Huge victory for bicycling and walking in the U.S. Senate

A huge victory for bicycling and walking in the U.S. Senate today--leadership of the Senate Transportation Committee has accepted the Cardin-Cochran Amendment into the core language of MAP-21, the Senate's Transportation Bill. This revised bill, with 37 technical changes (including Cardin-Cochran) recommended by the relevant commmittee leaders, is now the primary MAP-21 bill that the Senate will vote on.

Missouri delegation at the National Bike Summit

Getting to this point has taken weeks of hard work by advocates from around the country--including a number of key groups from around Missouri and thousands of ordinary citizens like you who have contacted members of Congress.

National bicycle and pedestrian groups have been working together more than ever to coordinate advocates from around the country and to work directly with congressional leadership on bicycle and pedestrian issues.

The Alliance for Biking and Walking summed up how the bicycle and pedestrian programs will work in MAP-21--if it becomes law as now written:

• Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School, and Recreational Trails are consolidated into a new program called Additional Activities.
• State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) will make their Additional Activities funding available to metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and local governments. Here’s how they’ll allocate the funds:
  • The state DOT will allocate 50% of the Additional Activities, based on population, to MPOs and rural areas. MPOs will then distribute the funds through a competitive grant program for projects in their communities.
  • For the remaining 50% of Additional Activities, the state DOT would host its own competitive grant process for projects. Local governments, school districts, and others would be eligible to compete for this funding.

If it becomes law, this legislation would ensure that local governments and communities have a voice in the transportation decisions that affect their streets. The safeguards included in MAP-21 would ensure that communities of every size benefit from making their own localized transportation decisions for safe streets.

Thank you to everyone who has contacted your Senators about this amendment--your voice has made a difference!

What's next?

The next step is for MAP-21 to pass the Senate--so you can contact our Senators, thank them for their support of bicycling and walking and the Cardin-Cochran Amendment, and ask them to vote for cloture on MAP-21.

Calling is easiest and best:  

• Senator McCaskill: 202-224-6154
• Senator Blunt: 202-224-5721