Federal transportation bill: Complete Streets removed; Senate amendments & floor vote expected soon

The League of American Bicyclists posted an update on recent developments in the federal transportation reauthorization.  Some goods things for bike/ped here and some not-so-good:

Capitol Hill visits by the Missouri delegation at the National Bike Summit

The U.S. Senate will now begin debating its proposed three-year transportation bill, after voting 62-36 on Wednesday to clear the way for discussion on the floor.

In order to get to cloture, which essentially means agreement to consider the bill and eventually vote, leaders of the bill -- Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and James Inhofe (R-OK) -- had to agree to some changes to the funding for the bill. The original deal had included cutting social security to people with outstanding felony warrants, and using the funding to pay for the transportation bill, and to make some critical changes to transit funding. Those have been dropped.

If approved, it would be the first mutli-year transportation bill in a decade. So what could this mean for bicycling on the federal level? It's a 1,000 page bill, so we're still digesting it, but here are a few things we know right now: 

• The  improvements to Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) won at the Committee level are in the bill, including an increase in funding.
• The Complete Street language that passed in the Senate Commerce Committee was stripped from the floor bill
• The Amtrak roll on access language and the active safety technology language remains in the bill
• The Senate has found funding for a three year bill.  Some of that funding is in question, but there should be enough for 2-3 years

We have been working with groups and organizations across Missouri to create a coalition sign-on letter from 43 organizations to Missouri elected officials and MoDOT. The letter explains why support for bicycling and walking is so important for Missouri right and and asks officials to support bicycling and walking.

We were able to deliver the completed and signed letter to Missouri Senators Roy Blunt and Claire McCaskill today, just in time for the vote this week.

Visit the Bike League Blog to see what they anticipate happening next and to sign up for their advocacy alerts list. Your individual messages of support for bicycling and walking are vitally important to reinforce what they do at the national level, what we do at the state level, and what your local bicycle, pedestrian, and trails groups do at the local level.

Working for a world-class transportation system in Missouri and improving safety for all road users are two key priorities in MoBikeFed's Vision for Bicycling and Walking in Missouri.

Your ongoing membership and generous financial support helps turn our Vision into reality!