Update: Nov. 1, 2011 — Advocates are undoubtedly rejoicing after the Senate on Tuesday rejected 60-38 the latest attempt by Republicans to kill federal funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects.
Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky offered the amendment that would have redirected the transportation enhancement funds to pay for bridge repairs. It was the third threat against that funding in the past two months.
In two of those cases, amendments offered by Paul and Tom Colburn of Oklahoma, bicycle and pedestrian project advocates asked supporters to contact their Senators to vote against the measures. The first request resulted in more than 5,000 emails being sent to Washington in support of bike and hike projects.
Another amendment by John McCain of Arizona would have protected bike project money, but removed other transportation enhancement funding.
More threats
Although the GOP is batting 0-3 on the measure, the AP says the issue is sure to come up again.
The House and Senate are creating a long-term transportation plan. Congressman John Mica, R-Fla., says his transportation committee will offer a plan that eliminates funding the enhancements.
In that case, you can expect to be called on to send emails to your Senators and Congressmen in the coming months.
Oct. 27, 2011 — Remember the attack on the bicycle and pedestrian projects by some Republicans in Congress last month?
Well, the threat is back again.
This time, it's Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky who has offered an amendment to redirect funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects to go for highway bridge upgrades.
We can't argue that bridge replacement should be a high priority in the transportation budget, but those bikes lanes, bike trails and sidewalks paid for by federal funds are important too.
The Transportation Enhancements part of the budget that funds those biking and walking projects is 1.5 percent of the overall transporation budget. That's about $700 million.
I'd think that money would go a lot further for bicycle and sidewalk improvements than toward a new bridge.
Jim Sayer, executive director of the Adventure Cycling Association, writes:
“Senator Paul is proposing the diversion of the modest amount of federal bike/walk investment (through the Transportation Enhancements program) to bridge repairs. We absolutely agree on the need to keep our bridges safe, but the lives of pedestrians and cyclists are important too. Thirteen people died when a Minneapolis bridge collapsed in 2007; since then, close to 20,000 pedestrians and 2,800 cyclists have died on our nation’s highways, largely as a result of poor highway design and a lack of safe non-motorized infrastructure — exactly what the Transportation Enhancements program was created to fix.”
To quickly send an email to the Senators from your home state, simply follow this link and follow the instructions.
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/7093/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8594
The last time a request went out for support, 70,000 letters and emails flooded Senate offices. It's time for that support again. The amendment comes up for a vote on Tuesday, Nov. 1.
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