Unfortunately, by a vote of 27 to 29, the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee just moments ago voted down the bipartisan Petri/Johnson/Lipinski amendment that would have fixed many of the deficiencies in the House transportation bill, particularly as they relate to the Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School programs.

Rhode Island doesn’t have a representative on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, but you can see how other state legislators voted.  There is still work to be done.  If you have yet to contact our representatives, please do so and let them know that alternative transportation matters!  We need to keep the pressure on.

cut every reference to bicycling and walking out of the federal transportation policy!

Clearly this shows how important some of our current legislators feel alternative modes of transportation are.  If this bill is allowed to pass in its current form, it would mean:

• Destroys Transportation Enhancements by making the program optional
• Repeals the Safe Routes to School program, reversing years of progress in creating safe ways for kids to walk and ride bicycles to school
• Allows states to build bridges without safe access for pedestrians and bicycles
• Eliminates bicycle and pedestrian coordinators in state DOTs
• Eliminates language that insures that rumble strips “do not adversely affect the safety or mobility of bicyclists, pedestrians or the disabled”

There is a shimmer of hope though

Representative Petri (R-WI) will stand up for bicycling and walking by offering an amendment that restores dedicated funding for Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School. Mr. Petri can only be successful if everyone with a stake in safe sidewalks, crosswalks, and bikeways contacts their Representative on the Transportation Committee again today to urge them to vote YES on the Petri amendment!

Please voice your opinion.  It only takes a few moments to fill out the online form.

Pictured l-r: Allison McNally (Bike Newport), Stephen Miller (formerly Rail Trail Conservancy), Chuck Flippo (OCNRR), Christina Erwin (Bike Newport / Newport Bicycle), Don Elbert (OCNRR Exec Dir), Eric Weis (Trail Program Coordinator, East Coast Greenway Alliance), Art Weber (Middletown Town Council President), Bart Grimes (Administrator, Newport Hospital), Dick Adams (AIPC Chair), Bari George (President, Bike Newport), Sam Jernigan (Bike Newport), Steve Heath (Vice President, Bike Newport), Gary Crosby (Portsmouth Town Planner), Evan Smith (Exec Dir Newport and Bristol Visitors Bureau), Rep Peter Martin (RI House of Representatives)  Not pictured, photographer Tom Shevlin (Editor, Newport This Week) and Chris Tompsett (Bike Newport)

On the agenda for this month’s meeting:

• Bike Month/BikeToWork Day Planning Kick Off (volunteers needed)
• Bicycle Dreams Movie Event (volunteers needed)
• Commuter Guide Project Update
• Membership Update
• State Legislation Update

We will have time at the end of the meeting for other topics of interest to those present.

• Coventry connection from bike path to Middle School
• East Bay Bike path extension in Warren (though route between County Rd and Metacom unresolved)
• East Greenwich – Warwick bike/ped bridge connection near Forge Rd
• South County Bikeway, phase 4 – though final route in Narragansett still uncertain
• Jamestown “Ice Road” path connecting North Rd, East Shore Rd
• Tiverton bikeway
• Possible bike path along Bay Commission route along river near Gano
• URI connection from south county path to campus
• Woonsocket extension of the Blackstone bikeway

Likely to be left out of the TIP:

• Middletown proposals to add bike paths alongside West Main Rd, East Main Rd, Burma Rd
• “Hope Spur” in W Warwick-Coventry
• signage projects in Burrillville, Coventry, Woonsocket
• a bike path alongside Corn Neck Rd on Block Island
• funding the extension of Blackstone Bikeway in Cumberland/Central Falls
• proposed Truman Drive bikeway in Woonsocket
• Popasquash Rd bikeway in Bristol
• bike access to Jamestown bridge
• development of Pontiac Secondary bikeway in Cranston.

And there are still earmarks remaining for the West Bay path in Coventry, 10-Mile River extension, and the Woonasquatucket.

All of this is still subject to public review. RIBikers can also communicate their thoughts about this on this site or by contacting Sue Barker or Barry Schiller who are on the TAC

Driving is an inherently dangerous activity. But in the U.S., we’ve generally accepted that the gains in convenience, freedom and productivity that motor vehicles provide outweigh their many hazards.

I believe you’ve heard this exact sentiment noted many times here before.  Somehow, this country as a whole has come to accept injuries and fatalities as a byproduct of motoring.  This doesn’t need to be the case.  They go on to say that the laws should reflect common sense:

The first rule should be common sense. For example, sending text messages while driving, an objectively dangerous pursuit, should be banned outright. (It already is in 35 states and Washington, D.C.)

But further restrictions — such as allowing the use of only hands-free devices, levying stiffer penalties for accidents involving mobile-phone use, or enacting a ban on drivers interacting with anything more complicated than the radio dial

But how do you actually get people to pay attention? You reward those that are doing the right thing:

one solution the NTSB cites is promising. It suggests that device makers develop technology that would disable phones within reach of the driver while a vehicle is in motion… Insurance companies can speed public adoption of this technology by offering discounts for drivers who use it.

and punish those that don’t:

The idea would be to attach a social stigma to DWD that’s the rough equivalent of DWI. Ad campaigns would help. Punitive insurance premiums would also concentrate drivers’ minds. And states could start requiring offending motorists to attend awareness classes.

Texting, emailing or chatting on a cellphone while driving is simply too dangerous to be allowed, federal safety investigators declared Tuesday, urging all states to impose total bans except for emergencies.

The recommendation goes so far as to make it illegal even to use a hands free device.  I’m doubtful that such a federal law will ever come to be in the US, but this is the first I’ve ever read of federal investigators even making the suggestion.  I’ve experienced plenty of close calls while biking and truly believe a large percentage of them could have been avoided if drivers were more alert.  It’s WAY too easy to be distracted while driving these days: cell phones, mp3 players, DVD players, navigation devices… the list just goes on.

The picture included with this post depicts

a rescue worker at the scene of an accident involving two school buses, a tractor-trailer and another passenger vehicle, near Gray Summit, Mo. Federal safety investigators say a 19-year-old driver was texting at the time his pickup truck, two school buses and other vehicles collided in a deadly pileup on an interstate highway in Missouri last year.

While it is great to see attention paid to this issue at a federal level, it would be even better to see enforcement of existing laws and stricter penalties for people who cause accidents through distracted driving.  If you prefer to have your news read to you, I also found some ABC coverage on the same topic

Here at RIBike, we are working behind the scenes to introduce our vulnerable roadway user legislation for the third straight session.  Each attempt, it seems to be building support in the legislature, but we could use even more help.  If you have experience with legislation or have an interest in seeing what legislative work is all about, come to one of our monthly meetings and learn how you too can make a difference!

Earlier, anticipating a 30% cut in Federal support, RIDOT zeroed out using any discretionary funds for bike projects.  However, now expecting at most a 5% cut (the US Senate reauthorizing committee level funded the program) RIDOT does recommend a program of about $3.4 million/year for bike and pedestrian projects as well as $1 million for “safe routes to school.”   Which projects?  That is to be prioritized by a subcommittee of the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) using agreed on criteria, and reported back to the TAC and later to the State Planning Council.   RIBIKE board officers Barry Schiller and Sue Barker are on this committee.

In addition there are about $26 million in remaining earmarked funds for bike projects.  This includes approximately $10 million for the West Bay bike path, $5.7 million for the Woonasquatucket, almost $1.7 million for the 10-mile River Greenway, almost $1.6 million for Colt Park bikeways, almost $1.3 million for the South County Bike Path, and $640,000 for the Blackstone River Bikeway.

City/town submissions were often supportive of bike and pedestrian projects.  Here are some highlights:

•   Barrington: Replacement of the East Bay path bridges (priority #6 of 6)
•   Block Island: New proposal for bike signage (#4 of 4)
•   Bristol:  Poppasquash Rd bike/ped path (#4 of 5)
•   Burrillville:  Northwest Bike Trail, (#7 of 7)
•   Central Falls:  Blackstone Bikeway (#2 of 2)
•   Charlestown:  Shoreline Bikeway (#6 of 6)
•   Coventry: a new Bike Route signage program (#4 of 7)
•   Cumberland:  Blackstone Bikeway (#3 and 4 of 10 for the 2 remaining sections)
•   East Greenwich: Town bike plan including a Warwick Connection bridge (#1 of 6)
•   Jamestown:  Bike access to Jamestown Bridge (#2 of 6) and new Bike/Ped path from North Rd to East Shore Rd (#3 of 6)
•   Middletown:  Shared use path along East Main Rd (#10 of 14, West Main (#11) and Burma Rd (#12)
•   Narragansett:   Phase 4 of the South County path (#4 of 5)
•   North Kingstown:  Wickford to Quonset bike study (#3 of 12) and Jamestown Bridge access (#12 of 12)
•   Pawtucket:  Blackstone Bikeway (#2 of 14)
•   Providence:  Bike/Ped bridge on old I-195 piers (#1 of 10)
•   Tiverton:  Bike path along rail line (#5 of 5)
•   URI: Connection from the South County path to URI (not mentioned by South Kingstown)
•   Warren:  East Bay path extension to Kickemuit River (#3 of 7) and East Bay path bridge replacement (#7 of 7)
•   Warwick:  Warwick/Ea Greenwich bike network and bridge connection (#6, 8, 9 for different sections, of 17)
•   Westerly:  New bike path along Atlantic Avenue  (#4 of 10)
•   West Warwick:  Hope Spur from the West Bay path (#3 of 3) (not mentioned by Coventry)
•   Woonsocket:  New bikeway signage (#13 of 13)

No bicycling related projects were submitted from Cranston, East Providence, Newport, Smithfield, or the RI Economic Development Corporation.  For full information on towns and state agency requested projects, see the TIP 2013 website.

Note at the “roundtable” meeting with RIDOT Director, a representative of the RI Association of RR Passengers urged the bikeway in Tiverton in order to preserve the corridor for future rail use.

A public hearing on the draft TIP can be expected in April 2012.

Unfortunately, it appears that East Providence is concurrently ripping up the portion of Veteran’s Parkway near where the end of the pipe will come out.  They have the road closed down to a single lane, just wide enough for cars to pass through, one side at a time.  If you are planning to ride through this section, it’s a perfect time to TAKE THE LANE.  As a cyclists, you have ever right to do so and this is the safest way to pass through a one lane section like this.  Ride in such a way that cars can not squeeze by you.  The section is short, assert yourself and most importantly ensure you keep yourself safe.

If you are nervous about riding through the detour, we have a few people who are willing to ride with you, at your pace.  If you contact us, we will put you in touch with someone to ride with and you can arrange a time and location to meet.