Tanya Snyder

NOTE: The facts are even worse than they seemed when I wrote this article. States can flex TA money, not just to CMAQ, but to anything they want. See "The Awful Truth About the Transpo Bill's Bike/Ped Loophole," for more.

Transportation for America, the big-tent coalition for transportation reform, tends to be careful about the statements it puts out. Its folks are diplomatic, since they work with both sides on the Hill and a wide variety of coalition members. Yesterday, as details of the conference report were leaking out, they wanted to read the whole bill before weighing in publicly. Now that they've absorbed it all, they've come out swinging.

Sen. Barbara Boxer just issued the statement below. It confirms that “half of the funds for bike paths and pedestrian walkways [will be allocated] directly to local entities,” as spelled out in the Cardin-Cochran amendment. Update: It appears that the “opt-out” provision for states only applies to the half that they control, after local governments have their say. However, that’s still a blow to street safety compared to the Cardin-Cochran provision passed by the Senate, which required states to hold a competitive grant process to distribute their half of the funds.

Updated 4:15 p.m.:

Here's the latest transpo bill news that has filtered through the tight little seams in the armor around the conference committee.

House Speaker John Boehner spoke to reporters yesterday morning. His message: "Republicans Relentlessly Focused on Jobs."

Rep. James Lankford, a Tea Party Republican representing Oklahoma City, probably wasn't responsible for any of the 118 pedestrian deaths in his district between 2001 to 2010. And it's unlikely Rep. Steve Southerland of Panama City, Florida was behind the wheel when any of the 164 people were killed while walking in his district during the decade.

Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. John Mica just released this statement:

The House is about to vote on a motion to instruct, sponsored by Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN). It's a non-binding command to the House members of the conference committee to finish their work by June 22 -- this Friday. Walz's motion rejects the current talk of an extension in case the conference can't come to an agreement.

Last week, AASHTO, the national association of state DOTs, published the first update to its bicycle facility design guide in 13 years (available online for $144). Since many transportation engineers take their cues from AASHTO, there was an urgent need to update the 1999 guide, which failed to include many effective design treatments and promoted some standards that actually made streets more dangerous. The new guide includes some significant steps forward, but it still lacks the bikeway designs widely recognized as the best practice for making cycling a mainstream mode of transport.