Best-ever summary of federal bike/ped transportation spending shows that bike/ped investment is inexpensive but too few transportation projects include bike/ped

Just in time for our annual visit to Washington, DC, for the National Bike Summit next week, national bike/ped organizations have some of the best data ever that shows how much--or, more precisely, how little--money state departments of transportation spend on bicycling and walking infrastructure.  The federal government allocates $37 billion annually to states for transportation projects, so we're talking about quite a little chunk of change. 

Lifting the Veil: Summary of Missouri's bike/ped spending

Like most states, Missouri spends a very low percentage of its federal funding on bicycle and pedestrian projects. Bicycle and pedestrian-only projects are 5.7% of all projects.  An additional 10.7% of projects are road/bridge projects that include some bicycle or pedestrian elements.

That leaves fully 83.7% of projects that have no bicycle or pedestrian elements whatsoever.

The report brings home a point that we often discuss with elected officials: Bicycle and pedestrian projects, though important, are quite inexpensive.  For example, the 5.7% of bike/ped projects on the list represent only 1.6% of total spending.

And 91.6% of our transportation dollars are spent on projects that include no bicycle or pedestrian elements whatsoever.

The report makes the point that Missouri project listings are divided into many un-integrated pieces administered by a large number of different transportation planning partners around the state.  This is a result of MoDOT's very localized decision-making on transportation priorities via its network of regional transportation planning partners.  The system is a national model for more localized transportation decision-making but makes it difficult to navigate a welter of different reports in different formats maintained by different agencies to get a feel for the big picture of what is happening in the state.

In addition, MoDOT's STIP format does not always record basic information needed to determine bike/ped elements in projects. 

Looking at the nationwide data, the report reaches these conclusions:

• Bicycling and walking investments are difficult to determine and appear to be small.
• Bicycling and walking facilities are more numerous than cost percentage estimates alone might suggest.
• Complete Streets policies are often correlated with more projects including bicycling and walking facilities, but having good data better explains states' performance.

Read the summary of Missouri's transportation spending and issues here (PDF).

Working to create a world-class bicycle and pedestrian transportation system in Missouri is one of the prime objectives of our Vision for Bicycling and Walking in Missouri.  Ensuring a fair share of funding for bicycling and walking and that all transportation projects include needed bicycle and pedestrian accommodations are among our top priorities--priorities that have been endorsed strongly in surveys of our members and supporters. Your membership and generous financial support helps make our Vision become reality!

File: 

Missouri transportation spending summary/Lifting the Veil