National Transportation Bill Gets Moving in the House, Puts Breaks on Biking and Fixing Bridges
Finally! The long overdue transportation reauthorization bill is at last going somewhere. Three years ago, CNT and our national partners, such as Transportation for America, began working with various users and operators of our transportation systems, business leaders, and political leaders to gather information about what worked and what did not work in the last national transportation legislation.
We shared what we learned with Members of Congress, who are responsible for the re-authorization and funding of the federal transportation legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives has released its transportation bill to the public. They listened to some of what we told them, but they failed to address some crucial needs. In particular, it looks like they forgot that this is supposed to be a transportation bill that serves all users of the transportation network—transit riders, cyclists, pedestrians, car sharers—and assures that they get where they are going safely. The bill as drafted fails to do that.
On February 2rd, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will start finalizing their version of the bill. In particular, CNT and our partners believe that two amendments should be added:
- The first would restore funding for safe biking and walking
- The second would make repairing the nation’s deficient bridges a priority.
Please take a moment to contact your Member of Congress now and tell him or her to support those two amendments. Our elected leaders need to know that the public is paying attention and wants better transportation for all modes of travel.
