Sign CalBike’s petition to give biking and walking a fair share of federal transportation funding.
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© California Bicycle Coalition 2023
Tell Congress to Increase Investments in Biking, Walking, and Transit
The United States is facing a climate crisis that calls for an immediate and dramatic reduction in carbon-based fuel use.
California invests billions in car infrastructure such as freeways and parking. Yet, we still have traffic congestion, and our communities still suffer from disinvestment and poverty. We are paying the price for our car-dependence—not only in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, but also in pollution and other threats to safety, health, and the economy.
It’s time for a change.
This year, Congress will pass a transportation spending package for the next five years. Tell your legislators and President Biden that the national transportation funding bill must put people first, with infrastructure and services that make our communities prosperous, safe, and healthy. It should reduce inequality by prioritizing places harmed by disinvestment, and impacted by freeways and freight infrastructure. And it should make it easier to ride a bicycle, walk, and take transit.
Sign now, and tell all your friends to demand transportation spending that puts people first.
To: Honorable Peter DeFazio
Chair, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
United States Congress
Dear Chair DeFazio:
We, the undersigned, support a dramatic shift in national transportation funding priorities from the automobile and car/truck infrastructure to bicycling, walking, public transit, and other related investments. As a good start, we specifically ask you to support the following provisions that will enable Americans to enjoy safe, healthy, and sustainable bike trips for short distances:
- $2.5 billion for bike network connectivity grants. A network of slow streets, bike paths, and protected bike lanes that reaches all destinations in a community is key to making bicycling practical and accessible for most people. The $250 million included in the draft proposal passed by the House of Representatives last year was far too little for this vital project.
- Double the size of the Transportation Alternatives Program that builds safer streets throughout the country.
- Subsidize e-bike purchases and bike share memberships nationwide.
Active transportation is essential to creating the net-zero carbon future laid out by the Biden administration. Electric automobiles are one element, but without ambitious investment in other forms of truly sustainable transportation, it simply won’t be possible to cut carbon emissions as steeply as necessary to avoid a climate catastrophe. Full funding for biking, walking, and transit in the transportation bill is the first step.