Missouri Bicycle News Article

Safe Routes to School, other programs to bring safer streets, paths

Full bill text of the final, approved bill is online here.

The final federal transportation bill set for approval by both the House and Senate will launch a new Safe Routes to School program, and strengthen existing programs that will make it safer and easier for millions of Americans to bicycle and walk.

This bill will help states provide substantial benefits for adults and children who ride bicycles, and this will benefit America as a whole by helping people avoid traffic congestion, by producing less air pollution, and by helping more Americans lead active, healthy lives, says Andy Clarke, President of the Board of America Bikes and Executive Director of the League of American Bicyclists.

The new Safe Routes to School program, championed by Representative James Oberstar of Minnesota, is funded at $612 million over 5 years and will help make it safe and convenient for children to walk to school. Grants administered by state Departments of Transportation will allow communities to build sidewalks, fix hazards, and slow traffic near schools while increasing safety through focused enforcement and education programs. A smaller new program, the Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Program, will grant each of four designated communities $6.2 million annually over 4 years to develop comprehensive networks for bicycling and walking. The intent is to demonstrate the potential of such networks to shift travel patterns.

The bill, known as the Transportation Equity Act-Legacy for Users (TEA-LU), also strengthens three existing programs of importance to bicycling: Transportation Enhancements, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ), and Recreational Trails. The Transportation Enhancements program has been a primary source of funding for multi-use trails and other facilities, and funding for the program is set at approximately $3.5 billion over 5 years. CMAQ helps communities improve air quality with non-polluting solutions. This program will be available in more communities and funding is set at about $8.6 billion over 5 years. The Recreational Trails program uses off-road vehicle fuel taxes to build trails; it will receive a higher portion of the revenue from those taxes, receiving $370 million over five years, $100 million more than the original allocation in the last bill, TEA-21.

Everyone who contributed funds or contacted their members of Congress bicycle suppliers, shop owners, advocates, club riders should be proud that our efforts convinced members of Congress that when America bikes, America benefits, says Tim Blumenthal, Executive Director of Bikes Belong, the coalition representing the bicycle industry that has provided primary funding for America Bikes.

As in any legislation, the final bill fell short of reaching all of America Bikes goals. In the final days of House-Senate negotiation the Senate s Fair Share for Safety provision was removed, which would have required states to spend their safety funds in proportion to bicycle and pedestrian deaths. Today most states spend only a tiny fraction of those funds on non-motorized safety, despite bicyclist and pedestrian fatality rates averaging 13 percent. Another disappointment was the Senate s defeat, by a slim margin, of a provision that would have required the construction of complete streets roads that safely serve all users.

Despite these disappointments, we are confident that we have established bipartisan momentum for doing more to make all of our streets safe for bicycling and walking, says Clarke.

A number of other provisions will also help improve the environment for people who bicycle and walk; please check out our website regularly for additional information on all the provisions. This information will be updated as details become available.