A New Push for Biking and Walking in San Diego
January 17, 2009
Imagine being able to bike or walk everywhere --safely-- so you can get to a destination and burn calories at the same time.
Biking and walking as a means of transportation is not very practical in San Diego County or in much of the rest of the country, but there is a group of San Diegans who are trying to change that.
Former San Diego City Council President Scott Peters, county Supervisor Greg Cox and leaders of groups, such as WalkSanDiego and the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, are pushing for Congress to include money in the next federal transportation bill to fund walking and biking infrastructure.
The coalition has launched the local version of the "Active Transportation 2010" campaign to raise awareness of the issue and put together a plan to position the region for future funding.
The local campaign is part of a national effort organized by Rails to Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that's coordinating with communities throughout America to lobby for more federal dollars for non-motorized transportation.
The goal is to have Congress include $200 million in the next federal transportation bill for programs and infrastructure to get people out of their cars.
The proposal calls for 40 communities to each receive $50 million for that purpose.
Peters, who was termed out of City Council in December and now serves as a port commissioner, plans to travel to Washington D.C. to lobby congressional members for the funding.
" In February and March, people will be out lobbying. Some of us will be out there to talk to people to make sure this pool money is available in the federal transportation bill," said Peters, the local campaign co-chair..
He believe there is a good chance the money will be included in the next bill. In 2005, the federal transportation bill funded a non-motorized transportation pilot program. Four communities--Marin, Calif., Minneapolis, Minn., Sheboyan, Wis. and Columbia, Mo.-- participated and each received $25 million. Peters said the congressional representatives for those communities are influential.
A former environmental attorney, Peters became a strong advocate for bicycling as a means of transportation after a vacation in Southern Holland in 2004. During that trip, his family biked from town to town for a week.
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We had a great time. What I noticed was in a week of bicycling, we probably literally spent 20 minutes with cars," he said." "Every Dutch farmer was more than happy to give a little of the edge of their glen for a bicycle trail."
San Diego, he believes, is an ideal place for advancing non-motorized transportation.
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It just seems like to me, given the weather in San Diego, it's such a natural thing to try to do it here," he said.
According to the Rails to Trails Conservancy some 50 communities from Spokane, Wash. to Mystic Valley, Mass. have submitted statements to support the campaign and developed plans to get people out of cars.
San Diego's vision statement for active transportation is loaded with eye-opening statistics:
- About half of the adults in the county are obese or overweight on account of inactivity and poor diet.
- Driving accounts for 40 percent of the local greenhouse gas emissions.
- Among the 48 largest American cities, San Diego ranks 20th for percentage of bicycling and 30th for the percentage of trips to work by foot.
- Only 2 percent of the funds generated under TransNet (a half cent sales tax in the region) go toward walking and biking infrastructure and education campaigns. In fiscal 2009, it was about $5 million.
- Half of the trips in this country can be completed within a 20-minute bike ride and a quarter of the trips are within a 20-minute walk.
- Short trips of three miles or less make up about half of all trips in this country.