M-DOT has just announced another $3.8 million in Transportation Enhancement funding for 11 projects across the state. These grants will be used to develop non-motorized trails, pave roadway shoulders, purchase bus bike racks and more. All projects will take place during the 2008 construction season.

Unfortunately the bus bike racks aren’t for D-DOT. Flint and Marquette requested those.

However, two of the grants are in Detroit and will undoubtedly improve biking in the City.

Here are the details from MDOT: (more…)

According to the Associated Press, “Oil prices marched past $103 a barrel on Monday, the latest in a recent string of record-high oil prices, before settling at $102.45… ‘It’s like throwing sands in the wheels of the economy,’ said Brian Bethune, economist at Global Insight.”

No doubt. But, it’s also be throwing more air into America’s bicycle tires.

For the next three days, bicycle advocates from across the U.S. will be in Washington D.C. for the National Bike Summit. Their collective message? Biking is one way to conserve energy in light of these high prices.

Michigan is sending a contingent of advocates primarily from the League of Michigan Bicyclists. Local Detroit area cyclists Dante Lanzetta and Steve Roach will be part of that group.

Many of the bicycling facilities we now have — or are getting — are a result of bicycling’s inclusion in the federal transportation bills ISTEA, TEA-21, and SAFETEA-LU. That’s why it’s so important that cycling advocates continue the annual trek to DC and make sure we continue to receive transportation funding.

The Daily Press (Virginia) ran an article today that asks, “Will the high price of oil help make 2008 the Year of the Bicycle?”

We sure hope so.

I just wanted to send a quick congratulations to the Michigan Recreation and Parks Association (MRPA) for hosting their first-ever trails conference on Tuesday in Traverse City. From what I saw and heard, it was a major sold-out success. I was especially pleased to see that the attendees included many trail stakeholders and experts who aren’t always directly involved with the MRPA.

One of the goals to come out of the conference was the need for supporting the DNR license plate fee proposal. Dr. Chuck Nelson delivered an great overview of the proposal and encouraged everyone to contact their legislators. This proposal needs grassroots support now more than ever.

MDOT recently announced their most recent Transporation Enhancement (TE) grants. TE money comes from the federal government and it requires a local matching from the grant recipient. TE grants are a major funding source for on-road and trail development.

In conjunction to the announcement, Governor Granholm added, “Michigan’s trails are gateways to recreation and tourism opportunities that grow our economy by attracting residents and visitors alike. Not only do they provide transportation and recreation options, but they make many areas of our state more livable and desirable places to do business.” (more…)

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.'”