At the recent National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood (pictured) stood on a table to thank the crowd and show his support for bicycling and walking. Then it got better. Last week, he announced his new Policy Statement on Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodation Regulations and Recommendations and is what League of American Bicyclists calls “the strongest statement of support for prioritizing bicycling and walking ever to come from a sitting secretary of transportation.”
You can checkout his comments and key bullet points on LaHood’s blog, but we’re going to borrow the highlights from LoAB, below:
- Treat walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes.
- Ensure convenient access for people of all ages and abilities.
- Go beyond minimum design standards.
- Collect data on walking and biking trips.
- Set a mode share target for walking and bicycling.
- Protect sidewalks and shared-use paths the same way roadways are protected (for example, snow removal)
- Improve nonmotorized facilities during maintenance projects
He finishes by saying “this is a start, but it’s an important start. These initial steps forward will help us more forward even further.”
