Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Bike/Ped

The Awful Truth About the Transpo Bill’s Bike/Ped Loophole

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 12, 2012 | 4 Comments

In the immediate, panicked moments after the MAP-21 conference report was released, I missed some of the nuances of just how bad a deal this bill is for bike policy. Three things stand out: States can use their Transportation Alternatives (TA) money on anything they want. Bike/ped programs are facing anywhere from a 33 percent […]

States Already Licking Their Chops Over Newly “Flexible” Bike/Ped Funds

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 10, 2012 | 5 Comments

Just days after Congress passed a bill allowing states to spend funds supposedly designated for biking and walking on completely unrelated projects, transportation officials are already circling like vultures over that money. An AP story from Covington, Kentucky on Sunday quotes several transportation officials and executives parroting the GOP line that transportation enhancements funding, as that […]

Buck Up, Reformers: Despite the Hard Knocks, This Bill Is a Step Forward

By David Burwell | Jul 5, 2012 | 3 Comments

David Burwell is the director of the Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He was also co-founder and CEO of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and a founding co-chair and president of the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a national transportation policy reform coalition. There is much despair in the transportation reform community about […]

A New Bill Passes, But America’s Transpo Policy Stays Stuck in 20th Century

By Tanya Snyder | Jun 29, 2012 | 11 Comments

The House of Representatives approved the transportation bill conference report this afternoon by a vote of 373 to 52. [UPDATE 4:00 PM: The Senate has also approved the bill, 74-19.] This is a bill that’s been called “a death blow to mass transit” by the Amalgamated Transit Union, “a step backwards for America’s transportation system” […]

Transpo Bill Cuts Bike/Ped Funding, Lets States Spend It on Left-Turn Lanes

By Tanya Snyder | Jun 28, 2012 | 10 Comments

NOTE: The facts are even worse than they seemed when I wrote this article. States can flex TA money, not just to CMAQ, but to anything they want. See “The Awful Truth About the Transpo Bill’s Bike/Ped Loophole,” for more. In the transportation bill agreed to yesterday by Barbara Boxer, John Mica, and other Congressional […]

Complete Streets Provision Eliminated From Final Transpo Bill

By Tanya Snyder | Jun 28, 2012 | 6 Comments

Transportation for America, the big-tent coalition for transportation reform, tends to be careful about the statements it puts out. Its folks are diplomatic, since they work with both sides on the Hill and a wide variety of coalition members. Yesterday, as details of the conference report were leaking out, they wanted to read the whole […]

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