National funding doubles for biking/walking--now spending $4 per person per year

Federal bike/ped funding, 1992-2009

The good news:

• Federal funding for bicycling and walking doubled between 2008 and 2009, now representing $1.2 billion--2% of federal transportation funding
  
  
• The amount of bicycling and walking is up, now representing about 11.9% of all trips

Despite that very welcome progress, here are the disconnects we are still facing in this area:

• Bicycling & walking represent about 12% of trips but only 2% of funding
  
  
• Bicycling and walking represent about between 5% and 15% of roadway injuries (depending on how you count injuries), but only 2% of funding
  
  
• We are spending about $4 per person per year on bicycling & walking facilities, but the direct medical costs of obesity to Missourians are about $450 per adult per year--and that is set to rise to $1824 per person per year by 2018 unless we do something about it.
  
  
• Most obesity costs are covered by the taxpayer--so spending, say, $10 per person per year seems like a wise investment, when that could save many hundreds of dollars per person per year.

The KCStar published an article about the report:

The Obama administration more than doubled transportation spending on bicycling and walking last year as it seeks to coax Americans out of their cars, according to a Federal Highway Administration report released Wednesday.

Spending on biking and walking projects rose from less than $600 million in 2008 to $1.2 billion in 2009. Twenty years ago, the federal government was spending only $6 million a year on such projects.

The spending on biking and walking projects was scheduled to rise last year anyway, but the administration boosted it with $400 million in funds set aside under the economic recovery program. . . .

Biking and walking is on the rise, according to the report, which is based on annual survey data. The number of reported walking trips has more than doubled since the first survey, from 18 billion in 1990 to 42.5 billion in 2009. Bicycling trips saw a similar increase, from 1.7 billion to 4 billion during the same period.

Together, the two modes account for 11.9 percent of all reported trips by Americans. Biking is less than 1 percent of the total.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said, "Americans want and need safe alternatives to driving. By making biking and walking safer and more accessible, we'll be able to provide Americans with more choices and help foster more active, livable communities."

Having a Secretary of Transportation with that level of commitment has made a huge difference across the U.S. and here in Missouri. Find out more about LaHood and his initiatives on his Facebook page.

Read the full report here.