Re: [Ebbc-Talk] The Bike: A Well-Rounded Invention Javier Sierra Huffington Post May 21, 2012

On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 2:21 PM, Len Conly <[email protected]> wrote:

> Currently, walking and biking account for 12 percent of all trips in the
> U.S. Yet these means of transportation receive only 1.6 percent of federal
> transportation spending.


I see this figure a lot, but I wonder what the figure is if you include
state and local spending.  As I understand it, federal funding comes
largely from the Interstate Highway Trust
Fund<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_Trust_Fund> which
collects fuel taxes to mostly build freeways.  So it's no surprise that
cycling and walking get a small fraction of that particular bucket.

The streets cyclists and pedestrians use are generally funded at the state
and local level, especially lately with county sales taxes.  And our needs
are generally pretty inexpensive.  A Class I path is narrower than even a
residential street, so it needs less right-of-way, less asphalt, etc.  A
bike lane is often little more than paint.

It would be very easy to spin this as an example of how cost-effective
human-powered transportation is: "Look how much of a bargain we're getting:
12% of all trips at only 1.6% of the total federal cost".  Cycling and
walking are almost 10 times more cost-effective than other modes.
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