Brace Yourself: Here Comes Another Attack on Bike/Ped Funding

If petty Congressional attacks on bike/ped funding were a drinking game, you'd be drunk by now. And now two House Republicans want to pour you another shot.

Reps. Sam Johnson (TX) and Vicky Hartzler (MO) have introduced a bill to eliminate the Transportation Alternatives Program, the largest source of federal funding for biking and walking projects. TAP is today's curtailed and underfunded version of what used to be known as Transportation Enhancements. Without it, simple infrastructure we all depend on -- sidewalks, trails, crosswalks, bike lanes -- would get even less support from the federal transportation program. Other activities that mitigate the environmental damage caused by roads, like stormwater management, would also lose an important source of funding.

The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy warns that the (perfectly-named) Right-of-Way for American Drivers Act of 2015 (H.R. 2609) could be offered as an amendment to a transportation funding bill that will be voted on as early as today. If not, the measure could find a home in the next transportation reauthorization, due in less than two months.

"Programs like TAP are in high demand," said Patrick Wojahn, RTC's director of government relations, in a statement. "Today, 12 percent of all trips in the United States are made by biking or walking. These active-transportation modes continue to grow as options for more and more Americans, yet we only invest 1.5 percent of surface transportation funds in these programs."

Three hundred organizations from all 50 states and the District of Columbia have signed a letter [PDF] urging Congress to support TAP.