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Washington Bike Summit: Featured Speaker Martha Roskowski

By Barb Chamberlain | Published March 2, 2015

“There are bike lanes, and then there are bike lanes. The best have something the others don’t: Real protection for cyclists. They find some way of separating riders from the rest of the road—a line of parked cars, a row of planter pots, some plastic barriers.

Go to advanced cycling cities—places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen—and that’s the norm. It’s a major reason why those places have far higher rates of ridership than here. Because people don’t have to compete with cars, cycling is something the whole family feels comfortable doing, even the very young and very old.”

— Ben Schiller, FastCoExist from Fast Company, “These Are America’s 10 Best Bike Lanes”

Martha Roskowski, Vice President for Local Innovation, People for Bikes Ask anyone who’s working with the latest bikeway designs who they should talk to about two-way protected bike lanes in the U.S. and one name will come up again and again: Martha Roskowski.

Hard to believe it has only been 3 years since Martha joined PeopleForBikes in January 2012 and orchestrated the launch of the highly successful Green Lane Project. The Project is spurring the development of protected bikeways in U.S. cities and towns, coast to coast.

During the first two years of the project the number of separated and protected (from motor vehicle traffic) U.S. bike lanes tripled, from 50 to more than 150. This infrastructure concept has been widely embraced as a cost-effective way to improve road safety for all users while making bicycling more appealing to a broader audience.

Martha came to Seattle in fall of 2013 for a meeting co-hosted by Washington Bikes and Cascade Bicycle Club in the run-up to the selection of cities to participate in the second round of Green Lane Projects. She made no bones about it: To have any chance at all of being selected a city’s leaders couldn’t just say they would study two-way protected lanes or put them in a long-term bike master plan. They had to commit to putting a lane on the ground for real within 12 months.

Seattle city staff and elected officials took her words to heart and submitted a winning proposal. The two-way protected bike lane on Second Avenue through the heart of downtown opened in September 2014 and was named to People for Bikes’ list of the top ten best bike lanes in 2014.

Martha serves as Vice President of Local Innovation at People for Bikes and directs the PFB Green Lane Project. Before joining PFB she spent 7 years managing GO Boulder, heading up the innovative transportation planning, policy and program efforts for the City of Boulder. She led the America Bikes campaign in Washington DC from 2002 to 2004, focused on the reauthorization of the transportation bill. That effort created the federal Safe Routes to School Program and launched the Complete Streets movement. She also spent seven years as the Executive Director of statewide advocacy group Bicycle Colorado.

Martha will open the Washington Bike Summit with remarks during the lunch plenary session Monday, March 16. For more details on the agenda and to register for the Summit, see our 2015 Bike Summit page.

Thank You, Sponsors!

The Washington Bike Summit presented by Washington Bikes is made possible by our outstanding sponsors:

Platinum: Cascade Bicycle Club, Group Health
Gold: Washington State Dept. of Transportation
Silver: Raleigh, People for Bikes
Bronze: Alta Planning + Design, Foundation for Healthy Generations, Mithun Design, Ortlieb USA, REI, SRAM, Transpo Group
Other support: QBP

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Posted in News | 1 Comment

McClinchy Mile Oso Strong Ride

By Louise McGrody | Published February 25, 2015

Whitehorse Mountain image courtesy of BIKES Club.

One week after last year’s McClinchy Mile Bike Ride hosted by BIKES Club of Snohomish County, tragedy struck in their community. A devastating landslide poured mud, rocks, trees and other debris into the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River and onto SR 530 near Oso. Forty-three people were killed.

This year, BIKES is using their annual event ride to commemorate the tragedy and support the communities of Oso and Darrington. On March 15, McClinchy Mile Oso Strong Ride will travel along the reopened SR 530 corridor to the communities of Oso and Darrington. Route options of 37 and 57 miles will highlight the scenic Stillaguamish River valley and offer stunning views of Whitehorse Mountain and other Cascade peaks. It will also bring riders through the landslide area past local memorials.

“Last year’s McClinchy Mile was one week prior to the landslide and our Arlington ride start is just a few miles away,” recalled BIKES member and former Washington Bikes board president Kristin Kinnamon. “The tragedy affected all of us in Snohomish County, either directly or indirectly. As Snohomish County’s bike club, BIKES wants to commemorate the landslide and support the communities by promoting bike tourism and trails in the area.”

This year’s ride includes a unique food stop at Rhodes River Ranch, where the restaurant will provide “cowgirl biscuits and gravy,” hot beverages, and other snacks.

Funds generated from the ride will support the Oso-area Whitehorse Trail, which was damaged by the landslide, and bike tourism through the Centennial Trail Coalition and Washington Bikes. McClinchy also supports BIKES Club of Snohomish County and its community work. BIKES has hosted this event for more than 30 years.

Registration is $30 in advance and $35 on the day of the ride, which begins at Haller Middle School in Arlington. Helmets are required for the ride.

Riders who register by March 1 will be entered for a chance to win an overnight stay and dinner at Angel of the Winds Casino near Arlington. Registration and event updates can be found on the McClinchy Mile page of the BIKES Club website.

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Many event rides support Washington Bikes’ work to grow bicycling in our state. Please consult our ride calendar for a list of these rides.

Posted in Bike Clubs, Economic Impact, Events, Rides, Snohomish County, Tourism, Trails | Comments Off

This Weekend: Seattle Bike Show

By Louise McGrody | Published February 24, 2015

Has this spring like weather got you psyched for a new season of bicycling? Then put the Seattle Bike Show on your calendar this weekend.

The two-day show (Feb 28/Mar 1) brings together top industry manufacturers, retailers, tour providers, advocates and media for two days of trying out the latest gear, exploring event rides and tours, finding ways to get more involved, and getting consumers ready for the 2015 cycling season.

This year the show has a new venue, CenturyLink Field Event Center, and 150+ exhibitors. Washington Bikes will be on hand with a booth (#1135), so drop by to say hi, grab some community bike maps and other helpful biking information. We’ll be distributing info on some great Washington bike rides and selling copies of Cycling Sojourner: A Guide to the Best Multi-Day Tours in Washington.

A performance area will have the latest and greatest demonstrations to learn, educate and enhance your biking experience. There will also be a Classic Bike Show featuring some of the most spectacular and historic bikes in the nation.

The 2015 Seattle Bike Show is being produced by Cascadia Events in partnership with Cascade Bicycle Club. Bike valet parking will be provided by Bike Works, so plan to ride your bike to the show. Tickets are $10 and include access to the Travel, Trips & Adventure Expo.

Visit seattlebikeshow.com to learn about the show.

Posted in Adventure, Events, Gear/Maintenance, King County, Rides, Seattle, Tourism, Travel | Tagged bike tours, bike travel, Seattle | Comments Off

Olympia Update: SSB 5438 – Faulty Traffic Signals Bill – Moves Forward

By Blake Trask | Published February 23, 2015

Today Substitute Senate Bill (SSB) 5438 was pulled in the Senate Rules Committee. Next this legislation that provides bicycle riders a safe and reasonable procedure to proceed through broken traffic signals that fail to detect bicycles moves to the Senate floor.

Senator Curtis King (R-Yakima) is prime sponsor of Washington Bikes’ priority legislation.

Today in the Senate Rules Committee Senator Curtis King pulled SSB 5438. The bill will now proceed to potential debate and dialogue on the Senate floor.

SSB 5438 builds on legislation passed in 2014 allowing for motorcycles to stop and proceed or make left-hand turns through traffic control signals that do not detect motorcycles under certain very limited conditions with a specific protocol that is clear and understood by law enforcement. For the first time ever, Washington Bikes sought to include electric-assisted bicycles in legislation, noting the increase in popularity of these bicycles.

In the Senate Transportation Committee, the bill was amended to make some improvements, including accounting for carbon fiber bikes that are even more challenging for many traffic signals to detect than standard metal frames.

Washington Bikes thanks Senator King for his sponsorship of SSB 5438 and continuing support of legislation that improves predictability and gives bicycle riders a clear protocol for dealing with faulty transportation infrastructure that doesn’t detect their bikes.

[Tweet “Thx Sen Curtis King for moving bill to address faulty traffic signals. I’m w/@WAbikes on this.”]

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Care about better bicycling in Washington? When you join others like you by making your tax-deductible donation you help us keep working for you.

Posted in Advocacy, Funding/Policy, Infrastructure, Issues & Advocacy, Legislature, Transportation | 1 Comment

Yakima Bikes and Walks Rolls Monthly With Its Bike Party

By Guest Blogger | Published February 23, 2015

Becca Brown, author of today’s post, lives in Yakima and works as an environmental planner. A transplant from Massachusetts via Minneapolis, Becca wants to see better biking infrastructure in her new community and helped co-found the advocacy group Yakima Bikes and Walks.

Ahh, the sights and sounds of Mardi Gras. Louie Armstrong crooning about the saints’ homecoming; the regal purple, the shimmering golds, the high visibility greens, the flashing red tail lights.

Well, that is how Yakima Bikes and Walks celebrated Fat Tuesday this year. Our bike party–which we hold on the First Friday of each month–was a mobile, slow rolling celebration with a Dixieland soundtrack. A busy February night with a threat of rain and wind yielded the smallest turnout since our bike parties began back in August. A baker’s dozen on bikes, still lit up from the Holiday Lighted Parade, rode south from the local pizza joint and through residential neighborhoods. Our route followed a brand new bicycle lane before we turned east, and then back north along the tree-lined boulevard of Naches Avenue.

Every month, the bike parties are organized by a couple, Tyler and Megan, who relocated to Yakima from San Francisco last year. They develop the route, identify fun pit stops around town, and come up with fun themes for costumes and decorations. The parties have become a great way to have fun and be visible as bicyclists around town. It provides people the chance to meet other bicyclists, allows folks a safe, comfortable ride as part of a group, explores parts of town that are often overlooked, and brings visibility to our group as a whole.

As we passed folks sitting on their porches, walking their dogs, and playing with their children, we smiled, waved, and shouted “Bike Party!” Drivers waiting at stop signs waved us through, and the motorists caught behind our parade on narrow streets waited patiently for an opportunity to pass.

Our route crossed important upcoming transportation projects. We passed by the location of the East-West Corridor, which will eventually connect the area north of downtown Yakima to Interstate 82 and the community of Terrace Heights by way of an abandoned mill site and potential area of major development. The project is still in the early design and development phases. We then pedaled west across North First Street, which will be renovated and improved in the coming years, including the addition of bicycle lanes and wide sidewalks. Yakima Bikes and Walks had a strong showing at the City Council meeting last year where the final design (including the bicycle lanes and sidewalk) was voted on and approved.

After about four miles of leisurely bicycling, we pulled into the Tieton Cider Works new location northwest of Yakima’s downtown core. Although the cidery has been in operation for several years, based in tiny Tieton, WA, this particular location and tasting room opened in November of last year. Smells of barbeque and the wail of the blues greeted us as entered the venue. This stop afforded the opportunity for a delicious adult beverage, a potty break, a photo op, and an opportunity to socialize before we saddled up and headed back to the beginning of our trek.

We part ways, heading towards our other Friday night destinations. Several folks head to a free concert, still decked out in their Mardi Gras purple, gold, and green. Others head back home to their families. A couple of us stopped in at a local winery to see some live music. Between songs, the musician, Keelan McPhee, saw us come in and said into the mic, “the bike party people are here!” A couple sitting near me leaned over and asked me, “what is the bike party? We want to do that!” I don’t know what next month’s theme will be, but I hope to see them there!

Members of Yakima Bikes and Walks

Posted in Advocacy, Complete Streets, Guest Blogger, Infrastructure, Rides, Yakima | 2 Comments

Seven Wonders of Ballard Explored!

By Guest Blogger | Published February 20, 2015

Today’s post was repurposed from Sustainable Ballard, a Seattle neighborhood group that educates, inspires, and engages neighbors to take action to live more sustainably both individually and collectively. This post, which originally ran on their blog in July 2013, describes a bike ride that explores the Seven Wonders of Ballard by bike.

Sixteen intrepid cyclists, ages 3-65, and one pooch set off to explore the seven wonders of Ballard on a July morning in 2013. Our tour leader, Jean, set an easy pace as we explored the local area. Along the way we discovered that four riders lived within two blocks of each other, and all got to know their neighbors and neighborhood a little better.

Our First Stop was Kirke Park, the newest park in Ballard, where we learned that the religious group that established the property had once lived quite independently, growing their own food and maintaining the buildings themselves. Groundswell NW worked with neighbors to get this property purchased by the city in 2008 and construction began in 2011. Features include: community picnic area, play area, orchard, p-patch gardens, and a community garden.

Our Second Stop was the totem pole at Baker Park, another Groundswell project. Jenny (our sweep) told us that this park was originally a tree nursery and the totem was carved on site by native carver Fred Louth of the Haida tribe. The tree was a dying monkey puzzle and the feature animal in the totem is the native tree frog. A few years after being carved the totem pole began to rot at the base, so it was cut and mounted on a concrete base. The park is maintained by the Whittier Heights Neighborhood Council and the wildlife garden is maintained by the next door Montessori school.

A visit to the Ballard p-patch

Stop Three was the Ballard P-Patch and site of the Annual Art in the Garden event. The P-Patch features a beautiful community-built picnic area and entry arch, many well-established gardens. The nearby parking lot belongs to Our Redeemers Lutheran Church and was at one point the location of Tent City3, a portable, self-managed community of up to 100 homeless people.

At Stop Four, we inspected the stairs that climb up the steep hill from Golden Gardens all the way to 32nd Ave NW & NW 85th. Stair climbers that day got cheered by an appreciative group of Seven Wonders cyclists.

Stop Five was the incomparable Sunset Hill Park which has a sweeping view of Puget Sound – except that day when the view was completely socked in. Tour members shared that a nearby tree had been site for an eagle’s nest in the recent past.

At Stop Six, we visited the Nordic Heritage Museum and viewed an authentic Viking Ship!

This ship is a central feature of the Viking Days celebration held in August. This two-day festival bursts with Nordic food, music, demonstrations, crafts, and a Viking Encampment.

Our Final Stop was the oldest church in Ballard, the Interfaith Church, and the historic landmark there showing its building date as 1892!

It was a great day for biking – cool with a slight drizzle and we completed the tour in about 1 1/2 hrs. We know there is more to explore in Ballard, and biking is a great way to do it! You can view the Seven Wonders of Ballard route map here.

Keep your eye on Sustainable Ballard’s project page for upcoming tours.

Write Your Ride!

Do you have a favorite local ride that you’d like to share with others? Then Write Your Ride! Use our form to submit details about your ride, including a photo, and we might use it on our blog.

Posted in Adventure, Family biking, King County, Rides, Seattle | 3 Comments

Senate Transportation Revenue Package – A Good Start to Grow Bicycling Statewide

By Blake Trask | Published February 18, 2015

Washington Bikes testifies today in support of the Washington State Senate transportation revenue package. The proposed package still needs additional improvements to grow active transportation investments but today’s legislation represents an encouraging start and recognizes the need for state-level investments in biking and walking.

Today Washington Bikes signs on in support of the Washington State Senate package proposal for additional state-level transportation funding and appropriations. We thank the bill sponsors for recognizing the value of state investments in projects that help accomplish many of our priorities:

advance safety,
improve health for all ages,
revitalize main streets in towns and cities across the state, and
grow the outdoor recreation economy, in which bicycle riders spend over $3 billion each year.

As is true of all its predecessors, this proposal is not perfect. The various transportation revenue proposals that have come out since 2013 have gone through many iterations and drawn various critiques, including widespread concerns about whether or not states are investing enough in maintenance, preservation and operations. Especially problematic, from 2009-11 Washington state was one of the leaders in focusing heavily on expansion and not fixing decaying roads, and we called for a “fix it first” emphasis in our work on the last round of transportation revenue proposals. Most recently questions have been raised about the shape of transit funding and how this proposal impacts some of the climate policy priorities of Governor Inslee, as well as provisions in the package that impact biking and walking investments.

Many of the recent issues raised go beyond the scope of Washington Bikes work to grow bicycling statewide. Washington Bikes and our over 40 coalition supporters in economic development, public health, and outdoor recreation recognize there is still more work to be done and larger investments to be made for this legislation to create a package that improves physical activity, makes safer streets, and improves economies statewide.

But put in perspective, this package represents a significant shift from discussions in the 2013 negotiations where active transportation investments were largely absent from the State Senate discussions. The current proposal includes a combined $281 million in the investments that Washington Bikes directly champions. This level of proposed funding represents an encouraging bipartisan start to supporting investments that foster healthy communities through biking and walking—the kind of investments that represent our top legislative priority.

Today’s Senate Transportation Committee hearing represents the beginning of a protracted legislative process with multiple opportunities for amendments and additional discussion about the priorities of Washingtonians. Those priorities were clearly expressed in a survey last fall that found overwhelming voter support for making streets safer for our children. Projects that support Safe Routes to School, bicycle and pedestrian safety, and complete streets must be a part of the legislative dialogue at every phase of the negotiations.

Mom Tonya shared this with us, saying, “Kids out of school, cold & rainy, time to ride!”

The projects we care about benefit Washingtonians. Safe Routes to School projects have made our children safer and more active in hundreds of schools around the state in places like Wenatchee, White Salmon, University Place, Vancouver, and Airway Heights. A bicycle and pedestrian project will let residents and visitors in Sultan safely walk and bike, while doing double duty as a utility corridor for water and sewer and a key emergency connector in the event that the seismically unfit US 2 bridge fails. The Whitehorse Trail will connect Arlington and Darrington through the SR 530 slide and will serve as a new economic development engine for the Stillaguamish Valley’s outdoor recreation economy.

Countless other examples around the state embedded in the projects we continue to advocate for show the benefit and strong return on state investment to residents and visitors alike.

As the transportation revenue debate unfolds, Washington Bikes looks forward to working with the Senate and House to grow these investments further. We will move forward with our coalition that continues to focus on expanding investments for healthy and active kids, as well as with the countless businesses and communities statewide that support investments that connect communities via biking and walking. We appreciate Senator King, Hobbs, Fain, and Liias’s intent and their good start with this legislation and look forward to advocating for the essential next steps to grow bicycling statewide.

Join us and sign the petition to fund bicycle safety and better bicycle connections!

Petition: Fund Bicycle Safety & Better Bike Connections

Getting more people on bikes is good for our personal health, local businesses, our towns, our economy, and the air we breathe.

That’s why we call on the governor and the state legislature to make safer bicycling a top priority and to invest in more bike lanes and trails to create a complete network of bicycle connections.

Posted in Advocacy, Complete Streets, Economic Impact, Funding/Policy, Infrastructure, Issues & Advocacy, Legislature, Safe Routes to School, Safety, Transportation | 2 Comments

Washington Bike Summit: Featured Speaker Samantha Ollinger

By Barb Chamberlain | Published February 12, 2015

Samantha Ollinger, Executive Director, Bike San Diego, will be a featured speaker at the 2015 Washington Bike Summit. Image by Allison Don.

Her voice as a bike blogger was fresh, forceful, and funny. When I first read her personal blog, Brown Girl in the Lane, I thought, “This is one I want to make sure I read regularly.” I was a volunteer bike advocate thanks to help from the staff of the statewide bike advocacy nonprofit, organizing Bike to Work Week activities in Spokane and spending most of my spare time thinking about bike transportation and policy. Compiling a list of women’s bike blogs as a hobby led me to Sam.

Fast forward a couple of years. I’ve joined that same statewide bike advocacy organization as executive director and I’m at a leadership retreat put on by the Alliance for Biking and Walking. I meet a young woman who has just founded something called Bike San Diego. She says something that rings a bell. I look at her and say, “Wait, are you Brown Girl in the Lane?”

Sure enough. Thanks to the great national network that the Alliance helps foster, I got to know her in person. At the League of American Bicyclists National Women’s Bicycling Summit, I saw her engage a roomful of advocates and leaders on the importance of political engagement. She was a featured speaker at Future Bike in 2014. She was nominated for the Alliance for Biking & Walking’s Advocate of the Year award that same year and her organization took home the Advocacy Organization of the Year trophy.

From her nomination for the Advocate of the Year Award: No one has done more to advance bike advocacy in a major California city in just a few years than Sam Ollinger. With her forceful, precise style, Sam has altered the transportation conversation and the direction of public policy in California’s second most populous city. In 2013, Sam oversaw the passage of a progressive $312 million city bike plan update and a regional decision to front-load $200 million of bike-ped investments. Thanks in part to Sam’s influence, 2013 mayoral candidates competed with one another over who was more bike-friendly, the City of San Diego has officially embraced design guidelines for protected bike lanes, and thousands of San Diegans are informed and activated online. Sam’s work with BikeSD has challenged longstanding bike advocates to up their game, and they have responded strongly, creating additional momentum to move San Diego towards robust active transportation.

If you’d like to be able to say similar things about your hometown, you’ll appreciate the energy and inspiration Sam brings as a keynote speaker at the 2015 Washington Bike Summit. Read Ollinger’s bio below and register for the Summit today.

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Samantha Ollinger is the founder of BikeSD, a nonprofit cycling advocacy organization whose mission is to transform San Diego’s streetscape to be a world-class bicycle friendly city. As the Executive Director, Ollinger sees San Diego exemplifying the ideal urban city that civic leaders around the world can only aspire to. Bicycling is one of the many avenues to lead San Diego onto the world stage and BikeSD is committed to changing and executing the city’s narrative that will drive this transformation.

In under three years, thanks to Ollinger’s leadership, BikeSD’s efforts have resulted in having San Diego’s mayoral candidates in the past two election cycles competing with one another over who was more bike-friendly (the current mayor constantly refers to himself as a “cyclist” and talks about riders’ needs on the road).

In 2013, Sam oversaw the passage of a progressive $312 million city bike plan update and a regional decision to front-load $200 million of bike-ped investments in historically neglected neighborhoods. BikeSD pushed for San Diego to become a member city of NACTO, pushed to have the city adopt the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, initiated and helped with the launch of the city’s first open streets event, CicloSDias, advocated to have the city to create the city’s first Bicycle Advisory Committee (first promised in 2002), and won the 2014 Advocacy Organization of the Year award from the Alliance for Biking and Walking.

An immigrant to the U.S. from India and a graduate of Temple University with a Business Administration degree with a focus on Accounting, Ollinger evaluates the movement around livability through a financial lens.

Thank You, Sponsors!

The Washington Bike Summit presented by Washington Bikes is made possible by our outstanding sponsors:

Platinum: Cascade Bicycle Club, Group Health
Gold: Washington State Dept. of Transportation
Silver: Raleigh, People for Bikes
Bronze: Alta Planning + Design, Foundation for Healthy Generations, Mithun Design, Ortlieb USA, REI, SRAM, Transpo Group
Other support: QBP

Posted in News | 1 Comment

Moving Forward and Amending – SB 5438 Update on Faulty Traffic Signals Bill

By Blake Trask | Published February 6, 2015

Washington Bikes’ priority legislation, SSB 5438, has moved out of the Senate Transportation Committee. The legislation provides bicycle riders a safe and reasonable procedure to proceed through broken traffic signals that fail to detect bicycles.

Late last month we reported on Senate Bill (SB) 5438, sponsored by Senator Curtis King (R-Yakima), that builds on legislation passed in 2014 allowing for motorcycles to stop and proceed or make left-hand turns through traffic control signals that do not detect motorcycles under certain very limited conditions with a specific protocol that is clear and understood by law enforcement.

This year’s original bill sought to include bicycles and electric-assisted bicycles to the 2014 legislation. By the time of SB 5438’s hearing on February 2, additional feedback came forward to address two additional policy improvements: (1) to incorporate concerns that the composition (such as carbon fiber bikes that are even more difficult to detect) of bikes can sometimes be problematic and should be recognized in this bill; and (2) that a final vehicle – mopeds – should be included in the bill to make this section of state law inclusive of more vehicles (motorcycles, bicycles, and mopeds) that regularly experience troubles with traffic signal detection on Washington state roads and streets.

Dialogue at February 2’s Senate Transportation Committee public hearing clarified these additions to the legislation and led to agreement on next steps related to the bill.

The following day, executive action was taken on Substitute Senate Bill (SSB) 5438 and the Senate Transportation Committee passed the bill to the Senate Rules Committee. We now await action in the Rules Committee before it goes to the Senate floor for discussion and a vote.

[Tweet “Glad to see #WAleg progress on faulty traffic signals. Bill helps bicyclists.”]

[Tweet “Thx Sen Curtis King for sponsoring bill on faulty traffic signals. I’m w/@WAbikes on this.”]

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Care about better bicycling in Washington? When you join others like you by making your tax-deductible donation you help us keep working for you.

Posted in Advocacy, Funding/Policy, Infrastructure, Issues & Advocacy, News, Transportation | 1 Comment

SB 5724: Safe Routes to School Now and Into the Future

By Blake Trask | Published February 5, 2015

Washington Bikes priority legislation to create a federal and state funding floor for Safe Routes to School is up for public hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday.

Since its inception in 2004 as a pilot project that Washington Bikes lobbied for and helped establish, the Safe Routes to School state grant program has built projects in 177 schools, making walking and biking conditions safer for 77,000 children. Safe Routes to School educational programs funded by the state have reached 42 school districts providing safe walking and biking skills to over 55,000 middle school-aged children.

Rates of children’s active commuting to school are important reflections of infrastructure, safety, and community attitudes as well as indicators of kids’ future transportation choices as adults. In the United States, these rates are steadily declining, as the proportion of kids aged 5-14 walking or biking to school plummeted from 48% to 13% between 1969 and 2009. This has serious implications for our future physical and mental health, and health care expenditures.

Senate Bill (SB) 5724, sponsored by Senator Andy Billig (D-Spokane) and 12 additional Republicans and Democrats seeks to ensure the continuation of this important safety and health program by codifying federal funding at the level provided in the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium and state funding commitments made as part of the 2012 additive transportation fee increases.

This bill — for the first time in the existence of the state Safe Routes to School grant program — would create a floor of state and federal funding of approximately $17 million per biennium that schools, cities, and towns can count on as they look to build safer sidewalks, bikeways, and intersections to connect children with their schools.

Senator Andy Billig (Center) wants to ensure that more Washington state children can walk and bike to school safely

SB 5742 helps guarantee that we continue to grow investments that already show results. At schools with completed projects, the number of children biking and walking has increased by over 20 percent. Safe Routes to School projects have brought new infrastructure and safety improvements, along with reductions in motor vehicle citations. Washington state Safe Routes to School investments have added 75,000 feet of new sidewalks near schools, too. So far no collisions involving bicyclists or pedestrians have been recorded at Safe Routes to School project locations after project completion.

As part of the Safe Routes, Healthy Kids Washington Bikes and its partners are actively working to secure and increase sustainable funding for these projects in Washington state. Filling the unmet need for backlogged Safe Routes to School projects statewide result in multiple benefits:

Regular physical activity is achieved via biking & walking to school.
Kids who walk to school are more alert, eager and ready to learn.
Streets are safer when more people walk and bike on them.
Reduced transportation costs – both for parents and school districts

Supporting SB 5724 is central to the campaign’s mission to support safe routes and healthy kids in Washington state. Join us in asking the legislature to focus on safety and complete connections.

[Tweet “Thx @andybillig for #SafeRoutesNow #WAleg investment for active healthy kids. I’m w/@WAbikes on this.”]

Not all co-sponsors have Twitter accounts but many do. Add to your thank-you so they see you care about this bill, especially if one is your state senator: @senator_Rivers@SenMarkoLiias @senatorfain@pamroach1 @dsfrockt @bobhasegawa@pramilaj @cyrushabib. No Twitter account: Steve Hobbs, Christine Rolfes, Karen Fraser

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Care about better bicycling in Washington? When you join others like you with your tax-deductible donation you make our work possible.

Posted in Advocacy, Federal, Funding/Policy, Infrastructure, Issues & Advocacy, Legislature, News, Safe Routes to School | 1 Comment