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Doing the Inside Thing

It’s cold. And I dislike snow. So I’m spending the day inside. Getting lots done!

Here’s some news from the CenterLines newsletter:

-> From now until the start of the National Bike Summit in early March, you will be hearing a lot about Federal transportation legislation. The Senate, House, and Executive Branch are all signaling that they will be introducing their own bills, of varying size and intent. The Executive Branch is hinting at a transformative bill; the Senate and House are both indicating that a new bill, and not simply a continuing resolution, will be forthcoming. Currently, we can no more than guess at the contents of these respective bills.

You will hear a lot of negative rhetoric about Federal funding of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects. Some of it will be bluster; some of it will be serious and require that supporters of sustainable and healthy transportation stand up to be counted. Stay tuned to CenterLines for the latest updates.

Streetsblog Capitol Hill has been following the latest developments in the Senate: http://tinyurl.com/4t5zhxv. Its reporters have also been interviewing the newest members of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. There are some surprises. See http://tinyurl.com/4v2rqyd

The Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation writes about what is happening on the House side:http://tinyurl.com/4w7ymth

For those of you who are ready to get involved, we suggest you turn to the League of American Bicyclists, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, or your state or local bicycle/pedestrian advocacy organization for the latest legislative action alerts. In the meantime, take another look at the recently released bike-infrastructure-produces-jobs study: http://tinyurl.com/6j7ptes.

And this re: Walk Score:

-> The folks behind Walk Score are beta-testing a brand new algorithm — they call it “Street Smart Walk Score.” They are reporting that this will take pedestrian-friendliness rankings to a whole new level. Read more http://tinyurl.com/4ofabtb

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Comments 5

  1. Steve A wrote:

    Hmm. Do those walk score people factor snow into the equation?

    Posted 02 Feb 2011 at 6:43 pm
  2. Andy Cline wrote:

    Steve… And single-digit temperatures? Man, tomorrow is going to be a bear. I might bypass campus and go straight downtown to the coffeeshop by city bus :-)

    Posted 02 Feb 2011 at 6:57 pm
  3. Steve A wrote:

    It seems to me that going a half mile by bus would be colder than simply hoofing it. Besides, with such a short commute, you should be hopping on one leg to avoid having to do all those gym workouts. You DO have my sympathy about the weather. Ours is just nasty enough to make it a challenge, not enough to make it horrible. ;-)

    Posted 02 Feb 2011 at 7:57 pm
  4. Andy Cline wrote:

    Steve… Actually the heart of downtown is 2.25 miles away. Campus sits between my home and downtown. Usually in bad weather I walk to campus and then take Bearline (free shuttle) downtown. But, yeah, given the bus schedule, I could be standing out there awhile. Might be better off sticking to routine.

    Posted 02 Feb 2011 at 9:05 pm
  5. Robert wrote:

    Andy,

    I get so outraged every time I hear members of Congress talk about bicycling as “recreation.” I’m an American, pay taxes and do not want to own an automobile. It’s not recreation to me.

    When they talk about completely un-funding non-auto transportation it sounds as outrageous to me as someone saying they will un-fund auto transport would to them.

    Everyone in the United States can currently travel virtually everywhere by automobile. Sure, there is congestion in places but currently most people cannot walk or bicycle anywhere. Yet, we spend billions on increasing capacity, speed and safety of motorists…..something they already have a lot of.

    I’m an accomplished and practically fearless bicyclist and I cannot bicycle to my local hospital, which is only five miles away.

    Is the priority that the drivers can get there a little faster or that someone without a car can get there at all?

    Unfortunately there is probably only one member of congress who thinks like I do right now. The Transportation Secretary does but he doesn’t control funding unfortunately.

    One criticism is that bicyclists and pedestrians do not pay fuel taxes and therefore should not get a say in how that money is spent. It’s not my fault that they haven’t figured out how to tax me. TAX ME!!! TAX ME!!! TAX ME!!! I’ll gladly write a check this year and every year if I can actually move around my Country without the fear of being ground up like a hamburger by an automobile.

    Posted 03 Feb 2011 at 11:10 am