Some crappy news about the Transportation bill and those looking to prevent federal funds being spent on bike and pedestrian infrastructure:

Speak up for Trails, Walking and Biking Now

On Tuesday, September 15, Senators John McCain (Ariz.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) issued two amendments to the FY10 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. If passed, these amendments would eliminate the majority of available federal funds for trails, walking and bicycling.

Amendment 2370 would prohibit the use of federal funds for pedestrian or bicycle facilities, efforts to reduce vehicle collisions with wildlife, or other specified Transportation Enhancement (TE) projects if the Highway Trust Fund cannot cover unfunded highway authorizations.

Amendment 2371 is even trickier; while it claims to allow states to opt out of spending on TE projects, the actual amendment text in fact notes that “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to implement” TE projects.

For more information check the Rails-To-Trails website.

-M

In a crisis, people take drastic measures to correct a problem. I’m observing quite the opposite though. It seems as if people would rather accelerate towards the cliff. People are driving more aggressively than ever, and road rage is a common sight.

Many of us here in bacon land ride bikes as basic everyday transportation, not just for recreation. And if you look around, we’re not alone. The good weather and the bad gas pricing has nudged people out of the bucket seat and onto the saddle in recent months. Still, as Jeff points out on bikecarson.com, you’d be hard pressed to call this a sea change.

I’d add to the discussion that getting around without the use of your car at least once a week, or even once a month, if everyone does it, can save money for fuel, maintenence on your car, and save us all a lot of money on maintaining the roads. Check out the RTC Washoe Website for information on Public Transportation and the RTC Rideshare program, where you can use a database to connect with people with similar schedules and commuting routes EVEN ON BIKES.

Also, let’s not loose sight of larger problems when gas prices are high. Carbon emissions and air quality is still a major issue here in the Truckee Meadows. Hopefully our resident CO2 expert can elaborate on that for us. And riding some crappy moped you bought at a garage sale might save you some cash, but it’ll put out way more emissions than an H-2. In the long run that will be seen as stepping over dollars to save dimes.

And I can’t help but wonder when people will be priced out of their pickup trucks. I’m not talking about people like the GrislyBikeGeek who uses his truck for work. I’m talking about that douchenozzle in the magnum powerwagon with dubs and the NorCal sticker who floors it on the green and rides your ass only to have to hit the breaks going uphill! You have to assume that behavior will change before people get rid of their vehicles which obviously are closely tied to their self image…

-M