News roundup: Forsyth sidewalks, MoDOT, Congress, SRTS, bike fatalities mapped, low gas tax costs state money?
- MoDOT funds to install new sidewalk connecting Taney County Courthouse to Forsyth High School in the town of Forsyth in the Branson area. This is just one example of the simple, basic, too-long neglected sidewalk connections MoDOT is helping cities and towns across Missouri make.
- Why MoDOT spends money on sidewalks, trails, bike paths, and landscaping (PDF) - an oldie but a goodie.
- Federal transportation bill goes to conference committee: The Senate passed a good transportation bill, the House passed a series of poison pills and debated but never passed a lot of controversial ideas like eliminating all transit and bicycle/pedestrian funding. Now the some members of the House are trying to push their agenda, never passed even in the House, through to the final version of the bill. Particularly, some of the Tea Party members of the Conference Committee have put bike/ped funding in their sites. Interestingly, House leadership has omitted the Transportation Bill from their list of summer priorities. TAKE ACTION in support of biking and walking in the transportation bill here.
Missouri bike/ped advocacy in Washington
- Grist thinks Congress will make a big mistake if it eliminates federal Safe Routes to School funding:
- Children represent over 12 percent of pedestrian fatalities. And bicycle-related injuries send over a quarter million children to hospitals annually. But SRTS currently receives just 0.2 percent of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s safety budget — and even that tiny slice is now in jeopardy.
- Children represent over 12 percent of pedestrian fatalities. And bicycle-related injuries send over a quarter million children to hospitals annually. But SRTS currently receives just 0.2 percent of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s safety budget — and even that tiny slice is now in jeopardy.
- League of American Bicyclists is tracking and mapping all bicyclist fatalities in an effort to determine causes of fatalities and reduce their number.
- Bicycling saves Americans $4.6 billion annually.
- Like Missouri, the state of Virginia has one of the lowest gas taxes in the nation. Like MO, VA is looking at raising the gas tax because their state transportation funding is in crisis. The Virginian Pilot looks at how much the low gas tax costs Virginians.
- Two stories from the New York Times: How walkable communities are increasingly desired, suburband and exurban increasingly shunned and how the city of New York is introducing bike sharing this summer and generally making the city a decent place to bike.
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