Missouri Bicycle News Article

Congressman Kenny Hulshof represents the 9th District of Missouri, a large district taking in Columbia, Hannibal, Kirksville, Hermann, Washington, and pretty much everything in between.

Karen Karabell and Lisa Marty of the St. Louis Bicycle Federation and Brent Hugh of the Missouri Bicycle Federation met with Aaron Smith, Hulshof's transportation aide.

We discussed the proposed Conserve by Bicycling program, which is in many ways similar to the Nonmotorized Pilot Program, which has brought over $20 million dollars to Columbia to become a model bicycle/pedestrian friendly city. (Columbia is in Hulshof's district.)

We also asked Hulshof to support the Bicycle Commuter Act.

Smith asked us to consider supporting a proposal they are working on that would involve improving locks on the Mississippi River and cleaning up and conserving areas along the river.

Smith indicated that Hulshof has received much negative feedback about programs like Columbia's Nonmotorized Pilot Program, which some apparently consider to be an unnecessary earmark.

Those who support Columbia's Nonmotorized Pilot Program need to take a moment to write or call Hulshof and thank him for his support of this program.

The Nonmotorized Pilot Program was devised as a way to demonstrate that bicycling and walking can take a significant proportion of the transportation load in the United States, just as it does in cities across the world that have made an concerted effort to re-make themselves in bicycle and pedestrian friendly fashion.

If the Nonmotorized Pilot Program is successful (and there is no reason to believe that it will not be) it could help to usher in a new era of bicycle and pedestrian friendly urban transportation planning and funding in the United States. Instead of building every bigger, wider, faster, and more expensive highways and freeways, traffic demand, congestion, pollution, and cost can all be reduced by working to make cities bicycle and pedestrian friendlier and to keep basic services within walking and bicycling distance of neighborhoods and population centers.

It has worked in cities across the world and it can work here, too.

See more information and reports from Missouri's delegation to the National Bike Summit here.

Related:

News: Adriana Giraldo awarded "Distinguished Service to Missouri Bicycling" honors

News: Columbia MO bike-ped pilot program in the news

News: STL Bicycling and Walking Transportation Plan meeting Nov. 30, 2004, 6PM

AdvocacyAlerts-21 JUL 2007: Make STL's Hanley Road safer for walking and bicycling

News: Complete Streets Roundup: MoDOT trustworthy? Activities around the state