized transportation infrastructure facilities, including sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and pedestrian and bicycle trails.”

The four-year program was intended to be a demonstration project, gathering data and lessons learned on the best bang for our bucks when it comes to shifting folks’ travel patterns from single-occupancy vehicles to biking and walking.

Well, the results are in — and the news is good.

Last week, the Federal Highway Administration released its “Report to the U.S. Congress on the Outcomes of the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program.” Among the key findings:

• An estimated 16 million miles were walked or bicycled that would have otherwise been driven in 2010, and an estimated 32 million driving miles were averted between 2007 and 2010.

• Counts in the four pilots saw an average increase of 49 percent in the number of bicyclists and a 22 percent increase in the number of pedestrians between 2007 and 2010.

• Mode share increases in the pilot communities to bicycling and walking and away from driving from 2007 to 2010 outpaced the national average from 2001 to 2008. For the communities in sum, bicycling mode share increased 36 percent, walking mode share increased 14 percent, and driving mode share decreased 3 percent between 2007 and 2010.

• The additional nonmotorized trips in the pilot communities in 2010 reduced the economic cost of mortality by an estimated $6.9 million.

• While each pilot community experienced increases in bicycling and walking from 2005 to 2009, fatal bicycle and pedestrian crashes held steady or decreased in all of the communities.

• The pilot communities saved an estimated 22 pounds of CO₂ in 2010 per person or a total of 7,701 tons. This is equivalent to saving over 1 gallon of gas per person or nearly 1.7 million gallons from 2007 to 2010.

Click here to read the full report.

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

Breaking news: The House voted 266-158 to extend the current transportation bill for another 90 days. For the full story, visit The Hill.

Update: The Senate then followed the House and also passed a  90 day extension

Katie Omberg
Events and Outreach Manager

Katie joined the League in April of 2010. For the two years prior, she worked at the Corcoran College of Art + Design as a programs coordinator. Katie has a BA in Religion from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. She enjoys biking to work.

The Wisconsin delegation, including Chris Kegel (left), Kevin Hardman and Sarah Reiter, discuss bicycling issues with Congressman Tom Petri (R-WI, center)

There are many times that I believe I have one of the best jobs out there — I get paid to think, write, and talk about bicycling all day long. But of all of those moments, Thursday was among the most inspiring, exciting, and challenging. I joined 800 bicycling advocates from every state (except Alaska) on Capitol Hill to urge Congress to preserve funding for bicycling and walking in the federal transportation bill.

The Hill visits give bicyclists an opportunity to sit down with members of Congress and their staff to talk about what bicycling means for their communities in personal terms. In over 400 meetings on Thursday, bicyclists talked about the local economic benefits of bicycling investments, the way those investments change communities for the better, and the opportunities that still exist to make cycling better and more accessible for constituents back home.

The League awarded 13 members of Congress with Leadership Awards. I was able to sit in on several of the meetings with bicycling champions in Congress. (Read about the meeting with Rep. Blumenauer and his staffer Tyler Frisbee.) These meetings were largely love-fests with folks that really get it. They know why federal bicycling investments are important, so the conversation often turned to what is happening back home and what advocates and business and health leaders can do to build even more local support and develop trail and facility networks.

Rep. Petri (R-WI), sponsor of the Petri Amendment, talked with Wisconsin bicyclists about how bicycling tourism can be used to convince chambers of commerce to support bicycling investments. Someone in the meeting suggested that the representative hit the campaign trail on a bicycle. We’ll be watching for that one. We were happy to see Rep. Petri receive some positive press for the visit.

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) receives a Leadership Award from West Virginia's Nick Hein and Dennis Strawn and the League of American Bicyclists

Without exception, the members of Congress whom I met and their staff had an extensive knowledge of bicycling conditions in their district and ideas for what should come next. West Virginia advocates met with Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Afterwards, Rep. Rahall’s legislative assistant on transportation met with us for more than 30 minutes. He and the advocates traded stories and ideas for West Virginia with an impressive fluency.

Senator Cardin (D-MD) congratulates his staff person on his hard work in negotiating the passage of the Cardin-Cochran amendment to preserve bicycling funding and increase local control of federal transportation dollars

Another great moment came in the meeting with Maryland bicyclists. We were meeting with Senator Ben Cardin’s transportation staffer when the senator stopped by to say hello. The room burst into applause for the man whose name – along with Sen. Cochran‘s – headlines the amendment bicyclists fought so hard for. Sen. Cardin then talked to us about the environment in Congress and how he always tried to counter attacks on bicycling when he hears them.

Connecticut advocates prep for Hill meetings

The energy on the Hill was fantastic. As always, bright bike pins were seen all over the capitol. At the Congressional reception, Rep. Blumenauer told the crowd about how one of his colleagues, who did not seem like a big supporter of bicycling investments, said, “the bicyclists are here. Do you have any more bike pins?” Mr. Blumenauer did, of course.

Attendees of the National Bike Summit finally get to relax at the Congressional Reception after a day of meetings on the Hill

Despite these positive meetings, we know that many members of Congress are not yet convinced. Our work continues in Washington, DC, and in districts all over the country to ensure that bicycling and walking are included in a well-balanced, forward-thinking transportation bill.

Darren Flusche
League Policy Director

Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.

“Laws are like sausages,” said Otto von Bismarck, “It is better not to see them being made.” Yesterday, Barbara Boxer, chair of Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said about the transportation bill, “Everybody who says it’s like making sausage, it’s a lot uglier than that.”

To be sure, there has been plenty during the recent debate over the re-authorization of the surface transportation bill to make a sane person crazy: a formerly bi-partisan issue has become at times bitterly partisan; there has been delay after delay since the previous law, known as SAFETEA-LU expired in September, 2009; there is no consensus on how to pay for our nation’s transportation infrastructure; there’s been a string of short-sighted attacks on bicycling and walking, transit, and other investments that help us travel more safely, more cleanly, and, often, more happily.

But there have been many truly inspiring moments as well.

Bicyclists have really stepped up. At all levels – in local communities, in states, and nationally, and at universities and businesses across the country – we have seen a tremendous outpouring of energy. It has come from a wide range of people interested in promoting cycling, including transportation experts, health advocates, safety advocates, bicycling buffs, and even those concerned about the military preparedness of our young people.

In the past month alone, people using the League’s advocacy tool have sent 50,000 messages to their members of Congress in support of bicycling and walking in the transportation bill. Over 14,000 individuals signed our petition to protect cyclists’ right to the road in response to a mandatory side-path clause in the current version of the Senate bill. State and local advocacy organizations have done really impressive outreach in their districts and states, mobilizing countless more cyclists through custom alerts. And local leaders, like mayors, business owners, and university officials, have been making critical calls to their elected officials to explain how important bicycling and walking are to our communities. We are now asking people to start setting up in-district meetings with their representatives when Congress is on recess next week.

“We’ve proved that we can turn out a really good volume, a high number, of emails and calls,” says League President Andy Clarke. “What sets us apart is this unique blend of individual bicyclists, bike shop owners, suppliers, and businesses that get the fact that federal investments in bicycling are important to them. It’s not just a special interest – it’s a public interest issue.”

Darren Flusche
League Policy Director

Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.

Speaker John Boehner’s weekend claim that 25% of the highway dollars are “siphoned off for non-economic projects – such as beautification and bikepaths”  came as a bit of a shock. The nation’s bicyclists must have gotten a big raise over the holidays, because last November Boehner and his buddy Eric Cantor were claiming only ten percent of highway funds were “diverted” this way.

Source: Bicycling and Walking in the United States 2012 Benchmarking Report, Alliance for Biking & Walking

Neither figure is anywhere close to the truth, of course. Boehner continues to use “bikepaths” as a whipping boy for everything that he thinks is wrong with our transportation system – he knows, and his colleagues know, that “bikepaths” get barely 1.5% of Federal transportation dollars. They also carefully avoid inconvenient facts like:

• The 1.5% of funds that go to bicycling and walking projects compares to the 12% of trips and 14% of fatalities for which these two transportation account nationwide.
• “Bikepaths” make up a small percentage of investments made in safer bicycling and walking infrastructure – most of the funds go to popular and cost-effective projects including sidewalks, crosswalks, bike lanes, trails, bike parking, Safe Routes to Schools programs and a host of other safety projects that benefit all road users.
• The Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to Schools programs are among the only programs that give local governments the opportunity to compete fairly for transportation dollars that are fiercely controlled by state highway agencies; these funds are typically over-subscribed by a factor of three or more.

Ironically, Boehner and his claims are also undone by none other than the state Departments of Transportation – for whom, or perhaps by whom, the proposed highway bill must have been written. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) recently asked the Transportation Research Board to report on the job creation benefits of the small amount of stimulus funding that went to transportation infrastructure. Lo and behold, by far the most jobs per dollar spent were created by “transportation enhancement” projects, or “bikepaths”.

So if Boehner’s bill is about making good use of diminishing transportation dollars, bicycling and walking clearly ought to make the cut. They are low-cost, big impact projects that solve transportation problems as well as health, energy and environmental problems at the same time. If the bill is about creating jobs, labor-intensive, small-scale projects such as bikeways and walkways clearly fit the bill perfectly.

It’s time for Boehner to banish the bikepath-bashing bandwagon and boldly embrace the broad and brilliant benefits of bicycling.

Andy Clarke
League President

Andy Clarke was appointed to the position of Executive Director in April of 2004 after successfully leading efforts to create, interpret and implement the various transportation programs that are available to improve conditions for bicycling and walking as the League’s State and Local Advocacy Director. Before joining the League in February 2003, Clarke was on contract to provide technical assistance to the highly regarded Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center on site at the Federal Highway Administration. He is on the Board of Directors for America Bikes, and a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals.

Tuesday evening, I rode home from work in shorts. It was the last day of January, well after dark, and the temperature was still over 60 degrees. To be honest, though, the weather is the least crazy thing that’s been happening here in Washington this week.

We had less than two days to read an 864-page highway bill – the American Infrastructure and Energy Jobs Act – before a Committee mark-up on Thursday at 9:00am. Not only did the proposed bill strip all funding for bicycling and walking programs, but it tore at the very heart of existing provisions ensuring bicyclists and pedestrians at least have a seat at the table when transportation decisions are made at the state and local level.

Together with our colleagues in the America Bikes coalition, we had anticipated the funding attacks and had been working with Republican allies on the committee to prepare an amendment to restore funding. We had not anticipated the fury with which this initiative was greeted by Committee Chairman John Mica, Speaker of the House John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor – they evidently worked hard to dissuade their colleagues from supporting the bi-partisan amendment.

Chairman Mica and the House leadership succeeded in blocking a pro-bike amendment to the House transportation bill, but we made them work for it.

Representatives Petri (WI) and Johnson (IL) were rock stars. Despite the incredible pressure, they held firm and even added a third Republican when the final vote came, Frank LoBiondo (NJ). Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) joined the amendment and helped ensure every Democrat voted for it; fiery support coming from Reps Rahall (WV) and DeFazio (OR). Although we lost by just two votes, I think we left a big impression.

That was in large part due to the thousands of you (18,000 e-mails sent out through our on-line advocacy system alone, tens of thousands more through our allies) who called or e-mailed your Members of Congress on the Committee. This fantastic support made a difference. Several Republican members were truly on the fence right up to the last minute, because they had heard so loudly from their constituents.  Thank you for taking the time to do this.

So what happens now? Well, the bill was finally approved in Committee and is currently scheduled to be debated on the floor of the House during the week of February 13 – it is still a very partisan bill and trying to pass an amendment is going to be extremely tough, should we go that route.

Meanwhile, the Senate MAP-21 bill threatens to spring back into life next week – which means we have to switch gears and ensure a strong “local control” provision is included to enable agencies to access funds for bicycling and walking projects. Senator Ben Cardin is our champion here, and if things do start to move as we expect we will need your help again.

(We honestly don’t control the timing of these things and really appreciate your patience and support as we send out bursts of e-mails asking for your help!)

If – and it’s a big if – both House and Senate complete their bills, including provisions to pay for them, they’ll try to combine them and get them to the President before March 31. Failing that, we will once again be looking at an extension of the current programs, but we won’t be able to let our guard down for a second: we have been warned to expect more attacks on dedicated funding for bicycling and walking programs.

So the madness will continue.

Stay tuned and watch for further e-mails, alerts, blog posts, tweets and posts on our wall, and consider joining us in Washington for the National Bike Summit, March 20-22, 2012.

Andy Clarke
League President

Andy Clarke was appointed to the position of Executive Director in April of 2004 after successfully leading efforts to create, interpret and implement the various transportation programs that are available to improve conditions for bicycling and walking as the League’s State and Local Advocacy Director. Before joining the League in February 2003, Clarke was on contract to provide technical assistance to the highly regarded Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center on site at the Federal Highway Administration. He is on the Board of Directors for America Bikes, and a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals.