Thanks for your action

This from Adventure Cycling:

Dear cycling friends, Thanks to many of you, we have made real progress these last two weeks on two major national issues for cyclists: federal support for cycling, and rumble strip applications that threaten to harm important cycling routes. 

First, there is good news from Washington, DC. The US House and Senate decided to extend current law and funding on transportation, including investments in bike facilities, through the end of March 2012. If you contacted your Senators, you made a big difference – they heard from over 50,000 constituents (and possibly many more) that bicycling is a worthwhile and cost- effective investment for transportation and recreation. We will need to make the same kind of push in 2012 to ensure that a modest level of national investment in cycling remains in force.

Second, as you may know, Adventure Cycling has been working hard over the last two years with national and local groups to make sure that rumble strips are used appropriately and not in ways that destroy the ability of cyclists to use important rural and suburban roads for
recreation, travel and commuting. We were especially concerned when the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a Technical Advisory (TA) that gave short shrift to cyclists’ needs and concerns about rumbles. Fortunately, after an enormous amount of work with FHWA and the US Department of Transportation, it looks like the TA will be substantially revised to reflect cyclists’ concerns. This is good news but we will keep up our efforts until the new advisory is signed, sealed and delivered (which may take a few more months). You can get the complete story here -- http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2011/09/rumble-strip-update.html. Thanks so much to all of you who have helped on these critical issues. America is becoming more friendly to bicycling and bike travel but, unless we speak up and get involved, this is a trend that will not continue. We promise not to send too many of these alerts and bulletins but when we do, your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks again and best wishes,
Jim Sayer Executive Director Adventure Cycling