National Bike Summit lobbies Congress

According to a Kansas City infoZine story about a couple who attended the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C., last week:

Strawn said one of their main interests is the Safe Routes to Schools program, which is meant to make it safe and fun for children to walk and bicycle to school.

Safe Routes to Schools programs can include safety audits of streets and sidewalks near schools, slowing traffic and giving pedestrians priority, "walking school buses" in which a few parents or volunteers escort a group of children to school and programs that educate children about walking and biking safely and challenge them to do so often. . . .

Gardner said she worries that schools are focused on satisfying the testing requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, leaving little time for physical education improvements.

"If they want better test scores, a better way then is getting your kids healthy," Gardner said. . .

Since 1991, the federal transportation budget has provided more than $2.5 billion for bicycling and pedestrian projects. This represents less than 1 percent of federal transportation funds, according to information provided by the summit.

In the 20 years before 1991, an average of less than $2 million per year was spent by all 50 states combined on bicycle and pedestrian projects.