I just attended Congressman Carnahan’s meeting with stakeholders on the about-to-be-unleashed federal transportation bill. While the Congressman has shown support for walking and cycling funding, the news of the almost 800 page bill is beyond disheartening. It stands to eliminate any chance of our country efficiently using taxpayer dollars in an efficient, globally competitive manner.
This is as urgent as it gets.
Please – take 30 seconds NOW and call these Missouri elected officials who sit on the House Transportation Committee:
Russ Carnahan, St. Louis - (314) 962-1523
Billy Long, Springfield - (417) 889-1800
Sam Graves, St Joseph - (816) 233-9818
Use this script or your own version of it, but please make sure you reference DEDICATED bike/walk funding:
“I am a Missouri resident and am calling to ask for dedicated bicycle and pedestrian funding to be included in the American Energy and Infrastructure Act.”
Additionally, please click here (and scroll down) to quickly and easily send an email.
At a time when the ills of decades long car-only policies are crippling our health, our federal, state, and personal budgets as well as our country’s ability to reduce our oil dependency, I must question what has motivated the authors of the current transportation bill.
The disastrous back sliding the bill will unfold for our country will include:
• Funneling as much money as possible to highways
• Giving even more power to spend that money to state DOTs, not cities and metro regions
• Shortening the environmental review process
• Eliminating programs "that do not have a federal interest," which appears to include all dedicated funding for bicycle and pedestrian programs
• Doing away with discretionary transit programs, which would spell the end for the very successful U.S. Department of Transportation TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) funding
• Augmenting gas tax revenue with an as-yet-unspecified revenue stream from oil and gas drilling
The significant progress we’ve made to rebuild safe and connected pedestrian and bicycling facilities is about to seriously erode. With this bill’s irresponsible use of our tax dollars, we can expect to continue to see a rise in obesity and obesity-related diseases, respiratory disease (especially in our children), loss of population in our inner ring suburbs due to large roads bisecting them, and loss of the momentum we were gaining in local economic health.
It’s so sad to know that our representatives are not representing us at all…and using our hard earned dollars in the meantime.
Executive Director
1 Comment
Debbie Marchant said
I called Russ Carnahan's office and said any bill that would not take into consideration individuals like myself who ride my bike to work would take the United States by years and that they must take into consideration roads and byways to facilitate bike traffic.