Update: The Alliance for Biking & Walking has example “thank and spank” letters to thank legislators who voted against Coburn’s amendment, and spank those who supported it.
The recent attack on federal bike-ped funding has been thwarted, but the 39-59 vote for S. Amendment 2371 was too close for our comfort.
Surprisingly, Virginia’s own Sen. Webb supported Sen. Coburn’s attack on Transportation Enhancements. Needless to say, we’re very disappointed in Sen. Webb, and we’re sure many of you are too. So contact Sen. Webb’s office. Tell him that you’re disappointed in his performance, and urge him to support Transportation Enhancements from now on.
Your continued support is needed, to ensure funding will still be available for anything besides motor vehicle facilities. Let’s think about moving people — not just cars.
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To be clear, the defeated Coburn amendments attacked the federal Transportation Enhancements (TE) Program *only*, not “all federal bike-ped funding”. Associated bicycling and walking improvements are eligible under nearly all categories of federal-aid highway funding, and several programs besides TE, including Recreational Trails, Safe Routes to School, and Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) are often used for standalone pedestrian and bicycling projects.
Interestingly, the text of the Coburn’s Senate Amendment 2371
[http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bikeadvocacy/Coburn2371.pdf]
does not mention bicycle or pedestrian projects at all. Instead, it cites only “road-kill reduction and highway beautification” as examples of Transportation Enhancement projects.