Today’s announcement by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood of TIGER transportation stimulus grants included no funds for bicycling. The City had proposed a bold $12 million project to integrate bicycling and walking into the transportation infrastructure with more bike lanes, parking, safety education, skills building, and bike industry job creation.
The total exclusion of bicycling is surprising since the bike/ped component had by far the greatest return on investment, economic impact, VMT reduction, and CO2 savings of any other project.
Congratulations to Philadelphia, St. Paul, and Indianapolis for their multi-million dollar awards for new bike facilities and networks.
Let’s Go KC has more on the overall stimulus grant award.
KC Regional TIGER application.
Regional Economic Impact estimate
Bicycle and Pedestrian: $353 million
Green Impact Zone: $156 million
West Bottoms Freight Rail: $120 million
Regional Transit: $58 million
Front Street: $21 million
Carbon Dioxide reduction estimate (metric tons per year)
Bicycle and Pedestrian: 7,000
Regional Transit: 5,303
Green Impact Zone: 3,393
Vehicle Miles Traveled reduction (miles per year)
Bicycle and Pedestrian: 13.5 million
Regional Transit: 10.5 million
Green Impact Zone: N/A
Fuel Savings (gallons per year)
Bicycle and Pedestrian: 785,000
Green Impact Zone: 386,000
Regional Transit: N/A
Furthermore, it was estimated that safety improvements in the bike/ped proposal would have resulted in a 15% reduction injuries and fatalities and more than $10 million in savings in reduced impact of crashes and fatalities.
(source, KC regional TIGER application)
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