I just want to make it clear that I am not suggesting that the BFW go around whining all the time about how much money the WTBA has brought home to the roadbuilders. I want funding to increase in real dollars for bicycling infrastructure, and I want that funding spent in the way that benefits the most people.
And yes, roadbuilders are some of the same folks that would benefit from bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure expansion. The problem is that the roadbuilders would be much happier if everyone was consuming a 12 foot wide car lane with 100 ft between cars for 20 miles on their trip to work rather than a 5 foot wide bike lane with 20 feet between bikes for five miles on their ride to work. The key issue here is that the pie is shrinking. The gas tax is no longer indexed to inflation, and high gas prices are actually prompting less gasoline usage, which translates into less gas tax revenue. The federal funding is already over-allocated for highway expansion at the expense of bicycling, and much of the funding that is consumed is used to fund ped/bike infrastructure in new road projects, where it was originally intended to fund completing the streets for bike/ped in areas where poor facilities currently exist. But I believe there is a real opportunity to ride the changing transportation tide. The inflation rate for road construction may get lawmakers to think twice about massive road expansions. The rising price of gas is changing minds about urban vs suburban living and mode choices. The rising awareness (agree or not) about the causes of Global Warming creates its own political pressures. The awareness that the battle against congestion can't be won by building roads forever is spreading. The groups in Wisconsin that support motor-vehicle alternatives offer workable solutions to address the problems I outlined, and it only makes sense that the BFW work hardest with those groups to put together a strong coalition. The core values of the BFW seem to be aligned more strongly with the sierra club and 1000 friends of Wisconsin than they are with the WTBA. And I believe the WTBA is currently not serving the public interest in their lobbying efforts. We are on the winning side, we just need to build a strong coalition and let the citizens of Wisconsin know how we can help them! _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
