Secretary of Transportation: Bikes equal to cars
Ray LaHood makes big waves in the bicycle community when he announces that, for the first time, the U.S. government will stop favoring cars over walking and biking when funding local projects.
Sun, Mar 21 2010 at 1:53 PM EST
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Photo: RichardMasoner/Flickr Last week Secretary of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood shook up the world of transit with a post on his blog announcing a pretty monumental change to transportation policy — for the first time ever the U.S. government will stop favoring the car over bicyclists and pedestrians when funding infrastructure projects.
People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning. This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.We are integrating the needs of bicyclists in federally funded road projects. We are discouraging transportation investments that negatively affect cyclists and pedestrians. And we are encouraging investments that go beyond the minimum requirements and provide facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.The Department of Transportation will encourage state DOT and communities to put walking and biking on an equal level with motorized traffic when planning projects, to plan for riders and walkers of all ages and physical abilities, to go above and beyond minimum design standards, to gather data on walking and bike trips, to maintain sidewalks and bike paths the same way roads are (think snow removal), and to upgrade their walking and bike paths
LaHood goes on to mention how the Obama administartion has funded major bicycle projects in Indianapolis and in the Philadelphia-Camden-Trenton region.
I'm kind of giddy that the following statement was made by the secretary of Transportation and not some frustrated green blogger verbally smacking his forehead at the shortsightedness of always putting cars first:
Look, bike projects are relatively fast and inexpensive to build and are environmentally sustainable; they reduce travel costs, dramatically improve safety and public health, and reconnect citizens with their communities.
Here's a short video of LaHood speaking to a boisterous crowd at the National Bike Summit.
This is fantastic. And can I say, as a blogger, it's just as cool that he chose to release this news with his blog.
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Comments
Cartools
06/29/2011 23:56 PM
It`s cool !
Tarrant
06/24/2011 10:49 AM
More bike lanes are a must! Bikers here have no bike lanes and more than one time either traffic is blocked or bikers get hurt. In an area where traffic congestion is high, you would think bike lanes would be a priority.
Hanies
09/26/2010 10:57 AM
I have to agree with this one. Made the magic for me. Earnings from traffic cant be wrong.
In addition, just make sure its about your niche or anything related to it. Made this terrible mistake in my past blogs.
traci
03/31/2010 14:45 PM
Oh yeah.....Bicycles...just like China....Now we need to tax bicycles to build the roads. A BIKE TAX!!!!
