The Senate’s Transportation bill: great for bikes

The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee released the text of the roads portion of the transportation reauthorization bill this morning and it is great for biking and walking.  

The new bill makes key improvements to funding programs while also including a new set of climate-related programs and bicycle-friendly policy. Not only did we get much of what the League asked for on safety and infrastructure, bicyclists will benefit from new programs regarding emission and congestion reductions. 

It’s because of those who attended the National Bike Summit, our League members, and our legislative action alert responders that the League has been able to build support for these issues on Capitol Hill. 

Tomorrow, the committee will discuss amendments and vote on the bill so there may be a few changes, but we don’t expect much impact on our issues.

The League’s Agenda

Transportation Alternatives

The TA program accounts for roughly 50 percent of all federal funding for biking and walking infrastructure. This bill increases that funding from $850 million per year to $1.2 Billion per year—a 40% increase in year one, and the program will grow with inflation for the rest of the bill’s life. The bill also makes a series of policy changes we had asked for which will make the program run more efficiently, and make it easier for cities to access funding. The League and the Safe Routes Partnership led on this effort. 

Issue	Current Law	League Ask	What’s in the Bill	How many bikes does it get? (Out of four)
Increase funding	TA capped at $850 million/year	Change to 10% of STBG program	$1.2 billion in first year (a 40% increase) and increase to $1.3 billion by last year
	50% goes into state grant program 50% divided by community population	34% goes into state program 66% goes to population pot	42.5% goes into state program 57.5% goes to population pot
Local Control	Large MPOs don’t have obligation authority	Allow large MPOs to obligate funds and implement projects	Included in bill
	Small MPOs (population< 200,000) are not eligible	Make Small MPOs eligible	Included in bill
State Flexibility	No money for Technical assistance	Up to 5% of TA funding can be used for technical assistance by local governments	Up to 7% for technical assistance
	All projects require a 20% local match	Allow States to use HSIP (safety funding) for local match for safety projects	Included in bill
		Require states to meet the 20% local match but give states some flexibility on the project level	Included in bill
	No rule on suballocating 100% of TA funds	Allow states to suballocate 100% of TA if there is transparent tracking of funds and FHWA approves their plan	Included in bill

Safety

The bill adds an additional $250 million per year to safety spending, with the caveat that if a state or urbanized area has higher than average bicyclists and pedestrian fatalities, then the new funding has to be spent on bicycling and pedestrian safety improvements. Between 2014-2016, states spent roughly $60 million on bicycling and walking safety improvements so this program could add another $500-750 million over the life of the bill. There are also incentive grants for states and urban areas if they reduce their bicycle and pedestrian rates. The League and the Safe Routes Partnership led on this effort.

Issue	Current Law	League Ask	What’s in the Bill	How many bikes does it get? (Out of four)
Highway Safety Improvement Program	States spend less than 1% of safety funds fixing dangerous places for people who bike and walk	Require states to use some of their HSIP funds on vulnerable user safety in areas with higher than average fatality rates	New funding for bicyclist and pedestrian safety in areas of high fatalities
			Incentives for better planning that reduces fatalities
	Funds only run through state DOTs	Suballocate some funding for MPOs	65% of new funding and an additional $250 million per year suballocated
			Incentive program for states that publish data on bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities and spending on safety fixes related to fatalities
	No HSIP fund can be used for education or programming	Make non-infrastructure projects eligible for HSIP	Allows HSIP funding to be used for up to 25% of spending on safety projects in other programs, including non-infrastructure

Planning

The bill includes a pilot program to get better modeling data to states and metropolitan and regional planning organizations—like we asked for in the COMMUTE Act. The planning section also includes a funding set aside for certain types of plans that help reduce single occupancy vehicle travel including: Bike Network plans, Complete Streets plans, etc. Transportation for America and the League led on this effort. 

Issue	Current Law	League Ask	What’s in the Bill	How many bikes does it get? (Out of four)
COMMUTE Act	No access data provided to state and local governments.	Create pilot project to provide access data to five states and 15 local governments	Included in bill
		Encourage better planning	Funding for bike plans, Complete Streets plan, etc.

Storm Resiliency

This bill is the first ever federal transportation bill that includes a section dedicated to the climate.While many of the programs in this section are fairly small, the mere existence of this section is a huge step forward and will be good for bikes. Not only does this climate section include a pilot project for using bikes to help with evacuation and immediate storm recovery efforts, it includes language encouraging damaged roads to be built back as complete streets.  In addition, biking infrastructure will also be eligible under multiple new programs, including Urban Congestion Mitigation program, Emission Reduction program, Alternative Fuel Corridors program and the Resiliency program. 

Issue	Current Law	League Ask	What’s in the Bill	How many bikes does it get? (Out of four)
Bike for emergency relief	No funding	Create pilot project for local governments to plan for and train to use bikes in emergency relief efforts	$1 million per year for select communities to work with a bike/walk organizations and community development organization
Change Emergency Relief rules	Supports communities building back destroyed infrastructure exactly as it was (except in a few cases)	Allow communities to build back improved infrastructure (such as Complete Streets improvements)	Encourages Complete Streets/access for middle- and low-income families
Incentivize better planning	Law lists resiliency in planning eligibilities	Incentivize resiliency planning	Included in bill

Federal Lands

The League had also requested a funding set aside for biking and walking infrastructure in Federal lands. That set aside was not included but funding for federal lands overall was increased. The League is working with People for Bikes on this issue. 

Additional Positive Changes 

In addition to getting all three of our National Bike Summit asks fulfilled in this transportation bill, there are a number of other positive changes included in this bill. 

• The bill includes a program for communities where highways bisect the community in a way that divides neighborhoods and cuts off bicycling and walking access. The Community Connection program would provide grants to local governments and community organizations to plan for replacing highways in a way that connects the community while meeting transportation demands.
• There’s a small program to fund bollard protection for biking and walking trails next to car traffic. This is a response to the 2017 terrorist attack in NYC.
• The bill creates a “Center of Excellence on New Mobility” to be a clearinghouse of research on how automatic vehicles, ride share, and scooter and bike share effect equity, land use, etc.
• The bill funds a study of the Recreation Trails program to see how much revenue is brought in through a tax on recreational vehicle fuel. 
• The grant program for bridges includes criteria regarding active transportation access. 

What about the rest of the bill?

The bill is a bipartisan effort that will result in a $287 billion bill over five years. Chairman Barrasso went into the bill with the goal of ensuring that rural areas benefited at the same rate as urban areas, that public lands were stewarded, and that the permitting process was streamlined. Ranking Member Carper went in with the goal of improving safety, creating a climate title, and addressing innovation. 

For advocates who were hoping for a complete revision of the transportation program, this bill is not that. The vast majority of the funding still goes to states through the existing formula programs. However, the addition of the climate title, the safety incentive programs and other new additions are a significant step forward to encouraging states and municipalities to plan and build differently.

Want more details? 

Join me for an hour-long deep dive webinar into the Senate Transportation bill on Friday, August 2, at 1pm Eastern. 

If you’d rather a shorter overview, you can join the 20 minute version next Monday, August 4, at 12:30pm Eastern.