Not Asking for More Money

. . Bike/Ped advocates are not asking for more federal money for bike/ped projects.  They want to be sure money that is available is used for these applications.  Tennessee has a history of high rescission of Transportation Enhancement and Congestion Mitigation money.  Our Safe Routes to School grants are only obligated at 32%.  MAP-21 increases the risk of loosing available funding.
. . The League of American Bicyclists found "In states with active bike advocacy groups, very little money was sent back." (HINT! on how to protect YOUR interests)
. . Our department of transportation will set the ground rules and choose the projects that are going to be funded.  Advocates must become part of the process and help communities build an inventory of good ready-to-go bike projects.

. . The federal granting process is complicated, messy, and difficult to navigate. America Bikes is developing the tools and resources for advocates so they can speaks loudly and intelligently. 
. . Nearly 400 people participated in "The ABCs of MAP-21" webinar on 8/13/12. Download the recording and slides here. 

Walking infrastructure - Transportation for America

A report by Transportation for America points to how there were 47,700 pedestrian fatalities during the decade 2000-2009. Such translates to around 13 deaths a day, 91 a week, or about 390 a month. As they put it, we would certainly not tolerate a jumbo jet crashing with no survivors each and every month of the year.

While it's true that many local streets are built with local money, the busier streets usually have a federal funding component, and they are the streets that tend to be busiest and most dangerous, as well as most often traveled. Currently, pedestrian funding composes a mere 1.5% of the federal transportation budget. But such is being targeted for elimination nevertheless. Eliminating that funding would only make matters worse for pedestrians, which would increase car dependency and disproportionately impact the most vulnerable. It would de facto make streets only for cars, rather than complete ones that are for all users.

MORE Rescissions of Bike Funding

This week brings a flurry of alerts to protect and advance biking and walking. But the biggest and most important fight will be next week regarding federal rescissions.