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Entries tagged: Bicycle Facilities

This spring, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) released its new Urban Bikeway Design Guide to much excitement at the National Bike Summit. The design guide sets a new standard for bicycle infrastructure design in the United States, one that accommodates cyclists of all skill and comfort levels and adapts international best practices to American city streets.

As advocates, the guide makes it easier for us to work with local transportation officials to put in place the new infrastructure that will boost bicycling across the nation. Since the release, NACTO has launched a campaign to get cities from across the country to endorse the guide.

Please ask your mayor, city council, or transportation director to endorse the NACTO guide.

The endorsement can come from the mayor, director of public works, transportation director, or in some cases the city engineer. Ideally, NACTO wants the person who really drives sustainable transportation in the city to sign on. Beyond supporting progressive design principles, this is also a great opportunity to build and strengthen relationships with your local elected and transportation officials, as well as partner with other organizations to make the ask.

As more cities endorse the guide, creating safe streets for cyclists will become the status quo. So far more than 30 cities have signed on to endorse the guide. The more endorsements NACTO collects, the more likely the guide and its principles will gain acceptance at the state and federal level, increasing the possibility that we will begin to see more of the cutting-edge infrastructure recommended in the guide appear across the country.

NACTO is making it easy for you to act, too. Click here for an explanation of the campaigns from Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner, and here for a template endorsement letter.

This year, Advocacy Advance received $1.3 million in grant proposal requests for $100,000 available funds. It was difficult to have to turn down so many innovative and energizing campaign proposals from strong advocacy organizations around the country, and we strive to keep you updated on other grant opportunities. The Bikes Belong Community Partnership Grants is one of these opportunities.

The Bikes Belong Grant Program is aimed at providing funding to facility projects such as bike trails, lanes, paths and parks, and advocacy projects that promote bicycling or that increase funding and support for bike infrastructure.

The Community Partnership Grants are designed to foster and support partnerships between city or county governments, non-profit organizations, and local businesses to improve the environment for bicycling in the community.  Grants will primarily fund the construction or expansion of bicycle facilities such as bike lanes, trails, and paths. The grants committee will also consider advocacy projects that promote bicycling as a safe and accessible mode of transportation.

The application deadline is August 26, 2011.  For more information, visit the Bikes Belong website, and good luck!

Last week, at the National Bike Summit, I was one of the hundreds of advocates who converged on Capitol Hill to tell our members of Congress to protect federal funding for biking and walking projects and programs. This week, when I returned to the office, the latest newsletter from the League of Illinois Bicyclists had arrived on my desk. And what was the leading headline? The LIB’s major role in directing more than $50 million federal dollars toward bikeways in the Prairie State.

Since 1991, the federally funded Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program has been the main source of money for active transportation projects and, in the 1990s, about half of ITEP dollars went to bike/ped facilities. But, as the LIB reports in the Illinois Bicyclist, that number plummeted to less than 30 percent under former governor Rod Blagojevich. Making matters worse, the state started raiding the ITEP program to deal with federal rescissions, too.

The LIB helped turn back that shortsighted trend.

During the last round of rescissions in August, Illinois advocates mobilized to protect bike/ped dollars. “LIB, the Active Transportation Alliance and the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy urged IDOT and Gov. Pat Quinn to more fairly spread the cuts across transportation categories,” LIB reports in its newsletter. “Thankfully, no ITEP dollars were rescinded.”

But that was just the prelude to an even bigger win: The latest ITEP grant list that includes more than $50 million for bikeways.

“Each major issue advocated by LIB – especially selecting more bikeway applications – came true in a record way,” the League notes. “Gov. Quinn had often expressed his desire to fund more bike trails in Illinois. Three times in 2010, LIB personally spoke with him, suggesting an ITEP bicycling emphasis as a way to do so without impact on the state’s financial situation. Our thanks have gone out to the Governor and IDOT Secretary Gary Hannig.”

Read more about the League of Illinois Bicyclists here. And learn how you can mobilize for more federal, state and local dollars in your community by getting connected to Advocacy Advance — a partnership of the Alliance and League of American Bicyclists — here.