NEW YORK (Reuters) - As fuel prices soar and the weather warms, more adults are rediscovering bicycling as a way to get fit, get around, and rekindle that childhood joy of movement.

Experts say whether you’re pedaling down suburban paths, mountain trails or city lanes, taking a few precautions will have you sitting sweet upon your bicycle seat.

“With the tough economy and gas prices rising, suddenly biking seems like this sensible, fun way to get fit,” said Peter Flax, editor-in-chief of Bicycling magazine. “It’s cheaper than joining a gym. And you can drive your car less.”

In 2010, there were 19.8 million bicycles sold in the United States, up 15 percent from 2009, according to the National Bicycle Dealers Association, a non-profit trade group.

“The biggest surprise is the growth in big and mid-size cities,” said Flax. “Go to a coffee shop or a farmers’ market, you’ll see many people who aren’t hard core, spandex-clad athletes using their bikes to get around.”

The League of American Bicyclists, an advocacy group, reported that bicycling increased by an average of 36 percent in the 70 largest U.S. cities from 2005 to 2010.

Consequently, Flax said, city biking is getting safer. “Infrastructure changes like bike lanes are on the rise, and people in cars are becoming more patient.”

While many a workable bicycle is languishing in a garage or closet, Flax said, before pedaling off into the sunset, or the office, on one, visit the bicycle shop for a tune up and fitting.

“Make sure someone looks at your body. Is saddle at the right height? The handle bars? Someone who has seen hundreds of thousands of people can do a better job than you can do on your own.”

If you’re in the market for a new ride, Flax says, stick with the specialists.

“Go to a bike shop, not a big box store,” said Flax, whose magazine’s 2012 Buyer’s Guide reviews over 100 bicycles. “Airplane technology has been pushed on to bikes so they are really light and comfortable now.”

Another consideration is the ground beneath your wheels.

On suburban trails you want tires wide enough to ride on muck, Flax explained; in the city, the bike should be rugged enough to handle tough pavement; for tooling around the woods, a mountain bike is optimal.

And don’t forget the helmet.

“Even at low speeds things can happen,” said Flax, who compared riding without a helmet to driving without a seatbelt. “And helmets have gotten a lot cooler looking lately. It doesn’t have to be like wearing a giant mushroom on your head.”

Bicycling is an effective cardio exercise gets the heart and lungs into shape and exercises large muscle groups, said American Council on Exercise spokesperson Liz Neporent.

“Unlike running or walking, it takes a lot of stress off the joints,” she said. “And it’s more of a whole body exercise than you would think. There’s a lot of core work, and it’s obviously great for working the legs and butt.”

Neporent recommends supplementing bicycling with strength or resistance training, and urges beginners to start slow.

“You can’t undo 10 years of sloth with one workout,” she said.

Flax said a brisk ride can burn 500 to 800 calories in an hour, and with the wind in your hair.

“The advantage of biking is how much fun it is,” he said. ”Compare it to being on a stair climber for 40 minutes.”

By Sonia Krishnan

Seattle Times staff reporter

Bob Edmiston was ready. He had his bike. He had his route to work at the University of Washington. So last February, he started cycling from his Madison Park home through the Washington Park Arboretum.

Here’s what he wasn’t expecting: getting almost killed at least twice a week. And developing a preference for aggressive drivers over distracted ones. (“At least I know the aggressive drivers see me.”)

Edmiston, 47, set out to find a safer way — away from the crowded, intimidating main roads, but still convenient enough to get to work in a reasonable amount of time.

He studied various side routes, then mapped, tested and improved upon them. It took him two months to nail down a way he considered safe and efficient.

That inspired him and a growing number of others to campaign to get less-traveled roads recognized as neighborhood “greenways.”

Residents are organizing in neighborhoods across the city, encouraging people to come to meetings, reach consensus on the best routes and forward them to city officials. The city, in fact, is looking to these groups as key to creating a greenway network.

Greenways are designated streets — often parallel to arterials but much quieter — that offer everyone from cyclists to pedestrians and people in wheelchairs safer ways to get around without having to drive.

The streets are outfitted with signs, speed bumps, greenery and other traffic-calming measures, such as crossings and reduced speed limits. This year, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will build seven miles of greenways — mostly funded by the 2006 Bridging the Gap levy — in Wallingford, Beacon Hill, Ballard and Delridge at a cost of $150,000 per mile.

Residents say they see greenways as a way to deter cars and get more people out in their neighborhoods.

The rallying has gone viral. Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, Google Docs and blog posts are devoted to building greenways from Ballard to Montlake, the Central District and beyond.

To Edmiston, the crowdsourcing makes perfect sense. People usually know the best, safest, fastest way to get around their neighborhoods. Compiling that information is critical to building Seattle’s greenways, he said.

“We’re basically trying to harvest all the tribal knowledge within each neighborhood in order to make a new network,” he said.

“Joyful” in Portland

Part of the impetus to install greenways is, no doubt, Portland envy.

In almost any conversation about greenways comes the echo of Seattle’s neighbor. Portland officials say that by 2015, more than 80 percent of city residents will live within a half-mile of a greenway.

M.J. Kelly, spokeswoman for the Cascade Bicycle Club, said she spent a couple of days biking greenways in Portland last year and called it “a transformational experience.”

“I could just go and go and go,” she said. “It was joyful.”

Jealousy or not, the idea makes sense, said Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, a vocal proponent and Portland native.

“It’s best practices,” she said. “It’s what works and what we can do to be smart. That’s the lovely thing about greenways. We can afford it because we are using existing roads.”

In the past decade, Mayor Greg Nickels, and now Mayor Mike McGinn, installed bike lanes, icons, signs and other features covering more than about 200 lane miles. Still, riding on busy streets can be intimidating.

Greenways, on the other hand, are being targeted to a segment of the populace known as the “willing but wary.” These are the people who, say, have a bike sitting in the shed but are too afraid to fight cars on main arterials.

Take, for instance, North 45th Street in Wallingford. The car-saturated road has bike lanes — but riding alongside the stream of rushed and frustrated drivers can feel daunting.

So neighbors formed a group and pushed to get adjacent blocks designated as greenways. The project won a neighborhood matching-fund grant.

The greenways being built this year aren’t connected. The goal is to hook them together over time.

That is the dream: to develop a network where everyone can feel safe getting to schools, business centers, libraries and other heavily trafficked places, Bagshaw said.

SDOT, which is in the midst of updating its Bicycle Master Plan, is meeting with neighborhood groups to figure this out.

Jennifer Litowski, a 39-year-old mother in Ballard, said trying to cross major arterials with her 5-year-old son sparked her to push for greenways. She joined a group, spoke with others and approached city officials about what would work in Ballard. She had never been part of a neighborhood movement.

Through this, she said, she’s met dozens of people and forged closer ties to neighbors — exactly what she hopes greenways will help people do.

At a University District cafe recently, steps from the roar of cars on North 45th, Edmiston recalled the times he would dodge traffic winding through the arboretum, narrowly avoiding collisions as drivers sped past, laying on the horn.

“Cyclists do not belong in the arboretum,” he said. “But they don’t know any other way around.” As a user-researcher — Edmiston makes his living measuring data — he felt compelled to figure out a better way to get to work.

Biking from his house through the arboretum proved time-consuming and difficult because of the hills. He would arrive at his university office drenched in sweat.

“That’s just awkward,” Edmiston said. So he started thinking about more efficient ways, which led him to invest in a $750 battery for his bike — all the better to cruise up hills with — and a special canopy to protect him from the worst of the rain.

Aggression avoidance

It took a lot of trips to find the least-hilly and lowest-volume route, he said. Aggression was most common on heavily trafficked lanes.

He bikes the 5.4 miles to UW in 20 minutes with nary a bead of sweat on his brow. That’s all the more so, he said, because he’s not expending energy “being regularly bullied by cars.”

He wants parts of his route, which starts at East Garfield Street and ends at the UW Tower on Brooklyn Avenue Northeast, to be turned into a greenway.

He is giving presentations and recently spoke in front of the Greater Madison Valley Community Council, which has given its official support to greenways and wants more communities to get involved.

Edmiston said he’s pleased at the response. But he’s just getting started.

“The theory that bikes have a right to the road and should share lane space with cars on main roads … is hazardous in practice,” he said.

Photo: Don’t skip the initial rinse. Otherwise, you’ll end up swirling around every bit of gritty debris and scratching your frame’s glossy finish. Using the light-shower setting on your garden hose, spray off your entire bike top to bottom before you go near it with a soapy sponge. (Michael Robertson)

“Cut off the top of a plastic water bottle. Fill it with a water-based degreaser, like Simple Green, and place it in your seat-tube bottle cage (for easy access). Use a paintbrush to apply the degreaser to the chain. Finish by holding a soapy sponge around the chain and turning the cranks. Hose off the excess and let it dry.” —Adrian Hedderman, head mechanic, Colavita/Forno D’Asolo pro cycling team

“Every third or fourth wash, give your frame and fork a layer of car wax. I like Meguiar’s Cleaner Wax. It restores the paint’s luster and keeps road tar and bugs from sticking.” —Steven Sperling, head mechanic, United-Healthcare pro cycling team

“Clean a grimy cassette or freewheel: Remove the wheel, and lay it flat with cogs up. Dampen the edge of a rag with solvent and pull it back and forth between each cog. No need to rotate the wheel; the freewheel keeps the cogs moving.” —Jim Langley, author of Your Home Bicycle Workshop

“Braking causes aluminum rims to oxidize, leaving a layer of grit that can contaminate brake pads. Every 100 miles, more often if you ride in wet conditions, wipe your rims with a dry cloth.” —Tori Bortman, owner of Gracie’s Wrench in Portland, Oregon

“I prefer natural Tampico bristle brushes. Unlike nylon ones, they don’t hold dirt, grease, or oil. Rinse the grime out of the bristles before moving on to the next part, and you can attack a filthy drivetrain and a mud-spattered frame with the same brush.” —Bernard Kocis, team mechanic, United-Healthcare pro cycling team

A successful campaign to increase walking and biking sometimes take years, but the right amount of perseverance, skill and timing can lead to a quick win. That’s exactly what happened for Neighborhood Greenways in Seattle.

The group advocates for a citywide network of low-traffic streets that limit cut-through cars and are safe for biking and walking. Only a few months after forming, the group celebrated its first victory, in no small part thanks to the tips they learned at the Alliance’s Winning Campaigns Training in Seattle.

“At your Winning Campaigns Workshop I made some great contacts and did some good strategic thinking about developing a complete citywide network of neighborhood greenways,” said Cathy Tuttle, one of the groups leaders who attended the training last June. “Making a citywide network is something I’ve been thinking about for years. Winning Campaigns helped me think about our own people powered movement in a smarter, stronger, more strategic way.”

The campaign included a well-placed Op-Ed in The Seattle Times that called on members of the City Council to support greenways, while letting Seattleites know that greenways will create a safe place to walk and bike, without forcing people out of their cars.

At a January Neighborhood Greenways Meeting, City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw announced plans to fund several miles of greenways in 2012. Not only has the campaign resulted in a tangible win on the ground, it has also lead to new groups in neighborhoods advocating for more greenways. “Quite frankly what I’m dealing with now is how to manage success,” said Tuttle. “Local greenway groups are springing up all over the region!”

Looking to jump start your next campaign? The Alliance is hosting three more Winning Campaigns Trainings this year in Boston, Houston and Kansas City. Learn more about the trainings and register to attend here.

PHOTO: Exploratory tour of a potential bike boulevard in Seattle courtesy of Neighborhood Greenways.

Nobody likes to talk about crashing on a bike, but unfortunately it can happen.  It’s one of those voodoo type subjects where you feel like you need to sacrifice one of your bikes to the bike Gods after talking about it.  We recently did a podcast all about crashing over at Cycling 360, and I invite you to listen to it for a full report on everything from crashing properly, mitigating a crash, and what to do if it happens.

I would say that paying attention is the ultimate tip for staying safe and avoiding a crash, and the post I wrote on nearly being flattened like a pancake is a perfect example of just how important keeping focused really is.  But on top of that, I’m here today with what I feel are three solid tips that all riders can use to help prevent a crash:

Short People: If you’re blessed with the goodness of being short as I am (I’m somewhere in the neighborhood of 5′ 5″), then there is something you need to know about how your bike frame could cause a crash.  When you have a smaller bike frame, your front tire is located closer to your pedals than if you’re riding a bike with a larger frame.  What that means is when you’re moving slow and making a tight turn, your front tire is very likely to hit your shoe.  If this happens, your bike is going to stop…and if you’re clipped in you might not have enough time to un-clip before falling over.

Sure it’s a low-speed (or no-speed) crash, but can still be prevented if you’re mindful while doing these turns or trying out a trackstand.

New Road (especially downhill): If you find yourself cycling a road that you’ve never been on before, my recommendation is that you take it slower than normal.  Even if you’re riding with a group, it would be a good idea to be a little more aware of what’s ahead and keep yourself distanced from the other riders.  When on a new road, you aren’t aware of blind corners, holes or uneven pavement, and any other surprises that could pop out at you.  Keep your eyes peeled and your speed down for your first time down a new road.

Overlapping Wheels: This one is for any of you who ride in a group or plan on doing a group ride.  Overlapping a wheel is when you ride with your front wheel next to the back wheel of the bicycle in front of you.  When overlapping a wheel, you can find yourself in a situation where the front rider suddenly moves in your direction causing you to go down.  When riding in a bunch, sometimes it’s difficult not to overlap a wheel from time to time….but limit it from happening and keep yourself upright.

What are your top tips for avoiding a crash?  Be sure to let us know as we can never be too safe out there.

The bill (soon to be available on transportation.house.gov) reverses 20 years of progress by:

• destroying Transportation Enhancements by making it optional;

• repealing the Safe Routes to School program, reversing years of progress in creating safe ways for kids to walk and ride bicycles to school;

• allowing states to build bridges without safe access for pedestrians and bicycles;

• eliminating bicycle and pedestrian coordinators in state DOTs; and

• eliminating language that insures that rumble strips “do not adversely affect the safety or mobility of bicyclists, pedestrians or the disabled.”

On Thursday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee will mark-up the bill and Representatives Petri (R-WI) and Johnson (R-IL) will sponsor an amendment that restores dedicated funding for Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School. Representatives Petri and Johnson can only be successful if everyone with a stake in safe sidewalks, crosswalks, and bikeways contacts their representative today.

Because of these urgent new developments, and the vital importance of a HUGE turnout on Capitol Hill in March, the National Bike Summit early bird registration deadline has been extended to Feb 20. We need every single cyclist in Washington, D.C. that the city can hold (and that’s thousands …). Register today!

Stay in touch by visiting bikeleague.org and americabikes.org for background and breaking news.

There is an certain amount of risk any time you decide to venture from the safety of your own home. By participating in a bicycle tour (whether it be a short bike ride near your house or a trip that takes you to a foreign land on the other side of the world), you are going to expose yourself to several potential dangers.

Some of these dangers include:

• Vehicle traffic and the chance that you might be involved in an accident.
• People who wish to do you harm (robbers, perverts, etc).
• Wild animals.
• Pesky insects.
• Exposure to the elements (rain, snow, heat, etc).

These dangers, however, are usually easy to avoid with proper education, planning and preparation.

In fact, these external dangers are minimal in comparison to the mental challenges that you, as a long-distance cyclist, will need to overcome in order to complete your two-wheeled adventure.

While car traffic, wild animals, and axe-murders are the things we, as human beings, tend to fear the most, the true dangers of bicycle touring are the mental blocks that we carry around with us all the time.

These mental blocks include, for example:

• Not being able to mentally handle the demands of riding a bicycle for days on end.
• The fear of the unknown.
• The fear of being alone.
• The fear of other people.
• Not knowing how to manage your time.
• Not knowing how to manage your money.

The question, therefore, shouldn’t be, “Is bicycle touring dangerous?” But instead, “Is bicycle touring any more dangerous than taking a short spin by bike around your home city?”

In most cases, the answer to that question is “no.”

Bicycle touring (whether it be in your home country or in a nation on the other side of the world) is a relatively safe means of travel. And like so may other things in life, your safety when traveling by bike is going to depend upon:

• Where exactly you choose to go.
• The time of year in which you plan to travel.
• Your ability to interact with other people.
• Whether you decide to travel alone or with others.
• Your capabilities as a cyclist.
• Your navigational skills (or lack thereof).
• How well you spend your time and money.
• Your mental ability to solve problems and overcome challenges.
• And, of course, simple common sense.

Outside of the inherent pain that comes with riding a bicycle over long distances, your safety as a bicycle traveler is largely up to you. And for those few potential dangers that exist outside yourself (like traffic, scary people, wild animals, and bad weather), there are things you can do, steps you can take, and lessons you can learn, that will enable you to tackle any of these obstacles should you encounter them on your travels.

Photo by Paul Krueger

photo: velojoy

There’s no doubt that keeping your bike clean and operating smoothly can be more of a challenge in winter because moisture, salt, sand and road grime conspire to sabotage you on a daily basis.

Road salt can cause your frame to rust and make parts, like the bearings in the bottom bracket that allow you to pedal your bike, seize up. The sand that’s so liberally sprinkled on city streets on snowy days? It gets caught in your brake pads, causing premature wear of pads and rims.

velojoy welcomes new contributor Susan Lindell, director of retail operations and chief “wrench” for Recycle-A-Bicycle in Brooklyn. Susan’s monthly posts will help keep you in the know about the basics of bike maintenance and mechanics.

These and other threats make for a sad bike and a frustrated bike mechanic. Here are a few simple steps to keep your bike clean, healthy and happy this winter:

Act now

Wipe down your bike with a damp rag immediately after wet rides. This quick cleaning will cut down on how often you have to do the major washings.

Wash outdoors

• Take advantage of those odd warm days and get outside with a bucket of warm water and a sponge. Use a big, soft sponge rather than an abrasive scrubber, which could scratch your frame. An old toothbrush can help you get at hard-to-reach grit. Although not required, a mild detergent such as kitchen dish soap can help break down grease.

• Pay special attention to cleaning the drive train (cranks, chain, gears), the lower part of the frame where the salt is heaviest, and your rims and brake pads where road grit gets caught. Scrub the bike down thoroughly and give it a rinse.

Give your bike a bath indoors

• Put your bike in the tub!  First off, ask your housemate(s). Maybe not surprisingly, some people don’t care for having a bike in their bathroom. Once you have the go-ahead, lift your bike in, shut the curtain and turn on the hot shower. Watch the salt and road grime wash down the drain. You may need to use a sponge to get tough grit off. Let the bike drip dry before you bring it back through the house. Now clean the tub!

Lube

• Lube your chain. This is the most important step after washing your bike any time of year. Wipe the chain clean and dry with a rag. Use any bike-specific chain lube, not WD-40, which is a degreaser, not a lubricant. Apply a light layer of lube to the chain by rotating pedals backwards and dripping lube on the center rollers of the chain. Rotate cranks several times to let lube work its way into the chain. Wipe off excess by grabbing the chain with a rag and rotating cranks backwards. (If you’re working indoors, be sure to protect your floor from drips with cardboard or newspaper.)

Polish

• Polish your frame. This is not necessary, but it makes for a nice looking ride and some polishes do give the frame a level of protection from rust. Use any bike-specific polish. Just avoid getting polish on brake pads or wheel rims since those surfaces should never be slippery.

Follow these tips over the winter and your bike will be just as happy as you are when spring rolls around.

While obesity levels increased by 156 percent between 1960 and 2009, bicycling and walking levels fell by 66 percent. These are statistics from a new report by the Alliance for Biking and Walking. The report, “Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2012 Benchmarking Report,” ranks all 50 states and the 51 largest U.S. cities on bicycling and walking levels, safety, funding and other factors.

The Benchmarking Report confirms that in almost every city and state, pedestrians and bicyclists are disproportionately at risk of being killed on the road. The report also reveals that pedestrians and bicyclists receive less than their fair share of transportation dollars. While the report concludes that bicycling and walking create 11-14 jobs for every $1 million spent, as opposed to 7 jobs created by every $1 million spent on highway projects, pedestrian and bicycle projects receive less than 2 percent of federal transportation dollars. Furthermore, according to cost-benefit analysis conducted by the study, for every $1 invested in bicycling and walking, $11.80 are gained in benefits.

The report adds to the evidence of health benefits of active transportation, showing that states with the highest rates of bicycling and walking are also among those with the lowest rates of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.

“The data points to one conclusion: Investing in biking and walking projects creates jobs, leads to more people biking and walking, and improves safety and public health,” says Jeffrey Miller, president and CEO of the Alliance for Biking and Walking.

The report also received praise from John Pucher, an urban planning professor at Rutgers University. “The wide range of environmental, social, and economic benefits of walking and bicycling, so clearly documented in this report, justify greatly increased investment in facilities and programs to encourage more walking and cycling, and to improve the safety of these most sustainable of all transportation modes,” Pucher explained.

Here are some other interesting findings from the report:

• In 2009, 40% of trips in the United States were shorter than 2 miles, yet 87% of these trips are by car. Twenty-seven percent of trips were shorter than 1 mile. Still, Americans use their cars for 62% of these trips.

• Seniors are the most vulnerable bicyclists and pedestrians. Adults over 65 make up 10% of walking trips, yet comprise 19% of pedestrian fatalities. This age group accounts for 6% of bicycling trips, yet 10% of bicyclist fatalities.

• On average, the largest 51 U.S. cities show a 29% increase in bicycle facilities since the 2010 report. Cities report that 20,908 miles of bicycle facilities and 7,079 miles of pedestrian facilities are planned for the coming years (much of this contingent upon funding).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and support from AARP and Planet Bike funded the report.

Download “Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2012 Benchmarking Report.”

[Reposted from www.publicola.com by Erica C. Barnett]

This post has been updated with comments from representatives for the Downtown Seattle Association, the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, Cascade Bicycle Club, Futurewise, and the Transportation Choices Coalition. 

Josh is down in Olympia right now, where Gov. Chris Gregoire just delivered her last-ever state of the state speech, in which she outlined a “major transportation and jobs package” that includes a $1.50-per-barrel fee on oil and local taxing and fee-setting options for cities and counties to raise money for roads and transit without going to a public vote. Unlike taxes, which require supermajority (two-thirds) approval, the oil fee would require only a simple majority vote of the legislature.

Gregoire’s package would raise $3.6 billion for state highway and ferry system maintenance over ten years—a fraction of the $20 billion package proposed by the Connecting Washington Task Force, a state-appointed group set up to suggest transportation funding options, late last year. The money would come from a $1.50-a-barrel fee on oil produced in Washington State; a $100 fee on electric vehicles; a 15-percent increase in license fees for heavy commercial vehicles; a $15 weight fee on passenger vehicles;

“We can’t wait until roads, bridges and ferries are falling apart to fix them. We can’t kick the can down the road and saddle our future generations with the repairs we failed to make,” Gregoire said. “Our transportation system is the lifeblood of our economy. It moves people to work and goods to market, and supports our tourism industry. If we don’t maintain and grow, we come to a standstill.”

Gregoire cited a number of specific road projects that need to be built or repaired, including the Columbia River Crossing, the controversial Spokane North-South Freeway, and a new ferry for cars. The state, Gregoire said, faces a $1.6 billion shortfall over the next ten years just to maintain state highways, plus another $1.3 billion to maintain the state ferry system.

Gregoire said her proposal will “get money to our cities and counties to fill potholes, repair roads, update bridges and keep buses running” and give local jurisdictions “the option to raise additional money for maintenance and transit.”

Specifically, the proposal includes:

• $2.67 billion for highway operations and maintenance;

• $310 million in grant funding for cities and counties to maintain roads and bridges;

• $150 million in grant funding to offset transit service cuts;

• $200 million for the Washington State Patrol; and

• $100 million to preserve Amtrak service.

Gregoire did not propose any specific statewide ballot measure for this year. However, she did propose giving city and county councils the authority to raise new revenues on their own (without going to a public vote), either by passing a motor-vehicle excise tax of up to 1 percent, or by passing a vehicle-license fee of up to $40.

King County, whose $20 fee, which helped the agency avoid 17 percent service cuts, expires next year.

In a statement, Downtown Seattle Association vice president Jon Scholes said DSA believes “a transit component is critical to a statewide transportation package. Transit is what voters want to see and it’s what many urban centers like Downtown Seattle need to remain economically competitive.  We can’t afford to put ourselves back in the situation of facing deep cuts to bus service in two years if we want to increase jobs and economic prosperity.”

Blake Trask, policy director for the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, added: “The [operations and maintenance money] is great, ut we’re hoping it can be improved to include some of those active transportation options.” Currently, he said, “This package does not include anything for safe routes to school, anything for bike and pedestrian safety and mobility, anything for active transportation, period.”

Transportation Choices Coalition and FutureWise, two environmental groups that advocate for balanced transportation funding, praised Gregoire’s proposal for focusing on operations and maintenance and for asking oil companies to “pay their fair share.” But they criticized the package for being “overwhelmingly weighted towards serving automobiles and [failing to] provide any funding for bi-partisan supported safety programs such as Safe Routes to Schools or the newly created Complete Streets grant program.”

Similarly, Cascade Bicycle Club expressed concern that Gregoire’s proposal focuses exclusively on “repairing the crumbling relics of the past,” in executive director Chuck Ayers’ words, instead of investing in bike, pedestrian, and transit projects that reduce congestion and decrease car dependency.