Most of us had come to think that we were making steady, irreversible progress in convincing policy-makers that bikes belong on the road. And we were -- up until recently. But all that progress is now in jeopardy.
If you haven't been paying close attention lately you may not be aware that bicycling is under attack at both our federal and state levels of government.
The change of control of the U.S. House of Representatives in January, 2010 and the change in administrations at the Ohio Governor's mansion in January, 2011 have set the cause of mainstreaming bicycling back, possibly by decades.
The past: dedicated funding makes bicycling a forgotten mode no longer
Beginning with ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act) in 1991 -- and continuing with TEA-21 (Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century) in 1998 and SAFETEA-LU (Safe Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users) in 2005 -- federal transportation law established the principle that traffic engineers and planners at the state, regional, and local levels must accommodate bicycling and walking in transportation projects. And federal transportation law dedicates (a very, very small but critical amount of) funding for this purpose: Transportation Enhancements (TE), Recreational Trails Program (RTP), and Safe Routes to School (SR2S).
Federal transportation law also allows state transportation departments to use other major program funding -- like STP (Surface Transportation Program), CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program), and HSIP (Highway Safety Improvement Program) funding -- to make room on the road for safer bicycling (and walking).
But, as we know, many state DOTs (Departments of Transportation) would not have spent a dime on bicycling or walking over the years if they hadn't been required to do so by federal law. Most of the trails and other bikeways that exist would not be there if it weren't for the dedicated funding provided by TE, RTP, and SR2S.
With your help we had been successful in getting policy-makers at the federal, state, regional, and local levels to adopt Complete Streets policies, to embrace Safe Routes to School, to create plans to make our communities bicycling and walking friendly, and even to begin to use funding from the major federal transportation programs like STP to implement those plans.
But things have changed. We once had champions in control in Congress. And we had a sympathetic ear at the Ohio Governor's mansion. No longer.
The current federal transportation law, SAFETEA-LU, was due to expire on September 30, 2009. The new transportation bill that was unveiled in the summer of 2009 would have increased dedicated funding for bicycling and walking and would have strengthened policies favoring bicycling and walking.
But Congress did not take up consideration of the new transportation bill in 2009: Congress was preoccupied with the recession and creating jobs and with health care. Congress extended SAFETEA-LU then and a number of times since then, waiting for an opportunity to adopt a new transportation bill. And then control of the House of Representatives changed in January 2010.
The present: back to squeezing bikes out of funding and off the road
Rep. John Mica (R-FLA), the new Chairman of the House transportation committee, announced in early July of this year that his transportation bill will eliminate dedicated funding for bicycling and walking, including Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School, and Recreational Trails Program.
The Senate transportation committee is chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) who is expected to release a draft of her transportation bill this fall (it may have been released by the time you read this). The ranking minority member of the committee, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), has said that one of his top three priorities for the transportation bill is to eliminate "frivolous spending for bike trails."
If you think that Sen. Inhofe is an outlier on this, remember that one of the House Members representing the Columbus area (Rep. Pat Tiberi, D-OH) voted to eliminate Transportation Enhancements on September 4, 2003 and continues to oppose dedicated funding for biking and walking.
We expect that the transportation bill that Sen. Boxer unveils this fall will retain dedicated funding for bicycling and walking. But we know there will be a fight in the Senate over this. And we expect the House to eliminate all dedicated funding for bicycling and walking. How this is resolved depends on all of us!
It is important to understand that federal transportation policy has paved the way these last 30 years for the adoption of state, regional, and local policies on accommodating bicycling and walking. Until recently we had been successful in getting many of our state, regional, and local policy-makers to comply with federal law and policy and to adopt bike-friendly policies.
But now there are those at the federal level and at the state level in Ohio who do not believe that bikes belong on the road, but that there is only room enough for cars.
The previous (Strickland) administration's Department of Transportation (ODOT) released the report of "Ohio's 21st Century Transportation Priorities Task Force" in January 2009 expressing support for the idea of Complete Streets ("Complete Streets are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and bus riders of all ages and abilities are able to safely move along and across a complete street"). ODOT then adopted new TRAC (Transportation Review and Advisory Council) policies (for selecting major new road projects) in December, 2010 that required the awarding of points for "intermodal connectivity," specifically encouraging the accommodation of bicycling and walking. And, in January 2011, just before leaving office, the previous administration adopted a Complete Streets policy.
But the new (Kasich) administration is moving Ohio backwards.
The Kasich administration, under ODOT Director Jerry Wray, has squelched the previous administration's Complete Streets policy. You won't find it anywhere on ODOT's website. The Complete Streets policy is no longer favored at ODOT.
And ODOT just amended the TRAC policy in June to delete any mention of bicycling and walking and to make the awarding of points for any form of "intermodal connectivity" entirely optional.
The consequence of the Kasich administration's retreat from the progress that we made over the past few years is that Ohio has fallen from 32nd to 37th in the League of American Bicyclist's 2011 Bicycle Friendly State rankings. Ohio's category grades are:
B in Legislation
F in Policies & Programs
F in Infrastructure
D in Education & Encouragement
F in Evaluation & Planning
A in Enforcement
The future: all of us need to be advocates for dedicated funding
If you don't want us to lose further ground in making our state and our communities friendly for bicycling and walking you must make your voice heard. The message we need to send to our Senators and Representatives is that "that bicycling and walking are vital parts of our transportation system, and that there must be dedicated funding for bike lanes and trails and sidewalks to ensure that bicyclists and pedestrians are safe."
Join the campaign to save bicycling and walking!
To make your voice heard go to the League of American Bicyclists website here http://capwiz.com/lab/issues/alert/?alertid=51133866&PROCESS=Take+Action
and use the message form to compose and send a message to your Senators and Representative to save dedicated funding for bicycling and walking!
And stay tuned for future alerts!!! We need you.
John Gideon
President, Bike, Walk Ohio!
Past President, Columbus Outdoor Pursuits
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