October 30, 2007 – – At a ceremony in the nation’s Capitol today, Lauren Marchetti, director of the National Center for Safe Routes to School, presented the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) the first annual national “James L. Oberstar Safe Routes to School Award.” U.S. Rep. Oberstar presided at the presentation of the award that bears his name in recognition of his role in creating the federal Safe Routes to School (SR2S) funding program in 2005. This first-ever award recognizes exemplary effort on the part of a state department of transportation in developing and launching the program.

“Every child who walks or bikes to school has a right to be safe,” said Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm. “Everyone benefits from Safe Routes to School programs that encourage children to be active and healthy.”

The federal SR2S program will provide a total of approximately $16 million to Michigan from fiscal year 2005 through 2009, for investment in projects to create and improve infrastructure (sidewalks, marked crosswalks, etc.) to make routes safe, implement law enforcement strategies (police patrols, crossing guards), and begin education and encouragement programs to ensure that parents and students know how to walk and bike safely, and to provide incentives to get kids moving.

State Transportation Director Kirk T. Steudle said that MDOT could not have achieved this recognition without the core network of state level partners working with the department: the Michigan Departments of Education and Community Health, Michigan State University and Wayne State University, nonprofit groups including the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, the League of Michigan Bicyclists, and Programs for All Cyclists.

“Our most important partner from the beginning has been and continues to be the Michigan Fitness Foundation/Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness (MFF). MDOT and MFF have worked together on Safe Routes in Michigan since 2003, when MDOT funded MFF to develop Michigan’s Safe Routes to School Handbook,” said Steudle.

The handbook is available to any elementary or middle school in Michigan interested in developing a plan of action to create safe routes for their school. Since announcement of Michigan’s program and handbook in May 2006, over 250 schools in Michigan (more than 5 percent of the state’s elementary and middle schools) have registered to undertake the handbook planning process which, when completed, qualifies schools to apply for funding.

Michael Eberlein, MDOT’s SR2S coordinator, said that the rapid growth of interest in SR2S in Michigan has been very gratifying.

“Our partnership approach at the state level is replicated at the local level by school planning teams that typically include parents and students, teachers and administrators, police agencies and public works departments, health officials and interested citizens. The list goes on. All of these partners have something to contribute in identifying barriers to safe walking and biking, and creating strategies to eliminate them,” said Eberlein.

Typically, these partners bring resources, too, human or financial, since the limited federal funding can’t take care of every need at every school, he added.

Smart Growth America: “Three-fourths of Americans believe that being smarter about development and improving public transportation are better long-term solutions for reducing traffic congestion than building new roads, according to a survey sponsored by the National Association of Realtors and Smart Growth America. The 2007 Growth and Transportation Survey details what Americans think about how development affects their immediate community. Nearly three-quarters of Americans are concerned about the role growth and development play in climate change, as well as remaining concerned about traffic congestion. Half of those surveyed think improving public transit would be the best way to reduce congestion, and 26 percent believe developing communities that reduce the need to drive would be the better alternative. Only one in five said building new roads was the answer.”

The below street design concept had been proposed for Woodward Avenue from Ferndale to Birmingham. Rather than remove a traffic lane, the parking areas would have been redesigned.

A Busy City Street Makes Room for Bikes – New York Times:
“The city is planning to remake seven blocks of Ninth Avenue in Chelsea into what officials are billing enthusiastically, perhaps a bit hyperbolically, as the street of the future.

“The most unusual aspect of the design, which will run from 16th Street to 23rd Street, is that it uses a lane of parked cars to protect cyclists from other traffic.

“I think it’s a sneak peek at the future streets of New York,” said Janette Sadik-Khan, the city’s transportation commissioner. “It represents the kinds of innovative ideas that we can explore to make the streets more livable.”

Bike paths not worthy of federal support, says transportation secretary | Salon News: “In an Aug. 15 appearance on PBS’s ‘NewsHour With Jim Lehrer,’ Peters spoke against a proposal to raise gas taxes to shore up the nation’s aging infrastructure. The real problem, the secretary argued, is that only 60 percent of the current money raised by gas taxes goes to highways and bridges. She conveniently neglected to mention that about 30 percent of the money goes to public transit. She then went on to blast congressional earmarks, which dedicate 10 percent of the gas tax to some 6,000 other projects around the country. ‘There are museums that are being built with that money, bike paths, trails, repairing lighthouses. Those are some of the kind of things that that money is being spent on, as opposed to our infrastructure,’ she said. The secretary added that projects like bike paths and trails ‘are really not transportation.'”

Chicago eyes Paris self-service bike scheme – Yahoo! News:

“The United States’ third largest city, Chicago, may soon adopt a rent-a-bike scheme similar to the one launched this summer in Paris, mayor Richard M. Daley said during a trip to the French capital Tuesday.

“The Democrat mayor, himself a cyclist, said he was ‘greatly impressed’ with the Paris network of self-service bicycles, which has clocked up more than 3.7 million rides since its launch in mid-July.

“Riders can pick up a bike at any time of day or night, after lodging a 150-euro safety deposit. The first half hour is free, with prices rising to one euro (1.4 dollars) for every extra half hour.”