Rep. Earl Blumenauer just introduced the Active Community Transportation Act (ACT), H.R.4722. This groundbreaking bill would create a $2 billion grant program to fund safe networks for biking and walking. And if we build it, they will come! Half of all trips taken in the United States could be accomplished with just a 20-minute bike ride, and a quarter are within a 20-minute walk. We need to make it safer and easier to make those trips on bike or foot.
Right now, over 700 bicycle advocates, including EBBC’s Executive Director, Robert Raburn and a number of other East Bay bicyclists, are in Washington DC for the National Bike Summit. Today, they are descending on Capitol Hill to drum up strong support for ACT. But all of us can participate in today’s lobby day to urge Congress to make America’s roadways safer, create jobs, reduce traffic congestion, cut emissions, and promote healthy living. ACT even pays for itself – as we make biking and walking safer and more accessible, we save billions of dollars on reduced healthcare, gasoline, and environmental costs.
“Too often we take for granted the value of being able to bike and walk to work,” said Blumenauer. “It’s unfortunate that many communities don’t have the infrastructure in place to make active and healthy forms of transportation more accessible. The ACT transportation grants will make it easier for people to get out of their vehicles and onto sidewalks or bikes, boosting both heart rates and community vitality.”
TAKE ACTION WITH THESE TALKING POINTS
Please call your representatives today, March 11th -on the same day that over 700 bicyclists will have in-person meetings in congressional offices– to ask them to co-sponsor H.R.4722: “The Active Community Transportation Act.” Local representatives’ numbers are listed below. Tell them:
Please call your representatives today, March 11th -on the same day that over 700 bicyclists will have in-person meetings in congressional offices– to ask them to co-sponsor H.R.4722: “The Active Community Transportation Act.” Local representatives’ numbers are listed below. Tell them:
- Bicycling and walking are part of the solution. Half of all trips in the United States are three miles or less, yet the majority of these short trips are made by car. Shifting more of these short trips to biking and walking would not only reduce congestion, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and our dependence on oil, but will also improve physical activity, safety, and livability.
- Investing in bicycling and walking infrastructure works. Commuting by bicycle has increased 43 percent since 2000 – and by 69 percent in designated Bicycle Friendly Communities that have invested in infrastructure improvements.
- Please co-sponsor the Active Community Transportation Act (H.R.4722).
District 7, George Miller Concord office: 925-602-1880 Richmond office: 510-262-6500 **Great news! Rep. Miller just signed on as an ACT co-sponsor. Give him a call to thank him***
District 9, Barbara Lee 510-763-0370
District 10, John Garamendi Walnut Creek office: 925-932-8899 Antioch office: 925-932-8899
District 11, Jerry McNerny 925-737-0727
District 13, Pete Stark 510-494-1388
If you can’t make a call, you can still send a quick email to your representative urging them to co-sponsor the Active Community Transportation Act (H.R. 4722).
Thanks to our allies at Transportation for America and the Alliance for Biking and Walking for organizing this effort nationally, and providing great information for our members.