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Bicyclists oppose 'bad bill for biking and walking' in highway funding compromise
The agreement reached by lawmakers this week on a $105 billion surface transportation bill is a "bad bill for biking and walking," a bicycle advocacy group said Wednesday.
The America Bikes coalition said the agreement that was negotiated by the House and Senate after a two-month conference would cut funding for biking and pedestrian programs by 60 to 70 percent because it would allow states to opt out of spending money in the highway bill on things other than roads and transit.
Democrats on the conference committee framed the opt-out provision of giving more control over bike and pedestrian funding to local governments, but America Bikes argued Thursday that the compromise "allows states to opt-out of half of the funds potentially available for small-scale biking and walking projects.
"Whereas the bipartisan Senate bill allowed local governments and planning entities to compete for 1 percent of transportation funds, the new bill allows states to opt-out of the local grant program completely," the coalition said in a post on its website.
The decision "drastically" reduces funding that would have been available under the Senate's original $109-billion proposal for the transportation bill, America Bikes said.
"Eligibilities such as road uses and environmental mitigation have been added to Transportation Alternatives, making it harder for local communities to compete for funding for local biking and walking projects," the group said. "This two-year bill represents a major step backwards in transportation policy for transportation choices and healthy physical activity."
Lawmakers are reviewing the conference committee's report on the transportation bill, which was released early Thursday morning. They have until Saturday to approve the measure in both chambers of Congress before the scheduled expiration of the current funding for transportation projects.
