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Entries tagged: New York Bicycling Coalition

New York advocates celebrated last week as Complete Streets legislation passed the New York State Assembly.

Introduced by Senator Charles J. Fuschillo, Chairman of the NY Senate Transportation Committee, New York State bill S5411 amends current state highways law and requires transportation planners to consider bicycle and pedestrian friendly features when building and redesigning roadways that receive federal or state funding. This means that, in addition to including space for vehicles, planners will also need to consider additional elements like bike lanes, sidewalks, pedestrian islands, count-down crosswalk signals, and expanded curbs for pedestrians waiting to board a bus.

“Drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists all share the roads; we need to do everything we can to protect their safety,” Senator Fuschillo said. “Taking complete streets design principles into consideration on future road projects will help prevent deaths and injuries on our roads and make them safer for everyone.”

The Complete Streets legislation had a history of stalling in the New York Assembly and saw its share of pushback this year. Most recently, highway superintendents complained about the cost of adding bike lanes and similar bike/ped features, saying that these elements often caused the projects to be over budget.

According to Brian Kehoe, executive director of the New York Bicycling Coalition, the bill appeared to be dead as recently as a week prior to its passage because of this pushback. However, thanks to the tireless efforts of New York advocates and coalition partners like the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and AARP, lawmakers resolved this issue by changing the bill in late negotiations to require these features in the design phase only and to make implementation optional if it caused the project to go over budget.

The bill is now headed to Governor Cuomo’s desk for signature.

Read the full legislation and learn more about the NYBC.

The nationwide mobilization to protect federal funding for biking and walking is on.

With the very real threat that bike-ped programs could get the ax as Congress members look to cut the budget, a number of Alliance member organizations have stepped up to meet with their congressional delegates and reiterate the importance of popular programs, like Safe Routes to School and Transportation Enhancements.

One of the first report-backs on these critically important meetings came from the New York Bicycling Coalition. Brian Kehoe, NYBC’s Program Manager, was joined by two members of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign in a meeting with the staff of Democratic Congressman Maurice Hinchey in late January.

“Hinchey is an ally and his staffer’s knowledge of TE, SRTS and other programs was impressive; so we didn’t have to do a sales pitch,” Kehoe says. “I think it was effective, though, that we had two organizations, which, together, represent a broad spread of the transportation agenda.”

For Kehoe, Hinchey was just a warm-up for more difficult meetings to come. “My real challenges will be making sales pitches to Representatives without knowledge — or perhaps even interest — in these programs,” he says. For advocates, like Kehoe, preparing for those more demanding meetings, the following resources provide useful and convincing facts and figures.

• America Bikes’ has put together a number of National Factsheets, including “Transportation Enhancement Myths,” “Biking and Walking in Rural Communities” and “Why Are Bicycling and Walking a National Issue”
• Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has some helpful resources, including a list of TE projects by Congressional district
• Bikes Belong has an incredible array of stats on the economic, environmental and health benefit of biking and walking
• A new study from the Political Economy Research Institute shows biking and walking projects create twice as many jobs as traditional road projects.
• If you need a little inspiration in creating an effective leave-behind for your member of Congress, check out these two summary sheets from the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin
  

And, for pointers from Congressional staff and experienced advocates, don’t miss our “Working with Congressional Delegates” Mutual Aid Call this Wednesday at 2 p.m. EST.

The Vermont Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition and New York Bicycle Coalition won a major victory with the design of the new Champlain Bridge connecting Addison, VT and Crown Point, NY. The existing bridge was shut down when engineers discovered critical deterioration last fall. Significant for transportation (100 mile detour), historic, and scenic reasons, getting bike/ped access was a huge goal for both Alliance organizations. The modified design now includes both multipurpose (bike) lanes and raised sidewalks.

Congrats to both coalitions for their critical organizing and winning this great victory! For visualizations of the unique “network tiered arch” bridge go to www.nysdot.gov/lakechamplainbridge/photos-visualizations.