Done
Dale B
From: James Lamm
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 11:44 AM
To: CyclistsOfWilson COWs
Subject: [COWs] Fwd: FW: Bicycle and Pedestrian Funding under Attack Again
All,
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR BIKERS!
We need to do our part to defeat the bill # SA-821 of Senator Paul. If you
agree, please follow up with an email to your senator(s). See the message
below to get more information including contacting your senator. It's easy and
important. We've been successful so far, but we must continue fighting.
James Lamm
Bicycle and Pedestrian Funding under Attack Again
Contact your Senators Again Today to Save Transportation
Enhancements Funding
It’s happening again. Just one month ago, Sen. Coburn (R-OK)
failed in his efforts to strip funding for Transportation Enhancements from the
six-month transportation extension.
Now, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is taking the lead in trying to destroy
Transportation Enhancements. On November 1, the Senate will finalize the
transportation appropriations bill, which sets funding levels for FY2012. Sen.
Paul has offered an amendment to redirect all funding for Transportation
Enhancements to bridge repair.
Send an email to your Senators now to ask them to vote against the
Paul amendment that would eliminate Transportation Enhancements. We agree on
the need to keep our bridges safe, but the lives of pedestrians and cyclists
are important too.
Senator Rand Paul’s 80-year Bridge Repair Plan: If Sen. Paul’s
amendment is successful, it would eliminate approximately $700 million in
federal funding for FY2012 that is used to construct sidewalks, bike lanes,
bike paths, trails and other infrastructure that makes it safe for bicyclists
and pedestrians to get around. Even if every penny of these funds is diverted
to bridge repairs, Senator Paul’s plan will still take 80 years to fix the
backlog of bridge repairs we have today. Keep in mind that:
a.. The Transportation Enhancements program represents less than
two percent of federal transportation funds and these projects help alleviate
traffic congestion, improve safety, get people active, and create more jobs per
dollar than highway-only projects.
b.. Last year, states gave more than $530 million dollars of
bridge repair money back to the federal government last year. States are
leaving bridge repair funds on the table, unspent, year after year; they should
at least spend these funds first.
c.. Thirteen people died when the Minneapolis bridge collapsed in
2007: since then, close to 20,000 pedestrians and 2,800 cyclists have died on
our nation’s highways, largely as a result of poor highway design and a lack of
safe non-motorized infrastructure – exactly what the enhancement program was
created to fix.
If the Paul amendment succeeds, it will make it much more
challenging to sustain funding for Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to
School, and Recreational Trails in the long-term transportation bill that the
Environment and Public Works Committee starts debating just 8 days later on
November 9.
We must turn back any amendment to strip Transportation
Enhancements. Last month, more than 75,000 messages were sent to Senators to
ask them to stand strong for Transportation Enhancements. That was an amazing
turnout, but we must do better this time. Every time someone in Congress
attacks bicycling and walking, we must push back even stronger than we did the
time before. And, we will keep doing it until bicycle and pedestrian funding
is protected.
This is the third time in a month that a few Senators have targeted
Transportation Enhancements, using a different angle each time. It is a waste
of the Senate's time and taxpayers dollars to focus on this small and valuable
program when we are in dire need of real and viable solutions to fix our
failing transportation system.
Please contact your Senators today to ask them to vote against the
Paul amendment (SA-821) to eliminate Transportation Enhancements. And then
please forward this message to at least five others who care about the safety
of people walking and bicycling on our streets.
Thank you for your help today, and for passing the call to action
along.
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US
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