Transportation Enhancements funds cut for 2011 round

http://www.activetrans.org/blog/dpersky/federal-funding-primer

Tell me if I should be mad?

The post isn't clear to me. How much was kept for bikes, and how much was given up?Even a vague idea would be nice. It seems like the post is giving me bad news, but in the in it's comes off as "Ho hum, maybe next year."

Does Active Transit believe that the cuts were too deep, or were they acceptable?

If the cuts were too deep, we should be angry, and so should Active Transit. I don't want Active Transit to be the mouth piece of Quinn because he was nice to us in the past.

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Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on July 14, 2011 at 2:55am

Anyone? Beuler?

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Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on July 14, 2011 at 3:01am

So ATA admin, what gives? Can you translate the article in layman's terms. I agree with Adam; I want to know what level of concern/action to pursue...

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 14, 2011 at 3:11am

If TE grants were eliminated for 2011, that could set a bad precedent for future years in terms of ever being able to get TE funding again. CMAQ has been an important vehicle for getting bike and ped project funding. If that "golden goose" is on life support, that is also troubling. In this context, the "ho hum" tone of this update concerns me a bit.

It's my understanding it's a long-time practice for previously allocated funding for projects that haven't gotten off the ground to be "sent back" - cancelling that allocation. If they're important projects, it would be helpful to know why they didn't get off the ground, and what can be done to get them back in the pipeline.

More information would be very helpful here.

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Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on July 15, 2011 at 8:29am

OK, it's a complex issue (we understand the questions) and want to do what we can to provide more info.

The bottom line is that you shouldn't be mad, but be aware of this and possibly be ready to act in support of better funding in the future.

1. The loss of CMAQ money should not impact any critical bike/pedestrian projects. The money will be taken away from previously authorized projects that haven't gotten off the ground. There are more than $100 million in such projects in Chicago area.

2. The loss of TE money will mean no grant round in 2011. This is unfortunate but IDOT wasn't planning a grant round until 2012 in any case.

3. Active Trans has asked IDOT to put TE program on annual cycle. They are considering the request. This would help prevent future recsissions.

I worked with Dan to get this info together, please let us know if this helps or if there are other questions.

Thanks so much, Chainlinkers!

Ethan Spotts, Active Trans